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School Board drops study on race
Members of the Fairfax County School Board voted unanimously Thursday night to abolish a controversial staff report that measured the work habits and moral character of county students by race.Two months ago the "Student Achievement Goals Monitoring Report" was presented to the school board for determination on whether it was acceptable and could be used to accurately measure the progress of students.
In hindsight, the report "should have never seen the light of day," said Providence District school board member Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner.
Board member Brad Center (Lee District) said he was "stunned" by the direction the study took, even though "The essence of what [the school board is] trying to do, I think, is sound."
In 2006, the school board defined three overall goals for students, which, if successfully implemented, would result in a well-rounded member of society.
Those goals would ensure that students would be academically proficient in core classes, would use "essential life skills" to lead productive lives and would be responsible stewards of their community.
Student achievement was measured by FCPS staff by evaluating "indicators" such as academic report cards, student surveys and disciplinary incidents.
In the report presented to the board, black and Hispanic students fell behind from their white and Asian counterparts in the areas of "sound moral character and ethical judgment."
For instance, according to the report, 70 percent of black third-graders and 78 percent of Hispanic third graders received "good" or "outstanding" on their elementary school progress reports, while both white and Asian third-graders tied at 89 percent.
After the board postponed action on the report, many board members received impassioned e-mails and calls from groups and members of the community.
"I think we were surprised and disappointed," by the report, said school board Chairman Dan Storck (Mount Vernon), adding that the school system is multiracial and "ethnic and there's differences in all of us that need to be supported and encouraged."
"This is a good news story," said at-large member Martina Hone. "It has forced us all to think."
"In the report presented to the board, black and Hispanic students fell behind from their white and Asian counterparts in the areas of "sound moral character and ethical judgment." So FCPS Board commissions this report, the report comes back with its findings, and the FCPS Board says "the report should have never seen the light of day," AND, these are the people charted with the education of our children; what-a-bunch-of-idiots.
Posted by Gbaxter
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