IT'S NOT JUST LIBRARY BOOKS. ROCKWOOD USED CLASS TIME TO *TEACH* LESSONS WITH GENDER TOPICS; SCORES DROPPED
Proficiency is a high price to pay for culture and diversity.
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Discussions and assignments in 8th grade language arts lessons covered topics like gender fluidity, oppression, what it means to act like a boy or a girl, and, challenging or resisting those norms.
Students also discussed Disney heroines and barbie dolls and why the gender norms they demonstrate are “oppressive.”
Teachers told parents one purpose of these lessons is diversity and culture:
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| Excerpt of a teacher email to a Rockwood parent. |
MAP tests were taken the same semester these and other social issue lessons were given.
Scores dropped.
Covid? Maybe.
But, gender topics and social justice terms like oppression and intersectionality took up class time and are not even on the MAP tests.
They're not in our state's learning standards (what Missouri says kids should know to be considered proficient in language arts.)
https://dese.mo.gov/media/pdf/curr-mls-standards-ela-6-12-sboe-2016
A small sample from the standards is to the right.
With learning loss from covid restrictions, many parents say there isn't one extra minute to spend on topics they aren't required to learn. Especially topics parents want to handle at home.
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| Page from a teacher lesson guidebook. |
Parent Reactions: “…basically our concerns were wondering how the lessons that were being (taught) had anything to do with language arts.”
—RW South 8th grade parent
“…what bothered me is first and foremost the lack of actual education my child was receiving…in challenge LA and leaving 8th grade barely able to construct a paragraph.”
—RW South 8th grade parent
Turns out, their concerns may have been warranted.
At Rockwood South Middle, about half the 8th graders (48.6%) scored below proficient in language arts.
(8.7 + 39.9, bottom line below.) DESE Web Log In
It's not just 8th grade.
And, not just Rockwood South.
In 5 of Rockwood’s 6 middle schools, less than 70% of the students are proficient or above in language arts.
Proficient means they’ve learned what they’re supposed to learn.
Here’s a link to data in this analysis:
https://apps.dese.mo.gov/MCDS/home.aspx?categoryid=2&view=2
Click on: “School--content area all and disag 2021.”
If students don’t need this knowledge on culture or diversity to be proficient in language arts, why were they in class lessons?
They are pushed in the lesson guidebook teachers used to teach language arts. The guidebook comes from a controversial teacher resource called Teachers College Reading & Writing Project.
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Action:
Rockwood parents tried to stop the Gender Norms lessons (Session 12 of the Critical Literacy unit), along with the whole Critical Literacy unit in at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. They submitted a formal challenge of the content.
Decision: mixed
The report shows that the committee decided to retain without restriction
(no changes).
But the district also said it had already decided to stop using lessons from the Critical Literacy unit, prior to the challenge.
It is not clear what the district stopped using.
We have asked repeatedly for specifics. Rockwood has not given them. But, Rockwood did confirm that it is STILL using the same lesson guidebook that was used for these lessons.
Note: Gender topics are also in Rockwood school library books.
One of the books, “It Feels Good to be Yourself,” is
in libraries of 16 of Rockwood’s elementary schools.
Readers in as young as kindergarten can meet a character who identifies as both a boy and a girl, one who identifies as neither, and, introduces gender identity vocabulary words.
DETAILS:
8th grade language arts
Critical Literacy unit
Spring, 2020-2021 school year.
Parent Concerns:
Topic should be handled at home; not in schools.
Proficiency is the price kids pay for culture and diversity
Status:
Teachers are still using this same lesson guidebook.