School letter grades reveal flaws in the districts teaching methods, but our local district does not devote the time or money needed to address problems; that was the result of a Free Press online survey of 670 respondents.
The poll conducted between November 2018 and May of 2019 asks readers to respond to the following question: “When State testing reports were released, they revealed that most African-Americans scored extremely low academically. What are your thoughts?”
Answers fell in six categories but most respondents (26.9 percent) said, “The methods used to teach black students in K-3 have failed them; they have a poor foundation.”
Many of the respondents (22.4 percent) said, “The district has low expectations for black students and has not devoted the time or funding necessary to address the problem.”
Some (19.4 percent), agreed that the “test indicates weaknesses, instead of complaining, the system needs to address the weaknesses identified in the results.”
There was also a group of respondents (14.9 percent) who believe that “The letter grades do not reflect mastery of skills because the test is bias against blacks.”
A small group of respondents (11.9 percent) said, “School letter grades accurately reflect student mastery of skills taught.”
The smallest group of respondents (4.5 percent) said, “It’s the fault of lazy teachers who can’t keep up with today’s methods.”
