It\u2019s back-to-school time in New York City, but the Department of Education isn\u2019t ready.
As the DOE faces the new academic year, let\u2019s bring out its latest report card to see where it can keep up the good work and where it must do better. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, what needs improvement far exceeds the positives to maintain.<\/p>\n
New York City\u2019s most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress\u00a0results<\/a>, \u201cThe Nation\u2019s Report Card,\u201d shows\u00a071%<\/a>\u00a0of our eighth-graders fail grade-level proficiency in reading, and\u00a077%<\/a>\u00a0fail in math \u2014 in other words, the vast majority of our kids fell off the minimum literacy and numeracy tracks by eighth\u00a0grade.<\/p>\n That\u2019s more than a failing report card. It\u2019s a scandal. <\/p>\n Kids returned to New York City schools Thursday \u2014\u00a0but what will they learn? Robert Miller<\/p>\n But even a failing student can \u2014 with hard work \u2014 become a (non-grade-inflated<\/a>) C student. How about our DOE?<\/p>\n The usual quarters always\u00a0blame insufficient funding<\/a>, and with\u00a0Democratic politicians in the teachers union\u2019s pocket<\/a>, taxpayers will lose again, despite a budget that exceeds\u00a0<\/a>$41 billion<\/a>\u00a0for maybe 815,000\u00a0students,\u00a0spending<\/a>\u00a0more per student than almost anywhere else in the world again, without the results to match\u00a0\u2014\u00a0again.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s instead examine what the DOE thinks it should be doing: its\u00a0Vision and Mission<\/a> statement.<\/p>\n Of its eight sections, three \u2014 \u201cBig Apple Awards,\u201d\u00a0\u201cTeacher and Principal Evaluation\u201d and \u201cTeacher Appreciation Week\u201d \u2014 focus on showering recognition on teachers and staff.<\/p>\n \u201cBig Apple Awards\u201d honors teachers who \u201cinspire students to be their best selves, dream, and advocate for their future,\u201d \u201cmodel equitable learning with high expectations for the diverse and dynamic needs\u201d and \u201caffirm students\u2019 identities, unique gifts, and genius.\u201d <\/p>\n Quite a fanfare of lofty platitudes, but apparently forgotten are any accountability for results in student learning and academic mastery.<\/p>\n \u201cTeacher and Principal Evaluation\u201d is worse. It applauds that \u201cstudents learn to think for themselves when teachers are always learning,\u201d gushing \u201cwhen teachers reflect on both data about student learning and meaningful comments from their leaders, they learn, grow, and thrive.\u201d <\/p>\n How was such word salad ever permitted on the DOE\u2019s website, of all places?<\/p>\n United Federation of Teachers members protest for more pay, but the Department of Education won\u2019t hold them accountable for dismal results. Pacific Press\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p>\n Of the remaining sections, two regard the chancellor\u2019s letter and a listening tour, and the last three tout\u00a0diversity,\u00a0safe, restorative-justice\u00a0schools and\u00a0identity-driven\u00a0education.<\/p>\n In the nearly 300 words of\u00a0Vision and Mission, not once do the words or variants of the words \u201carithmetic,\u201d \u201creading,\u201d \u201cwriting,\u201d \u201cmath\u201d or \u201cscience\u201d appear, except when the word \u201cread\u201d appears in \u201cRead the chancellor\u2019s letter.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, ideology dominates, saturating\u00a0Vision and Mission\u00a0and its linked subsidiary pages with well-known code words for\u00a0critical-race theory<\/a> \u2014 \u201cdiversity,\u201d \u201cequity,\u201d \u201cinclusive\u201d (jointly, DEI), \u201cidentity,\u201d \u201crestorative justice,\u201d \u201canti-racist education.\u201d<\/p>\n If that\u2019s what the DOE wants its schools to do \u2014 recruit little kids into CRT\u2019s bitter, paranoid battleground to enact\u00a0oppressor-oppressed conflicts<\/a>\u00a0everywhere and beat the kids into learned helplessness \u2014 then no wonder it gets failing report cards for academics.<\/p>\n Taking cover behind buzzwords like \u201creimagining\u201d or \u201creenvisioning,\u201d such as \u201creenvisioning the school experience<\/a>\u201d \u2014 variants of the much-mocked \u201csee what can be, unburdened by what has been\u201d \u2014 just means throwing facts, logic and reality out the window. The DOE\u2019s\u00a0Vision and Mission\u00a0clearly shows CRT and DEI, and their operationalizations like the\u00a0deceptively named culturally responsive-sustaining education and social-emotional learning, remain entrenched in DOE schools,\u00a0defying the federal government\u2019s order<\/a>\u00a0that New York institutions remove DEI.<\/p>\n Author Wai Wah Chin speaks at a rally before a City Council hearing on specialized high schools. Natan Dvir<\/p>\n Regardless of threats from Washington, though, our schools should ditch CRT and DEI because they corrupt schools\u2019 proper mission.<\/p>\n Once freed from the shackles of CRT and DEI, schools can return to academics, starting with the 3 Rs \u2014 reading, \u2019riting and \u2019rithmetic \u2014 delivered in classrooms that set rigorous, no-excuses, objective standards. <\/p>\n With\u00a0high expectations<\/a>\u00a0in schools and\u00a0agency<\/a>\u00a0in students, kids might actually show up more, reducing the\u00a0abysmal chronic-absenteeism rates<\/a> reaching\u00a040%\u00a0in 2022, and do what they are supposed to do in school: learn.<\/p>\n Long term, initiatives and alternatives such as\u00a0charters schools<\/a>\u00a0are key. <\/p>\n Success Academy charter schools, for example, trounce DOE district schools with\u00a095%<\/a>\u00a0of their black students passing New York state math tests against the DOE\u2019s 43%, showing what\u2019s possible with\u00a0high expectations<\/a>\u00a0and agency.<\/p>\n But immediate action is needed. Start with rewriting\u00a0Vision and Mission\u00a0to reflect real educational priorities and meritocratic accountability, not CRT indoctrination.<\/p>\n Another school year is too much to waste.<\/p>\n Wai Wah Chin is the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Greater New York founding president and a Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s back-to-school time in New York City, but the Department of Education isn\u2019t ready. 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