Update on the Rangely, Colorado, School Gender Questions

Earlier this past week, I told you about a situation unfolding in the tiny town of Rangely, Colorado. Rangely is a small town you would miss if you were not looking for it. And it is quite possible that you would miss it, even if you were looking for it. The issue is important because Rangely is about as close as you could get to a small, Western, conservative town.

At issue was a survey given to 8th-graders asking them about their potential career choices. At the end of this survey was a series of questions asking for students’ ages, genders, and whether or not they were “cis” or “trans.” The survey also asked the students how progressive/liberal their parents’ views were. Many parents were outraged, with one parent claiming their child received a failing grade for not completing the survey.

Also of note, despite the overall leftist proclivities of much of Colorado, the state has the Pupils Protection Rights Amendment, which mandates that parents must be informed and consent before their children are asked about their gender or given gender-related questions in school. The full text of that amendment can be found here.

In the interest of fairness, I asked the superintendent, Matthew Scoggins, to provide me with a response to the parents’ concerns. He provided me with the following information.

• No students were asked to complete the research survey. The assignment was to use the Holland Code Test to respond to questions. You will find those questions below.
• No data was gathered or could be.
• There are only 14 students on the roster for that class, and there are no other sections offered. There are 52 students enrolled in 8th grade.
• This is a new class that was added to the schedule right before school started. The teacher’s primary job is teaching PE at the junior high school.
• The district has a number of new staff members, a new principal, and a teacher who was assigned to teach the class but has never taught that particular class before.
• As this is a new class, there are not a lot of resources, so the teacher used two websites to have the 14 students in the class take the Holland Code Test and complete an assignment. The links for the two selected websites are as follows: Truity Holland Code Career Test, Open Psychometrics Holland Code Test
• The websites are free and do not provide any reporting back to the schools.
• The Holland Code Test is not an academic test; it is a widely recognized tool designed to help individuals identify their vocational interests and find careers that align with their personality.
• Neither website requires any personally identifiable information, location, school, etc., so there is no plausible way for the school or teacher to see results.
• After completing the Holland Code test, you can go to the results immediately at both websites; however, at the end of the test on the Open Source Psychometrics website, it did ask those who had completed the test if they would be willing to answer a few more research questions before getting the results. These questions are not part of the Holland Code Test.
• These questions appear to be exclusive to the Open Source Psychometrics website, and their motivation/purpose is unknown. Open Source Psychometrics provides links to a broad array of questionnaires on a variety of topics that any person can access independently. No aspect or part of the Open Source Psychometrics website other than the Holland Code Test was part of the class assignment.
• The teacher had not surveyed every questionnaire on the Open Source Psychometrics website and was not aware of the additional questions. It was not the intent of the teacher for the students to answer those questions; rather, she assumed they would go straight to the results of the Holland Code Test, as instructed, as there was no intent for the students to answer those questions.
• The results of any of the tests and the answers to any questions on the websites are not available to the teacher or school.
• The assignment was as follows;
  • After taking the test, students were instructed to go to the results and to write a paragraph describing their personality types.
  • After completing the second test and going to the results, students were asked to write a paragraph highlighting the differences between the two tests.
  • Then, in a Google doc, the students were to answer the following questions
    • Rank your six traits.

• Are you surprised by your results? Why or why not?
• What are three jobs that you would be interested in?
• Are any of them the same as the career clusters that you did?
• What is a job that surprised you that you might be good at?
• Research that job:
• How much education do you need?
• Where might you work?
• What is the salary range from?
• What is the job description?
• Would you be interested in that job now that you have researched it?
• Research a job that interests you that was not in the career clusters
• How much education do you need?
• Where might you work?
• What is the salary range from?
• What is the job description?
• Would you be interested in that job now that you have researched it?
• If a student scored poorly on an assignment, it would be based on how they did on the above.

Regarding my specific inquiry, Mr. Scoggins said that the questions were part of the website and that the district does not know the purpose behind them. As to why questions about gender, gender identity, parents, and political views were on the survey, he stated, “The questions were not part of the school assignment. As noted earlier, it was not the intent of the teacher for the students to answer those questions; rather, go straight to the results so they could complete the assignment about jobs.”

As to whether or not the students were capable of deciding if the data from these questions could be shared, he replied, “As noted earlier, it was not the intent of the teacher to answer those questions; rather, go straight to the results so they could complete the assignment.  It is noted that Open Source Psychometrics states that if the test-taker authorizes the use of their data, it is used anonymously. Any person, including minors, can access the Open Source Psychometrics website independently.” He explained that the results of the questions would not have been made available to the teacher. He insisted that the district was unaware that these questions were a part of the survey and that the district would not use this resource again. He also added:

Like everyone else, we are all doing the best we can, and sometimes mistakes are made but don’t misinterpret this for anything other than what it is.

It’s important to note that both the teacher mentioned and myself are conservative. Our community, where we have resided for over 28 years, is similarly conservative, which is a significant factor in our long-standing residency here. It’s crucial to emphasize that any portrayal of us in a different light is unequivocally inaccurate.

I have no reason to disbelieve him. As to the intent of the questions, that is between the parents, caregivers, and the district. And I suspect that those issues may come up at the next school board meeting. If the teacher and the district were unaware that those questions were part of the survey, we can perhaps offer them a little grace and consider this a lesson learned. If that is indeed the case, the situation is a testament to the prevalence of the Alphabet Agenda, in that it is now being “baked into the cakes” that are the resources teachers may, however, unwittingly access. And it also sends a message to parents, grandparents, and guardians that the wolf is always at the door and that constant vigilance is necessary. The days of merely asking your child, “What did you learn in school today?” are in the past.