Fairfax May Junk Study on Behavior

The Washington Post ^ | Thursday, June 5, 2008 | Michael Alison Chandler

[B-Chan]

Fairfax May Junk Study on Behavior Staff Report Shows Racial, Ethnic Gaps Among Students

Fairfax County School Board members said they are likely to abandon a staff report that showed racial and ethnic gaps in some measures of student behavior, including in the demonstration of "sound moral character and ethical judgment."

The board had delayed an April vote to approve the report after concerns were raised that findings were based on subjective measures, such as elementary report card data, and that they would fuel negative stereotypes.

Board member Phillip A. Niedzielski-Eichner (Providence) said yesterday that he plans to propose at a June 19 meeting that a vote on the report be postponed indefinitely. Several board members have indicated their support, he said.

Board member Martina A. Hone (At Large) said that the original report is "fatally flawed" and that it doesn't make sense "to work on fixing it." She said she is pleased with the way the board is rethinking it. "I think we have come out a stronger school board," she said.

The school system's report was an early attempt to measure progress on a host of goals the board considers "essential" for success in the workplace. It identified disparities among groups of students in several skills, including the ability to contribute effectively in a group, resolve conflicts and make healthy choices, and in the demonstration of moral character and ethical judgment.

Board members plan to approve revisions to their goals June 19 to make the wording more precise. Superintendent Jack D. Dale will again be given the challenge of developing methods for interpreting and measuring the goals.

In coming months, the board intends to review the potential for teacher bias in report cards and whether it makes sense to analyze nonacademic measures by race and ethnicity.

[B-Chan]

Remember, folks, I don't write 'em — I only link 'em.

Opinions expressed in articles linked by me on FR do not necessarily reflect my own opinions.

[A_perfect_lady]

Let me guess. The study suggested that certain minorities don’t do as well in school because of their behavior and values. Yes, we must bury this ASAP and go back to claiming that racist teachers and insufficient budgets are to blame.

[B-Chan]

“My golf swing sucks because of 400 years of slavery!”

[Myrddin]

It sucks when the facts don't fit your agenda. The only solution is to destroy the evidence.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Shoot dat messengah! Put a cap in he azz!

[wintertime]

including in the demonstration of "sound moral character and ethical judgment."

In the shifting sands of a secular, atheistic, agnostic, and god-less worldview, **who** gets to determine the government school's morals and ethics? Hm?....Is it "The Government Indoctrination Camp People's Committee on Morals and Ethics"?

The board had delayed an April vote to approve the report after concerns were raised that findings were based on subjective measures, such as elementary report card data, and that they would fuel negative stereotypes

If the report showed whites in a negative light it would be approved immediately. Hm?....So?....What race was shown negatively?

[freeangel]

psst—we are no longer allowed to mention moral character and ethical judement—to do so would be a hate crime against those who have none.

[jimfree]

You are correct Lady. They’ve discovered a rather inconvenient truth.

[BufordP]

All that money wasted on a study and all they had to do was ask Rev Wright.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

I’ve got a better headline for this report: “An Inconvenient Truth”.

[freespirited]

The only thing surprising about this study is that it was done in the first place.

[Myrddin]

Every year the same old report is trotted out to bemoan the "achievement gap" between racial and ethnic groups. It's the same report every year and the same "remedy" is demanded: more money. There is no incentive to "fix" the problem IF it could be fixed. It's a perpetual excuse to increase budgets.

[ModelBreaker]

including in the demonstration of "sound moral character and ethical judgment."

There's the problem. What are our schools doing being so judgmental? Who's to say what sort of "moral character" is "sound?" I hope none of those Christians are involved in this scandal.

[A_perfect_lady]

Yep. They never talk to the teachers about it. I mean, they yell at us about it, but they never ask us what WE see in the classroom, day after day. I'd love to tell them what I see in my 7th and 8th grade classrooms:

I say, "Please open your workbooks to page 45."

The Asians and Armenians open to page 45. The Hispanics ignore me and fiddle with the ipods and gameboys they have hidden under the desks, except for the random 1 out of 7 child who has some individuality and drive (and is usually either ignored by the others, or persecuted for it.) It's as simple as that.

[caver]

Wow, you are a trooper. I do not see how any person would subject themselves to a life of teaching in our public schools. Talk about being a masochist!

[A_perfect_lady]

Well, the down side of course is that it is stressful and depressing. The upside is that some of the kids are really sweet, I can at least sneak in some non-commie material, it allows me to live here in L.A. (which for some reason I love) and the vacations are awesome. Oh... and it’s never boring.

[Myrddin]

My #2 son pressed me to let him attend a "magnet" school with a special program in marine biology sponsored by Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Attending meant putting him on a bus at 5:30 AM and picking him up from the bus stop at 5:30 PM M-F. The program was operated at junior high school in a predominantly hispanic neighborhood. After a few weeks, we discovered the school had lied about the program. It was one hour on alternate Thursdays. The rest of the time it was a grossly substandard babysitting operation dedicated to providing breakfast and lunch to the attendees. My son was academically head and shoulders above the rest of the kids. For that, he was pummeled daily on the playground. It's really not great to be the top fly on the manure pile. He expressed a desire return to the local neighborhood school. That request became more urgent as the local hispanic gangs applied a shotgun to the school bus. He caught up with his academics at the local neighborhood school in 3 weeks. Ultimately, he graduated with a 4.33 GPA include scores of "5" on 5 AP tests.

The kids with the gameboys and iPods should be obvious from the earphones. Keep hitting them with questions on the topic at hand. It's not fun to be embarrassed by not having the answer because you aren't paying attention. My U.S. government teacher wasn't above launching an eraser at students who didn't pay attention in class.

[A_perfect_lady]

The girls thread the earphones up under their shirts and then under their hair, so I usually can't see them. The boys have various tricks too, usually the same under-the-shirt thing and then just one earphone in. Then they lean their head on their hand covering the earphone, and pretend to be attentive. Usually I know what's up and ask them to please put that away. They put it away till I'm not looking, then put it in again. I can take it from them, but if anything happens to it (like it's stolen by some little gangster) I have to pay for it. Yes, really.

I commend your son for keeping himself together through what must have been a miserable and unnerving time. There was a boy here at this school a couple years ago, a tall, blond Russian kid named Gordy... man, that kid was smart. The Hispanics didn't like how smart he was and started planning to beat him up. One of our tough kids came after Gordy in gym one day. But darn the luck, Gordy was also into martial arts and bounced that brat's empty head off the chain link fence till his attitude changed. The gym teacher glanced over and saw Gordy cleaning clock and thought "Gosh, I should ... oh look, my shoe's untied." LOL... that was a good day. But yeah... middle school is like prison, both for the kids and the teachers.

[wintertime]

Congratulations to you and your son!

[Myrddin]

I opted to teach a microprocessor design class for 3 1/2 years at Southwestern College in Chula Vista. It was a good experience and none of my students was a government mandated captive. The K-12 bunch is there because the government mandates it.

Your "Gordy" story reminds me of my own tortured year in 4th grade. My teacher was a heinous b*tch. I'm convinced she was having an affair the the principal in retrospect. She was so frustrated with my flawless spelling grades that she literally picked me up out of my desk/chair and threw me on the floor one afternoon. Her "favorites" were a bunch of hispanic toughs in the classroom. One afternoon (after school) one of them walked up to me, grabbed the front of my shirt, twisted it and pushed me up against the chain link fence. That tipped the limit of my patience. I loosened half his mouth full of teeth with a single punch, then hung him up by his own shirt on the chain link fence post. That ended the reign of toughs in my classroom.