High school students in Oregon will not have to demonstrate basic proficiency in reading, writing or math to graduate for at least five more years because, according to education officials, such requirements are unnecessary and disproportionately harm students of color.
“At some point … our diplomas will look more like a gift of participation than an actual certificate that shows that someone is actually ready to pursue their best future,” former Oregon gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan told Fox News.
Essential skills requirements have been on hold since the coronavirus outbreak, and last week the Oregon State Board of Education voted unanimously to continue delaying graduation requirements through the 2027-2028 school year.
Under that condition, 11th graders have to demonstrate proficiency in essential subjects through standardized tests or work samples.
Students who fail to meet expectations are required to take additional math and writing classes in their senior year — thereby forfeiting an elective — in order to graduate.
Christine Drazan said at some point a diploma will look like “a participation gift rather than an actual certificate that shows that someone is actually ready to pursue their best future.”
Board members say the standards are unnecessary and harm marginalized students because higher rates of students of color, students with disabilities and students who learn English as a second language end up having to take extra steps to prove they deserve a diploma, The Oregonian reported.
Hundreds of people posted public comments opposing the move and urging the board to reinstate the standard.
Many of the comments were generated from a call to action from Drazan’s advocacy group, A New Direction Oregon.
High school students in Oregon will not have to prove proficiency in math, reading or writing to graduate until at least 2029 after the state board of education extended the suspension of essential skills requirements. Fox News
Board Chair Guadalupe Martinez Zapata previously described the opposition as a “disinformation campaign” and “mental acrobatics of artistic quality.”
“If they are not automatically discredited by the myopic analysis and the bigotry that follows them,” said Martinez Zapata in the meeting at the end of September, adding that “the rhetoric about cultural and social norms becomes the fundamental reason for the low performance in the assessment by systemically marginalized students.” remember the “racial superiority argument.”
“It’s not bigoted, it’s not racist to want your students to actually be able to learn,” said Drazan, who ran for Republican governor in Oregon last year, losing to Democrat Tina Kotek by less than 4% of the vote.
Board Chairwoman Guadalupe Martinez Zapata described the opposition as a “disinformation campaign.” Oregon.gov
Oregon has one of the lowest graduation rates compared to other states, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting, but also has among the strictest credit requirements.
“I think there’s an assumption here that teachers are just graduating students, who don’t have the necessary competencies and I don’t know what the reasoning is,” state Sen. Michael Dembrow told the Oregon Capital Chronicle. Dembrow was on the Board of Education in 2008 when the essential skills requirement was initially passed.
But Drazan argued that Oregon is slipping on standards across the board, with state education officials considering “equity grading” in place of the traditional A to F scale.
“They are now moving forward with an agenda that says if you cheat, you can’t be dismissed. If you don’t show up, you won’t get zero,” he said. “They won’t have homework that they grade because having homework somehow they see as unfair.”
Drazan encouraged concerned parents to present their cases to Kotek’s office, which appoints members of the board of education.
“He needs to make the board more responsive to the concerns of families, students and stakeholders than it is now,” Drazan said.
Kotek’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
