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Liberals Are Now Going After Smart Children For Being Smart!

kristel
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The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is becoming WOKE these days, in the name of racial equity they want to remove advanced courses for talented kids. Are they even thinking? Seriously?

VDOE is attempting to walk back its equity-focuses math program in a way that conflicts with previous statements it has made and materials it has promoted on acceleration.

They want to eliminate gifted and talented programs, removing advanced courses, and overhauling admissions processes to achieve equity across racial categories.

According to Harry Jackson, president of the Thomas Jefferson High School Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA), “removing gifted and advanced courses is a no-cost way to cover up the racial achievement gap while ignoring its root causes.”

Here’s what Jackson told the Daily Caller News Foundation:

“Gifted programs and advanced courses provide a mechanism for low-income households to achieve a stellar education for their children and serve as a ‘great equalizer’ to those families that opt for private education. By eliminating gifted programs and advanced courses in the name of equity, they will create greater inequities.”

According to a Fordham Institute study:

Black students make up 15% of the student population and 10% of the gifted student population, while Hispanic students make up 27.6% of the student population and 20.8% of the gifted student population, according to a Fordham Institute study.

Those student groups are 49% and 23% less likely to participate in Advanced Placement programs than their peers, respectively, according to the Fordham Institute.

This pressure on public schools to resolve racial disparities coming from parents started after George Floyd’s death – public interest in racial inequities increased from activist groups, school board members, and officials in the U.S. Department of Education.

In October 2020, the competitive entrance exam from Thomas Jefferson High School (TJ), the top-ranked public high school in the U.S. has been removed. This happens after a Fairfax County School Board vote and replaced it with a more subjective admission process which includes geographic quotas.

The Fairfax County School Board had been lobbied by the TJ Alumni Action Group, which was formed in light of the events surrounding Floyd’s death, and the release of TJ admissions statistics revealed fewer than ten black students had been admitted to the school’s class of 2024, Washington Post reported.

TJ’s incoming freshman class in 2021 included more white, Hispanic, and black students than in previous years, while Asian student representation fell by 19 points, the Associated Press reported.

New York City is eliminating its gifted and talented program following a March lawsuit which alleged the program – which was 75% white and Asian – exacerbated racial inequalities. The program will be replaced by a maximum of 2 hours per day of advanced courses for gifted students, to be determined by teacher evaluation of students’ capabilities (rather than a standardized test).

The California Department of Education is considering proposals to “de-track” math, meaning that students of all aptitudes would learn math at the same level in the same classes, and advanced math courses would not be offered. Students in the 11th grade could opt to take Algebra II and Pre-Calculus at the same time in order to take Calculus their senior year, according to the Washington Post.

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) proposed a plan in January to eliminate traditional mathematics courses in favor of an equity-focused framework that places students in homogenous grade-based courses regardless of aptitude until the 11th grade. “[T]his initiative will eliminate ALL math acceleration prior to 11th grade,” Loudoun County School Board member Ian Serotkin said, according to Fox.

Watch it here: CNBC Telivision/Youtube

Sources: DailyCaller, Washington Post, FoxNews, Associated Press