Facebook Factcheckers Are Wrong: An Illinois School Is Changing Grading Based On Race

[Kamaji]

Facebook Factcheckers Are Wrong: An Illinois School Is Changing Grading Based On Race

There is a very clear reason school administrators are implementing these changes, and it has everything to do with race.

BY: ELIZABETH BAUER
JUNE 06, 2022

Last week, a report appeared in the online news site West Cook News, with the headline “OPRF to implement race-based grading system in 2022-23 school year.” It spread like wildfire on Twitter, only to be “debunked” by just as many people, including Don Moynihan, who subsequently wrote on his Substack that “There is no race-based grading or no plans to grade students using different standards according to race.”

On Tuesday, the school district, Oak Park River Forest High School posted a statement on their website, categorically claiming the report was false. By Wednesday, Facebook had declared the article to be fake news and was placing warnings on it.

But as is often the case, it just isn’t that simple. First, the opening paragraph of the original article states: “Oak Park and River Forest High School administrators will require teachers next school year to adjust their classroom grading scales to account for the skin color or ethnicity of its students.”

If one interprets this in a simplistic fashion, that interpretation is indeed false. OPRF is not giving black students bonus points in their grades, nor are they subtracting points from the grades of white or Asian students. But is that what the article really says? The article continues,

School board members discussed the plan called ‘Transformative Education Professional Development & Grading’ at a meeting on May 26, presented by Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Laurie Fiorenza.

In an effort to equalize test scores among racial groups, OPRF will order its teachers to exclude from their grading assessments variables it says disproportionally hurt the grades of black students. They can no longer be docked for missing class, misbehaving in school or failing to turn in their assignments, according to the plan.

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Yes, This Is Totally About Race
There is a very clear reason school administrators are implementing these changes, and it has everything to do with race. As the last slide states, “Oak Park and River Forest High School administration and faculty will examine grading and reporting practices in academic and elective courses utilizing evidence-backed research and the racial equity analysis tool.”

The phrase “racial equity analysis tool” has a specific meaning. As described on the Seattle Public Schools website, which appears to be the originator of the tool, “The Racial Equity Analysis Tool lays out a clear process and a set of questions to guide the development, implementation and evaluation of significant policies, initiatives, professional development, programs, instructional practices, and budget issues to address the impacts on racial equity.”

In the tool itself, we further read, “The Racial Equity Analysis Toolkit provides a set of guiding questions to determine if existing and proposed policies, budgetary decisions, programs, professional development and instructional practices are likely to close the opportunity gap for specific racial groups in Seattle Public Schools.”

In other words, when OPRF administrators state they are using the “racial equity analysis tool” in revising grading practices, this means they are making these changes with the objective of reducing the gaps between high-achieving-ethnicity and low-achieving-ethnicity children.

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Source:  https://thefederalist.com/2022/06/06/facebook-factcheckers-are-wrong-an-illinois-school-is-changing-grading-based-on-race/