Remember when schools prepared kids for the real world? Democrats just can’t have that and prefer to prepare black students for epic failure throughout life.
High schools in the Chicago suburbs of Oak Park and River Forest have decided their current grading system uses “outdated practices” and fosters “unconscious biases” regarding black students.
The local school board is calling it “Transformative Education Professional Development & Grading” but it’s really just implementing lower expectations and robbing serious students of higher grades.
Thirty-eight percent of sophomores from the Oak Park, River Forest (OPRF) school system recently failed the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
The racial breakdown of those who failed the test: 77% of black students, 49% of Hispanic kids, 27% of Asians, and 25% of white students.
Rather than teaching kids to succeed, the OPRF school system is considering lowering the expectations and the odds of succeeding in life for students with measures such as eliminating zeros from grade books and measuring growth over time.
All in the name of D.I.E.J.—”diversity, inclusiveness, equity” and the newest addition, and the most ominous, “justice.”
FACT-O-RAMA! Progressives are also behind the notion of low bail, letting criminals out of jail, and raising the “allowable” shoplifting rate to $1,000, all of which ultimately hurts black people in numerous ways, including soaring crimes rates in black neighborhoods and leading more black people to commit crimes.
The school district’s website is oozing with wokeness, including this gem regarding “trans” students:
Students are not required to obtain a court-ordered name change and/or submit medical or psychological documentation as a prerequisite to being addressed by the name and pronouns that correspond to their gender identity or to having the name and/or gender marker that correspond to their gender identity included in the district’s electronic database.
That means if 14-year-old Carl decides he is now Carla, the school system changes the name, no questions asked.
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Chicago is in the midst of a soaring crime wave, including 1,221 shootings thus far this year. One would think this would be a great time to enforce education, not stifle it, but liberals prefer to reward students for sub-standard performances, all in the name of “justice.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article stated that the school district would be implementing race-based grading practices. According to a statement on the district’s website, that is not the case:
It has come to the District’s attention that a recent article in the online West Cook News inaccurately states that at the Board of Education’s May 26 meeting, Oak Park and River Forest High School announced that it will implement a race-based grading system in the 2022-2023 school year. This is not true.
OPRFHS does not, nor has it ever had a plan to, grade any students differently based on race. The article contains a variety of misleading and inaccurate statements. The article’s mischaracterization of the Board meeting is unfortunate and has caused unnecessary confusion.
As part of the Board of Education’s strategic plan, the OPRFHS Grading and Assessment Committee was formed to examine national research on objective, unbiased practices for determining whether students have mastered academic content. At the Board of Education’s May 26 meeting, the administration’s representative to the OPRFHS Grading and Assessment Committee provided an initial report that included a progress update on the committee’s examination of grading practices.
At no time were any statements made recommending that OPRF implement a race-based grading approach.
Prior to implementing grading changes, if any, recommendations will be made to the Board at a public meeting. Again, contrary to the title of the article, the district has not implemented, and has no intention of implementing, any grading and assessment policy based on race.
As the OPRFHS Grading and Assessment Committee continues its work, the district is committed to keeping the community updated to any changes. We encourage the community to seek information directly from the district or other reliable news sources rather than internet sources that continue to share inaccurate information.
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