[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
ObamaNation See other ObamaNation Articles Title: Why Can Only 6 Of Every 100 Chicago Black Students Do Math At Grade Level? Chicago Mayoral Candidate Johnson Offers Some Clues By Ted Dabrowski of Wirepoints If youre looking to make sense of why so few Chicago Public School students can read and do math at grade level, youll want to listen to Brandon Johnsons words from a 2018 talk he gave along with author Mark Warren, a former professor at Harvard, and Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground. Johnsons views on education matter because he could be the next mayor of Chicago. Equally important is that the Chicago Teachers Union has donated more than $2 million to his campaign. Its the CTUs philosophy, in part inspired by Johnsons ideology, that for decades has run CPS schools. Today just 1 in 10 black CPS students can read at grade level and only 1 in 20 are proficient in math. If Johnson a former CPS teacher and now a CTU organizer takes control of City Hall, you can count on even more of the unions influence. Less testing, less homework, lower expectations and more passing of kids along to the next grade, whether theyre ready or not. Brandon Johnson has already told us he wants to rebel against the structure. The talk in question was published on YouTube by Midwest Socialist, a publication of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. Johnson is asked a question (45:38) regarding the politics around education and how he handled conflicts between his personal philosophy and the requirements of the education system in particular because Johnson taught at a selective enrollment school. His response: I taught at Westinghouse. Westinghouse was a selective enrollment school. That is in conflict with my philosophy. Its actually a contradiction, its hypocritical. Im teaching in a structure that actually weeds out a certain element of my neighborhood. One of the ways I would deal with it, was, I believe I had an additional responsibility to challenge those of us who taught in selective enrollment schools. So one of the things that I did personally, its why I began to really push for opting out and not buying into the standardization of our public schools. Sometimes my colleagues actually had a tough time with the way I taught. I spent less time offering tests to my students. They were frustrated. I taught at a selective enrollment school much like I taught at a neighborhood school, I used a lot of inquiry based and I would challenge my honor students in particular to think beyond whatever it is theyre able to remember, theyre ability to just regurgitate. But I also had to challenge myself. Seeing a school within a school system that provides more for a particular segment of our population is most frustrating because when those students succeed at a selective enrollment school, particularly black students, what ends up happening is, all other black students who dont meet those same standards get shamed. See, so and so made it out, whats your problem? How come you cant do it, these students are doing it? And so what it taught me, though, was pushing to eliminate some of the standardization of our public schools. My students, sometimes, would get frustrated. I didnt offer any of the test prep that my other colleagues were pushing at the time. I was pushing our administration to move away from it. To be quite frank with you, I didnt issue a lot of homework for students. That was my own way of rebelling against the structure. I dont think I ever gave a kid an F. I dont know how a student sits in front of you and fails. I know some professors may find that slightly troubling
I think the last thing is, it actually gave me that much more motivation to actually leave the class and become a full-time organizer with the CTU
Some takeaways. First, you cant disagree with everything Johnson says. Too much standardization in schools isnt good, especially if it overtakes the system. And who can disagree with inquiry-based thinking? But this isnt some idealistic teacher talking about improving his students chances by challenging them on the virtues of merit, achievement and excellence. Rather, its a CTU organizer talking about how troubling it is to hold children to specific, measurable standards. Forget testing, forget grades, forget homework. He was a teacher willing to undermine the selective enrollment school where he worked at the expense of his own students. Its a destructive mindset. Instead of raising all students up, Johnson would rather tear down high-achieving students for the sake of equity. For more evidence, Johnson said in 2020, part of it is removing ourselves away from this, you know, state-sponsored policing, but also the tools that have been placed against Black folks that have been used violently, whether its policing, or administering standardized tests, or
around how white supremacy finds its way in every facet of our lives, that we have to fight and resist that. His type of thinking is what for decades has led to a dismissiveness of standards, leaving the overwhelming majority of black 3rd-grade CPS students unable to pass basic reading tests. Less than 10% of black 3rd-graders read at grade level based on the most recent Illinois Assessment of Readiness test. Its even worse for math readiness. And if standards dont matter as Johnson appears to imply then its no big deal for schools to just move kids through the system, whether they can read or not. Social promotion, its called. If teachers cant and wont fail a student for a lack of performance, then theyll just automatically move students on to the next grade. Which is exactly whats happening. Check out reading ability grade by grade for Chicagos black students. The system fails them year after year after year after year. By 11th grade, just 10 percent of black students can read at grade level on the SAT. The rejection of standards doesnt end there. Nearly 80% of those black students in 11th grade end up graduating accompanied by the self-congratulations of Chicagos leadership. And thats not the only way accountability is bastardized and the failure covered up. The CTU makes sure its members and schools are protected regardless of student outcomes. 98% of CPS teachers were rated proficient or excellent in 2020. 100% of teachers got the same rating in 2021. And in 2022, 84% of all evaluated CPS teachers were rated either proficient or excellent. Schools, too, get protected under updated state board of education measurements. School ratings arent based on whether kids can read or do math but instead on improvements. Its how black-majority schools in Englewood and Bronzeville can have zero students reading at grade level not even one student and yet still get commendable ratings from the state board. A commendable rating is the states second best rating and is for a school that has no underperforming student groups, a graduation rate greater than 67%
No, Johnson alone doesnt own the mess the CTU has made for decades, a mess we reported on in detail in Why the Chicago Teachers Union Always Gets What It Wants. But based on his own words, Johnson is ready and willing to take the unions extreme positions even further. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Horse (#0)
Grade Level is calibrated toward an IQ score of 100.
I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I dont care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it. My affections, being concentrated over a few people, are not spread all over Hell in a vile attempt to placate sulky, worthless shits. - William S Burroughs
|
||
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|