The Voice of San Francisco is reporting that San Francisco Board of Education Superintendent Maria Su has found a solution for the declining scores in the public schools: lowering the standards for better grades. It is known as the New Grading for Equity plan. That is far easier than actually teaching students to meet basic proficiency levels. Even in the uber-liberal district, parents were outraged and there are reports that the plan is now dead.
The Voice reports that:
Superintendent of Schools Maria Su plans to unveil a new Grading for Equity plan on Tuesday that will go into effect this fall at 14 high schools and cover over 10,000 students. The school district is already negotiating with an outside consultant to train teachers in August in a system that awards a passing C grade to as low as a score of 41 on a 100-point exam.
…It is buried in a three-word phrase on the last page of a PowerPoint presentation embedded in the school board meeting’s 25-page agenda…While the school district acknowledges that parent aversion to this grading approach is typically high and understands the need for “vigilant communication,” outreach to parents has been minimal and may be nonexistent….
Grading for Equity eliminates homework or weekly tests from being counted in a student’s final semester grade. All that matters is how the student scores on a final examination, which can be taken multiple times. Students can be late turning in an assignment or showing up to class or not showing up at all without it affecting their academic grade. Currently, a student needs a 90 for an A and at least 61 for a D. Under the San Leandro Unified School District’s grading for equity system touted by the San Francisco Unified School District and its consultant, a student with a score as low as 80 can attain an A and as low as 21 can pass with a D.
It is grading for equity rather than education.
The school district is not the first to “solve” the problem by lowering standards to guarantee greater success.
Public educators have continued to lower proficiency requirements and cancel gifted programs to “even the playing field.” The result has been to further hide the dismal scores and educational standards of many public school districts.
Teachers and school boards are killing the institution of public education by treating children and parents more like captives than consumers. They are force-feeding social and political priorities, including passes for engaging in approved protests.
Faced with abysmal scores, particularly for minority students, school boards and union officials have called for lowering or suspending proficiency standards or declared meritocracy to be a form of “white supremacy.” Gifted and talented programs are being eliminated in the name of “equity.”
At the same time, we have previously discussed how schools have been dropping the use of standardized tests to achieve diversity goals in admissions. Cal State dropped standardized testing “to level the playing field” for minority students.
The result is that colleges and universities are dealing with students who lack proficiency in basic subjects. This year, Harvard University was forced to introduce remedial, high-school-level math courses for its students due to falling scholastic standards.
Notably, this “Grading for Equity” plan was not revealed to the public, as the district reportedly set about training teachers on the plan while preparing for the likely backlash. All of this was easier than getting the teachers and their union to improve their performance. San Francisco has the third-largest expenditures per student at $23,654. Yet, they wanted to lower the standards to improve their statistical success artificially.
Of course, the losers will remain the students who graduate without basic proficiencies in an increasingly difficult job market. These administrators and teachers are leaving them in the same vicious cycle with little real opportunity to escape.
Yet, these same unions and teachers oppose every effort to fund vouchers to allow families to seek schools that can offer their children a real future. Democratic politicians have joined that opposition in preserving this failing system. The status quo has remained unchanged in these major cities for decades, as politicians replicate the same generational failures.
Praise the teachers and school administrators! They have recognized that there is a vast underrepresentation of the Epsilon caste and have moved decisively.
And how is this deft moved accomplished? At the risk of making it appear that they are really not doing their job of teaching, the teachers are steadily guiding kids that are potentially Alphas and Betas to the Epsilon caste. Upstarts that the teachers think have too much self-motivation and will not readily achieve composure at the Epsilon level will be placated with Gamma or Delta status. Thus, the Brave New World of DEI achieves full balance by the hard work of our teachers (and Harvard, of course)!!
The theoretical question: SFO citizens, WTH is wrong with you that you pay tax money for this kind of mental pygmy work to be carried out upon your kids? Have you so little self-respect that you allow someone claiming to be an educator to ruin your kid’s lives?
Meanwhile China sends students to Los Alamos National Laboratory to experiment with:
>Miniature electromagnetic atomic neutron bombs
>Hypersonic missiles
>Laser cannons
>Doomsday killer satellites
Then Chinese students return to mainland China, receive $1 million dollars & are promoted to Army General.
This idea initially came out of the GWBush admin and they called it: No Child Left Behind. It really translates into no child gets ahead. It’s like they’re afraid to identify the kids who can’t read or do math and put them in a class that focuses on their weaknesses. No, just throw them in with the kids who are making it and drag everybody to the bottom.
No child gets ahead. 😂.
Dear Mr. Turley, When I was in school, graduated in 1977, the huge decline in the public schools was already underway. Standards had been lowered then. I remember the black children not wanting to participate in classroom discussions nor gym class. the lowering of standards has to do with the white elites coddling the black students. No, I am not racist..I am a witness to it.
Cut down the redwoods and then everybody looks like a dogwood. Voila! Equality!
And you guys said it would be hard.
Well, under my plan, true equity is achieved. Simply place individual papers with a grade on each in a hat, and have the students draw for their grades. Equity achieved! When they apply for jobs, and reveal their illiteracy and innumeracy, they can explain, “But, we have equity.”
The message is clear. Hey little kiddies you don’t have to try hard at anything and you will still receive a sticker for your lack of accomplishment. Don’t worry. When you grow up we’ll blame the big bad Capitalists for the standard of living that you and your teachers created for yourselves. They’re training future socialist protesters who will then blame everyone but themselves and what their so called educators did to them when they were in school. They want you to think that they are protecting the children but what they are really doing is protecting themselves at the expense of the children. It’s just a coverup of the “F” grade that they have received on the test that evaluates their ability to teach your children what they need to know to make a decent living in a competitive world. Self interest is what is true. You often hear that they are asking for higher wages to not teach your children. Yea right, it’s all about the children don’t ya know?
Who knew Idiocracy wasn’t a comedy but was a documentary instead?
CURRENT
Scary isn’t it.
The dumbing down of America. These people will bring us down to the lowest common denominator. We will all be equally stupid.
Yes exactly.
Perfect candidates to fill all the low skill jobs Trump is bringing back from China to Make America Great Again.
Go MAGA !!!!!!!
I guess this means that applicants for schools and employment will have to start listing every school they ever attended so that those who are unfortunate enough to go to San Fran schools can be immediately round-filed.
It’s a viscous circle. They produce uneducated kids who grow up and get jobs based upon their fake academic accomplishments. Their future employers find out that it was all a lie but then they can’t fire them because of equity requirements. The result is that either nothing gets done or what gets done is of inferior quality. I can remember when service with a smile was a good thing but now service with a smile doesn’t exist because when people ask for help they get frustrated at the person who can’t help them because of their incompetency. If you don’t know who to blame you’re just not paying attention.
Think
Just think about it. These fools will be great for Government work. Yuck.
“Just think about it. These fools will be great for Government work.”
They are already there. They are Trump’s government officers. Noem doesn’t know what Habeas Corpus is. Rob Kennedy Jr. has no idea how biology works. FBI direcctor doesn’t understand deadlines. Trump doesn’t understand how Tariffs work. I will have to agree with you. Trump’s government is a ship of fools, no a supertanker full of fools.
George….. Be quiet The last person to tell us about how Tariffs or aircraft work…
You just like to make noise and nothing more.
You seem triggered. Maybe a cup of coffee would do you some good.
No, YOU seem to have adopted that responsive strategy from other posters, e.g., OMFK and Dustoff, who told you to go feed the pigeons, take a nap, take two aspirin, etc.
Not an original thought in your head.
The schools today are already getting a grade F themselves. They DO NOT teach our kids anything today. Things are only going to get worse by dumbing them down even more. I totally agree with the person who said we are heading towards being a 3rd world country. Sadly, we are well on our way. Our kids can’t read. They can’t do math. They don’t know history or science or geography. They don’t know how to read or write cursive. The schools today are USELESS!
But we really don’t need schools at all now.
All we need is a lot of uneducated people for the low skill jobs that Trump is bringing back from China to Make America Great Again
Go MAGA !!!!!!!
You said that below. It is the Left that is dumbing down schools and opposing school choice. The Left always projects.
PS the need for skilled trades is an objective fact. And if Trump’s policies create more job opportunities for Americans that is a good thing. Or do you favor high unemployment rates?
OMFK
So now you are complaining because the “LEFT” is doing what Trump wants by producing a lot of uneducated people for the low skill jobs he is bringing back from China.
Make up your mind !!!
Maybe the ” LEFT” has seen the light and has come into the MAGA fold.
YES you fool the left.
Notice San Fran and now Oregon too.
Oldman
Anonymous is proving just how stupid lib/dems really are. We do know one thing for-sure. They have no idea who/what a women is.
That says it all.
Dustoff
Classic response of stupid people.
When you know you are defeated, then change the subject and obfuscate.
Try again
Ano
Classic response of stupid people.
Coming from you is a gas.
Try harder
Mr. Anonymous: It is the industries that make America powerful, not the skill level of the jobs.
I’m so glad you agree with me.
The skill level of the jobs is irrelevant.
We just need vast numbers of unskilled workers to fill the low skill jobs so that the powerful American industries can make huge profits on the backs of uneducated.
After all, the only thing that really matters is the huge profits of the powerful American industries.
Right ???????
Go MAGA !!!!!!
We do not have “powerful industries” if the physical and human capital necessary for manufacturing are located outside this country. MAGA understands this. DNC trolls do not understand this.
edwardmahl
Exactly, you really do agree with me.
To become more “powerful”, American industries have to bring all those low skill, low wage jobs back to this country.
The San Francisco school district is doing its part to produce the poorly educated kids needed to fill those jobs that Trump is going to bring back to America.
Go MAGA !!!!!
edwarmahl,
“It is the industries that make America powerful, not the skill level of the jobs.”
What industries? We don’t have real industry to compete with China. We need skilled workers and that is something China has in abundance, like in the millions. We don’t have that and that is why manufacturing won’t come back. We are much closer to Saudi Arabia where menial labor or low skilled labor is looked down on as work for the ‘others.’
We need skilled workers and that is something China has in abundance.
Tell that to the people when the China buildings fall down.
American companies will train workers to become skilled, if they commit to making things in this country. We need to protect them from unfair trade practices, ease tax and regulatory and legal burdens, and encourage investment in this country through moral suasion, as Trump has done. There are already reports of companies increasing their investments in this country.
Yawn…. we can see what school you went to.
I will take President Trump any day, everyday over Biden!
Then you must be absolutely delighted with the San Francisco school district.
They are going to produce lots of poorly educated kids to fill the low wage jobs that Trump is bringing back from China to Make America Great Again.
Go MAGA !!!!!
I escaped California 25 years ago, and hope to NEVER ever go back again.
* untrue, schools feed your children and babysit.
🙂 🙂 🙂 True, but NOT what I want the schools to do.
Yet, these same unions and teachers oppose every effort to fund vouchers . . .
School choice breaks their monopoly so naturally they oppose.* But have no fear, the “big beautiful bill” has $5 billion for school choice, which no state or union can do anything about.
*They’re “pro choice” on baby killing but anti-choice on where a child, if it is born, goes to school. Both positions are driven by money.
OMFK
That $5 billion for school choice is totally wasted.
It should be zeroed out.
We don’t need to educate kids anymore.
We just need a lot of uneducated people for the low skill jobs Trump is bringing back from China.
Go MAGA !!!!!!
Typical Marxist thinking, that the pie can’t grow. Your commuy overlords have trained you well.
Wait !!!!!
I’m confused.
Doing Trump’s bidding by producing the much needed uneducated workforce for all the low skill jobs is Marxist thinking.
So Trump is clearly a Marxist.
LOL… Yeah you sure are confused. Try re-reading the story again, and notice the city and who runs it.
Democrats create uneducated workers and you’re saying its Marxist for Trump to get jobs for them? If so, good news for you, a job for you is on the way. Then you can pay into funding the things you waste my money on.
* It’s a technology disruption. There’s been a leap into a different knowledge set and what a population can do as work. It makes many jobs obsolete while creating jobs without an educated workforce.
Teach cursive someone said? There’s a font anyone could want on your computer and in any color, embossed or embellished. Cursive is relegated to an art now as calligraphy or scratchings on a stone tablet made by hand. It happened before in the industrial revolution.
I’ve examined the scope and sequence by level of States standards geared by the feds in frameworks. They were for children with average to above average intelligence and required teachers who understood it and textbook companies that adequately understood, as well. There were/are none who implemented it.
You do have major problems. There are 12 year old immigrants who’ve never been to school anywhere and ESL. It’s a mess.
What exactly is the problem here ????
Us MAGA don’t need no fancy book learning.
What we need is lots of poorly educated, low skill people for all the low wage jobs that Trump is bringing back from China.
The school district is just doing its part to Make America Great Again.
Go MAGA !!!!!!
Exactly.
Kids don’t need to prepare for college.
Trump is going to shut down the universities and give the money to trade schools.
Go MAGA !!!!!!
Some public highschools are bringing back shop classes. Good idea.
However, let’s hope that future medical colleges graduate surgeons who know how to stop a hemorrhage…
Or how to take a pulse without a machine
You bet. Today, a carpenter is worth more than a PhD in gender studies.
I was always against the closing of the asylums. Anonymous, you are a constant reminder. At least, get back on your meds.
If only well-educated democrats voted, we would never have been in the mess we’re in with the schools, economy, crime, etc. But because you and your education-level ilk vote democrat, we have to deal with a huge mess you created
* The US via census has always provided jobs to populations as a just service. Yes, no skill jobs are badly needed now and while juggling a wage of 20 thou per year domestic with 5oo dollar per year wages in China, India and elsewhere with huge populations of no skill people. In fact, the US was so good at it there were at least 10 options for each person including Walmart greeters.
Literacy today is in technology. Unfortunately there isn’t a moral foundation to be found. Do you people really understand the drug of choice for your children is anesthesia? Fentanyl.
Nice talking but must get back to sanding. Btw, someone really needs to investigate the Episcopal archdiocese for confiscation of property, fraud, forgery and counterfeit.
American is on a trajectory to becoming a third-world country. Progressives in charge of the US education system are creating generations of illiterate and ignorant students who are trained about how not to misgender, but cannot do basic math. I think we have already crossed the Rubicon.
But we need those ignorant illiterate kids for the low skill jobs Trump is bringing back from China to Make America Great Again.
But maybe you don’t want to Make America Great Again.
Go MAGA !!!!!!
This year, Harvard University was forced to introduce remedial, high-school-level math courses for its students due to falling scholastic standards.
Harvard feels the need to “look like America” in terms of skin tones, but as we read yesterday, inasmuch as it is an elite school, it doesn’t have to “look like America” in terms of viewpoint diversity.
This is where we are headed:
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the prosecutor contends that my client embezzled funds. But he did no such thing, he only engaged in a practice known to academics as “distributing for equity.”
This is a perfect example of the predictions made by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt in her 1999 book, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, and to think that Iserbyt was publicly tarred as a lunatic conspiracy theorist.
Turley doesn’t seem to understand the purpose of equity-based grading. Turley and most parents upset about this are judging this by comparing it to how things were when they were in school. Because it “worked” when they were in school, it does not mean it is still the best way to educate. The current approach to education in this country is a one-size-fits-all education. We expect all kids to meet all the standards and learn at the same pace regardless of socioeconomic or racial status. Conservatives see education as simple and that every student should be able to learn everything by a specific time, age, or universal standard. The reality, however, does not align with that view, and when it doesn’t, they seek to blame it on liberals or the progressives because they comprise the majority of educators. Things are not simple and that is especially true of education.
Turley and most critics of the equity grading system don’t understand that students learn at different paces and levels. Not all learn through lectures or homework, and not every student is good at math or reading. We don’t expect adults to know everything at some standard level, but we expect kids to know everything they have been taught?
Those parents freaking out about equity-based grading are doing so because educators have not done a good job communicating exactly what it is. That makes it easy for people like Turley, who know no better than to mislead the narrative into something that’s not based on reality or proper context.
Turley seems to think that every student learns at the same pace or that coming from a low-income family or a different ethnic background affects learning ability. Years of research and testing have shown that this is not the case.
You nim-rod.
Oregon schools doesn’t even use the grade of F anymore. Or teach math.
Please explain george how in the heck that’s a good idea for school kids.
I don’t understand. If a student is learning at a slower pace or isn’t “good at math”, you’re saying we should give them a passing grade anyway and promote them forward? How does that help the situation in any way? If a student can’t do math, they shouldn’t get a passing grade in math. Taking into account all you said, the proper response would be that they get a failing grade, and then are moved into a remedial track to help them learn. Simply lowering the standards for a passing grade is the exact opposite of helping the student learn at the proper pace. In fact, you’re just compounding the problem, since at the next year, they’re going to be even further behind going forward. Indeed, since the student is getting a passing grade, they will not receive the remedial teaching help that they clearly need!
The ONLY people “equity grading” actually helps are the school administrators who get to tout that they increased grade point averages.
That you don’t understand says everything about you. No, I’m not saying we should just given them a passing grade. That’s not the purpose of equity-based grading.
Kids get failing grades when they get into higher level math that they are not good at. You’re still assuming that every kid should be graded based on a one-size-fits-all standard. It is now known that many kids don’t meet that standard because they require a different approach. You grade based on what they ultimately learn on subjects they are more likely to have an easier time with. Not everyone is going to be good at everything at a the same level. Just as you’re not expected to be knowledgable about everything at a high school level because nobody really is when they leave high school.
As an adult you take interest in something and on your own seek to know everything about a certain subject or skill that you find attractive. Right? You’re not going to like learning everything you know about a subject you have zero interest in. Correct? Kids are the same way. The very basics everyone can master but after a certain point interests become more focused and education should be focusing what kids are really good at and build from there. If certain math is required don’t make them learn every single method. Just what they need for the skill set they will be using.
It’s the same concept with sports. You don’t force athletes to be proficient in every sport to succeed.
That does not make any sense. Let’s go with your sports analogy. Let’s say we have someone good at soccer, but bad at tennis. Then they go to play tennis. Do you just declare that they win the tennis match because they’re good at soccer? Of course not. Skill differentiation is irrelevant here. The grade is in the subject in question, not “all subjects combined”. So to stretch this analogy, we’d be talking about someone who gets an A in soccer and an F in Tennis. You don’t simply declare that they should pass their tennis course because they’re good at soccer.
If someone cannot do algebra, you don’t give them a passing grade in algebra. And that is what this “equity grading” does. It says you only need a 21 out of 100 to pass. And 21 out of 100 is not proficiency. Equity grading is not about a “different approach” to teaching. It is quite literally giving people passing grades who don’t understand the material, and promoting them forward to the next class. If they get a 25 out of 100 in Algebra I, then they’re definitely not going to do any better the next year in Algebra II. So it’s important that the grading is objective, so that you know that the student needs more help.
Your analogy of different interests and skills breaks down further when you look at the data and realize that it is far more likely that these students are failing to succeed across the board. Most of the time it isn’t a gifted writer who fails at algebra. It is a student who can’t do both.
And this is even more perverse with your comparison to an adult’s interests. We’re talking about basic proficiency here. Frighteningly often, it comes down to simple literacy that isn’t even being reached. These are skills that everyone should have a base level understanding of. That’s the whole point of the public school system.
If our young, vulnerable “minority” students can quickly learn how to maneuver PlayStation and Roblox, remotely order from DoorDash and Sephora, spend hours with their rapidly flexing fingers on Snap Chat, physically coordinate their bodies for Vibe Dancing on TikTok, and manage to land a Sky Hook shot on the basketball court, and be able to sit still long enough to have their hair braided into elaborate patterns, –they should have no trouble with the basis Three Rs.
I have many times mentioned on this blog site the “reducing to the lowest common denominator” factor in representing the population en masse. Disgusting.
can they do math, or balance a check book. It appears to be no.
Mornin’ Dustoff. Yes, that’s the point. Their brains are capable of doing what you suggest, but they instead focus on refinement of the other skills, with impunity. No homework for parents to check, no monitoring of off-limits Internet or social media sites, no remorse for failing grades. Just more excuses: it’s the curricula; it’s the teachers; it’s global warming to blame. (p.s. my use of “minority students” refers to the ones that were pulling everyone down, although racial minorities represent a palpable presence.)
Rather than force students who are not going to be good at one skill or subject matter why not focus on what they are really good at and finesse it to where it would be useful as a skill to gain employment or start a business?
Remember when people used to ridicule skills learned using video games? Now it’s being used in warfare. Drones are very much a video game skill set that is apparently very valuable in some industries. Some create new music or skill sets that were once deemed useless when the internet didn’t exist are now valuable.
What some learned or were educated in their youth may no longer be relevant to today’s high tech and rapidly changing society.
georgie, the objections were to PLAYING video games, not creating them. Instead of running around outside and staying physically fit, kids were sitting on their butts all day, damaging their eyes from video screens, gulping down processed fast food and drinks while they played,. The smart CREATORs of those video games were not the dumb ones; they knew they were creating an easy captive audience living in a fantasy world.
I didnt’ say anything about creating them. I said those who play them bring a certain skill set that is relevant in today’s world of drones and other video game related skills.
You’re obviously of the generation that didn’t benefit from it.
Creators are one skill set. Players are another. This was even used to prove that a teen playing a racing game could in real life could adapt those skills. Ukrainian teens learned to use drones as weapons and use them with astounding precision to disable multi-million dollar tanks and other warfare.
You’re an example of what is no longer relevant in today’s world. Thinking kids shouldn’t be doing what they do best just because you don’t think it’s worthwhile. They have been proving it in real world applications. Even Elon Musk acknowledges this. That’s why he doesn’t emphasize a college education as being an important criteria. If he sees talent that is useful he will take that and use it to his full advantage.
Not all kids can do all those things. Some are more talented than others, which also applies to the basics. Not every student learns at the same pace or can learn things with a one-size-fits-all approach.
Just because one kid is a whiz at gaming or braiding hair in ways even adults can’t does not mean everyone should be capable of even the most basic skills.
We expect kids to be proficient in every subject at school. That’s not the expectation of adults. We don’t expect everyone to be skilled in algebra or college-level reading and writing, science, history, or even civics. We expect kids to be more proficient than adults when they take a test, while adults are not likely to be just as proficient. How many parents can’t help their kids with algebra or calculus? English composition, or even history? These are some of the same parents who are critical of teachers and educators striving to develop better ways to teach or learn that the current one-size-fits-all system is not working.
Not every kid is going to be good at math beyond basic arithmetic. Not every adult is either. Not every kid will be good at college-level reading, just like adults are. Not every kid will be good at sports, just as every adult is not. It seems it all comes down to whether anyone is naturally inclined to be good at something that a standardized test cannot measure. That does not mean it is a failure.
Just look at Trump administration officials. Many have high-ranking positions, and they are still too incompetent or not skilled enough for the job. A good example is Secretay Noem. She didn’t know what Habeas Corpus is, and that is supposed to be basic knowledge for someone in her position, right?
yea, not everyone can copycat, lift and paste ideas, thoughts, opinions and find their way through Google searches and Wikipedia and authoritatively present them as their own as fast as you and Gigs can.
yOU’RE right, we are not all the same. Go to the head of the class, george.
Anonymous. You make a perfect example of what our education system has produced. You offer no substantive opposing view. Instead, you go right to insults and mockery because you don’t understand what you are trying to argue against.
)^georgie goes anonymous when he is afraid of feedback.)
Constantly contrary and ornery to SUBSTANTIVE comments, georgie seems to have alot of time on his hands for an aeronautic legal expert. Every day. Seeking out comments to disagree with. Lovely.
ROFL! Anonynous thinks another anonymous is me. You spend way too much time obsessing over other’s instead of offering a genuine opinion.
“does not mean everyone should be capable of even the most basic skills.”
WRONG, george.
If a kid is not capable of “even the most basic skills,” he wouldn’t be in a general classroom, he would be in special education or home-taught. Teaching “the most basic skills” (reading, writing, basic math) is the primary goal of education, clown.
Ahhhhhhhhhh hey george.
Our newest Supreme court pick. Can’t even tell you what a women is.
So who is the really stupid one/ Hmmmm.
“If our young, vulnerable “minority” students can quickly learn how to maneuver PlayStation and Roblox, remotely “
Some of the kids that failed chemistry and math are now concocting designer drugs in their basements. It’s not the kids. It’s society and the Democrat push toward stupidity.