Virginia New Achievement Standards Based On Race And Background
Virginia's new achievement standards have raised eyebrows.
Part of the state's new standards dictate a specific percentage of racial group that should pass school exams, a move that has angered the Virginia Black Caucus. The caucus' chairwoman, Democratic state Sen. Mamie Locke, says the new standards marginalize students by creating different goals for students of various backgrounds.
"Nothing is going to work for me if there is a differentiation being established for different groups of students," Locke told the Daily Press. "Whether that's race, socio-economic status or intellectual ability. If there is a differentiation, I have a problem with it."
Virginia Secretary of Education Laura Fornash disagrees with Virginia Black Caucus' assertions.
"Please be assured that the McDonnell administration does not hold a student of a particular race or income level, or those of any other subgroup, to a different standard," Fornash wrote in a three-page letter explaining the changed standards.
The standards do not pose different pass rates for different groups: regardless of race, each student has to correctly answer the same number of test questions in order to pass. The difference lies in the expectation of passing from groups of different backgrounds. The new rules were designed as part of Virginia's waiver from No Child Left Behind, along with 31 other states and Washington, D.C.
For instance, only 45 percent of black students are required to pass the math state test while 82 percent for Asian Americans, 68 percent for whites and 52 percent for Hispanics are required to pass. In reading, 92 percent of Asian students, 90 percent of white students, 80 percent of hispanic students, 76 percent of black students, and 59 percent of students with disabilities are required to pass the state exam.
The state says these percentages are based on previous pass rates for the various groups, but many school officials aren't satisfied, saying that if the state expects less performance from a particular group of students, they will lose the motivation to perform better.
Educator Carolyn J. Smith told Pilot Online that the focus should be on boosting performance in underperforming racial groups rather than expecting less.
"The ones in the lower grades, if they don't feel like they can do math, they'll give up," Smith told Virginian-Pilot columnist Roger Chelsey, "And some parents say, 'I can't do math, either.'"
This belief then becomes a legacy, according to Smith, a cycle that one has to break as early as the child's first year in school.
The issue of black and Hispanic students underperforming their Asian and white counterparts might have more to do with segregation and expectations than ability.
According to author and presidential professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Jeannie Oakes eliminating traditional tracking methods that measure performance based on race is particularly important to guaranteeing equal success among different races.
“Once we put students in groups, we give them very different opportunities to learn -- with strong patterns of inequality across teachers, experience, and competence," Oakes says. "There was this pervasive view that Latino and African American kids can’t measure up in a way that more affluent or white kids can and we can’t do anything about it.”
If the standards are set this way, students as well as teachers begin believing and fulfilling the prophesy, according to author andfreelance writer Julie Halpert.
"...With little motive to succeed academically, the children didn’t get high grades or score well on standardized tests," Halpert says. "In other words, they performed exactly as the teachers predicted, in response to the climate of low expectations."
Instead, many educators believe "detracking" or "heterogeneous or mixed-ability grouping" ensures success across racial lines. Though the practice of detracking is still contested, some educators believe lowering expectations should simply not be an option.
Mary T. Christian, a career educator and member of the Hampton NAACP's education committee, said she's shocked at the low pass rates for some groups.
"Lower expectations are detrimental to students' growth," said Mary Christian, career educator as well as former state legislator. When you lower expectations, there is no challenge. Students and teachers will do the minimum."
The Source seems to have a video that has been region-blocked, so I didn't watch it.
Virginia's new achievement standards have raised eyebrows.
Part of the state's new standards dictate a specific percentage of racial group that should pass school exams, a move that has angered the Virginia Black Caucus. The caucus' chairwoman, Democratic state Sen. Mamie Locke, says the new standards marginalize students by creating different goals for students of various backgrounds.
"Nothing is going to work for me if there is a differentiation being established for different groups of students," Locke told the Daily Press. "Whether that's race, socio-economic status or intellectual ability. If there is a differentiation, I have a problem with it."
Virginia Secretary of Education Laura Fornash disagrees with Virginia Black Caucus' assertions.
"Please be assured that the McDonnell administration does not hold a student of a particular race or income level, or those of any other subgroup, to a different standard," Fornash wrote in a three-page letter explaining the changed standards.
The standards do not pose different pass rates for different groups: regardless of race, each student has to correctly answer the same number of test questions in order to pass. The difference lies in the expectation of passing from groups of different backgrounds. The new rules were designed as part of Virginia's waiver from No Child Left Behind, along with 31 other states and Washington, D.C.
For instance, only 45 percent of black students are required to pass the math state test while 82 percent for Asian Americans, 68 percent for whites and 52 percent for Hispanics are required to pass. In reading, 92 percent of Asian students, 90 percent of white students, 80 percent of hispanic students, 76 percent of black students, and 59 percent of students with disabilities are required to pass the state exam.
The state says these percentages are based on previous pass rates for the various groups, but many school officials aren't satisfied, saying that if the state expects less performance from a particular group of students, they will lose the motivation to perform better.
Educator Carolyn J. Smith told Pilot Online that the focus should be on boosting performance in underperforming racial groups rather than expecting less.
"The ones in the lower grades, if they don't feel like they can do math, they'll give up," Smith told Virginian-Pilot columnist Roger Chelsey, "And some parents say, 'I can't do math, either.'"
This belief then becomes a legacy, according to Smith, a cycle that one has to break as early as the child's first year in school.
The issue of black and Hispanic students underperforming their Asian and white counterparts might have more to do with segregation and expectations than ability.
According to author and presidential professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Jeannie Oakes eliminating traditional tracking methods that measure performance based on race is particularly important to guaranteeing equal success among different races.
“Once we put students in groups, we give them very different opportunities to learn -- with strong patterns of inequality across teachers, experience, and competence," Oakes says. "There was this pervasive view that Latino and African American kids can’t measure up in a way that more affluent or white kids can and we can’t do anything about it.”
If the standards are set this way, students as well as teachers begin believing and fulfilling the prophesy, according to author andfreelance writer Julie Halpert.
"...With little motive to succeed academically, the children didn’t get high grades or score well on standardized tests," Halpert says. "In other words, they performed exactly as the teachers predicted, in response to the climate of low expectations."
Instead, many educators believe "detracking" or "heterogeneous or mixed-ability grouping" ensures success across racial lines. Though the practice of detracking is still contested, some educators believe lowering expectations should simply not be an option.
Mary T. Christian, a career educator and member of the Hampton NAACP's education committee, said she's shocked at the low pass rates for some groups.
"Lower expectations are detrimental to students' growth," said Mary Christian, career educator as well as former state legislator. When you lower expectations, there is no challenge. Students and teachers will do the minimum."
The Source seems to have a video that has been region-blocked, so I didn't watch it.
No, they will based it on how they look really.
A lot of biracial or multiracial kids with Black ancestry and look Black will tell you that they will be treated no differently than a Black person who have no or distant multiracial ties. Look at Obama or even Tiger Woods. Both have multiracial background but never treated anything other than a Black man (and why Obama refers himself as a Black man because a vast majority will never acknowledge he is biracial.)
It's sad, but that's the truth.
Kids usually self-identify on these tests, though (or at least we definitely did in Colorado in 2008 when I took my last CSAP) so I'm thinking one of two things will happen:
1. There won't be a box for "mixed" and if they check more than one box it will invalidate their test. This is sadly a common problem.
or
2. Kids will be allowed to check more than one box, but what they're actually counted as for the purposes will of this test will be determined by whether they pass or fail.
Both of these possibilities are incredibly fucked up.
Edited at 2012-08-27 03:40 am (UTC)
My thought though is that it really isn't looks that make people who are multiracial different from racial group A or B. I think their greatest advantage is the mindset and values that they're likely to adopt from growing up with two or more cultural influences in the household. This makes it easier for them to wield those intangible advantages that allow people to work easily with different groups of people. One observation I've had is that while people from mono-racial backgrounds seem to naturally gravitate towards people who are from similar backgrounds, most people from multiracial backgrounds are very good at easily striking up friendships with people from different backgrounds which expands their social capital.
As for the standardized test stuff, which is a different issue, I recall hearing that if you don't have someone check boxes that include their sex or other identifying information that reminds them they're not supposed to do well on a test, they'll actually perform better. It's an interesting thought. The CSAPs were implemented exactly one class behind me, so I was in the last class that graduated without ever having to take the CSAPs. :-/
But I guess that how different racial groups are perceived depends on the location one lives in. The thing with Obama/Tiger Woods is that they're celebrities, so everyone on the planet knows who their parents are when they're categorizing those two.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wale
So if you know any multiracial kids who are feeling bad about their experiences (I'm assuming that's where you've obtained your views), you should pass this along to cheer them up. :-)