NYC paid out billions to minority teachers who failed teaching test, because whites did better. By Reagan Reese.
New York City is paying out $1.8 billion to thousands of black and Latino teachers who first sued in 1996 alleging the state-required Liberal Arts and Sciences Test was racially biased because white teachers were passing at a rate of 90%, while black teachers were passing at a 62% rate and Latino teachers at a 55% rate …
Already, more than half of the 4,700 plaintiffs, who were demoted or fired for failing the test, have received a payout for a total of $835 million. …
Among the teachers receiving a payout is Sylvia Alvarez, who will get a $1.1 million payout after failing the literacy test ten times and ultimately losing her job …
The Liberal Arts and Sciences Test contained 80 multiple-choice questions and one essay covering math, science, humanities, history, communication skills and other topics. An expert hired by the teachers at a 2002 trial testified that part of the discrepancy in passing rates could have been due to cultural knowledge underpinning the questions.
The racist test was at fault, because the possibility that different races have different test-taking ability is unthinkable. Genetics and natural selection only applies to other species.
They would have us believe it wasn’t the teacher’s lack of knowledge in their subjects that got them fired, but because the test is racist.
Kate Walsh, former president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, told the Daily Caller News Foundation a difference in the passing rate between different racial groups is not evidence of a racially biased test. …
“This case is a precursor to what’s going on all over the country,” Walsh told the DCNF. “It is really bad for teacher quality, but most importantly, it’s bad for kids, because teachers who are under qualified are most likely to go back in the classroom, which are predominantly black and brown teachers who are most likely to teach black and brown kids. So you repeat this vicious cycle of educational inadequacy, because that’s the harder question to address.” …
“New York is not unique by any stretch of the imagination. This is going on all over the country where there’s an assertion that because black and brown candidates for teaching don’t do as well on the exam, it’s the test’s fault and not the problem that we’ve had for years of whether or not we are educating black and brown kids to the same degree that we educate white kids,” Walsh told the DCNF.
Competence is losing out to tribalism.
Possibly related, from USA Today:
The math and reading performance of 13-year-olds in the United States has reached its lowest level in decades. This is according to test results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the gold-standard federal examination, released today.
The last time a 13-year-old’s math performance was this low was in 1990. In reading, 2004.
Achievement has declined significantly since the 2019-2020 school year, when the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the country’s education system. However, the downward trends reported today began years before the health crisis and raises questions about a decade of disappointing results for American students.
The federally standardized test, known as the NAEP, was administered last fall and focused on basic knowledge.
But they know their pronouns!
