“Palm Beach, Fla. (CBS TAMPA) – The Florida State Board of Education passed a plan that sets goals for students in math and reading based upon their race.
On Tuesday, the board passed a revised strategic plan that says that by 2018, it wants 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanics and 74 percent of black students to be reading at or above grade level. For math, the goals are 92 percent of Asian kids to be proficient, whites at 86 percent, Hispanics at 80 percent and blacks at 74 percent. It also measures by other groupings, such as poverty and disabilities, reported the Palm Beach Post.
The plan has infuriated many community activists in Palm Beach County and across the state.
“To expect less from one demographic and more from another is just a little off-base,” Juan Lopez, magnet coordinator at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Riviera Beach, told the Palm Beach Post.
JFK Middle has a black student population of about 88 percent.“Our kids, although they come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, they still have the ability to learn,” Lopez said. “To dumb down the expectations for one group, that seems a little unfair.”
Read more at CBS Tampa.Thanks to reader ZitaPearlZitomihr for passing on this story.
I barely have words for this foolishness. What is this going to do to the psyche of those kids who are being told they are not as smart as “nonblacks”? So many things the school district could be doing:
1. Use tests that aren’t biased against blacks.
2. Hire a cultural co-ordinator who can be a liaison between the teachers/admin and parents.
3. Make sure classrooms are anti-racist so black students will feel less stereotype threat.