Texas Public Schools Are De-Emphasizing Academic Knowledge in Favor of Unproven Fads

PART I in a Series: TASA TASB & the Superintendents Consortiums By Bill Ames Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas  It is not difficult to determine the negative impact of de-emphasizing core academics in a school district. The districts all-out stampede to Common Core-related teaching strategies as subtly defined by the TASA vision has only exacerbated the decline of academic performance. Richardson ISD adopted its version of the 2008 TASA vision in 2010. It is called RISD Vision 2020. RISD hired a consultant to flesh out Vision 2020s details. The consultants report was titled The 10 Critical Qualities of Student Work". One only needs to know a part of item 10 to understand the emphasis on so-called higher level critical thinking skills at the expense of core academics.

Learning to read and write complete sentences for example is not the same as learning to write persuasively and to read critically thoughtfully and well".

In other words grammar spelling and sentence structure were no longer important. We shall see that this RISD policy came back to bite the district in subsequent years. The statewide attempt to de-emphasize core academics became more apparent in an early 2010 scandal a Richardsons TEA Region 10. Teacher certification candidates were required to study the following material:

Teachers must not define education as basic skills.....rather as educators we must help people become committed to social change".

Here are just a few student academic performance statistics from the Richardson ISD:

• STAAR test scores comparing 2014 to 2015: Out of 22 tests - 1 is up 16 are down 5 no change.
• The aforementioned relaxation of reading policy has come back to bite the district. STAAR reading tests were first incorporated in 2012.
  • In 2012 all 6 grades tested (grades 3 thru 8) read above the Texas state average. Since there has been a steady decline of reading test scores.
  • By 2015 NONE of the 6 grades read above Texas state average. But the 2015-2016 RISD District Improvement Plan barely mentions this across the board reading deficiency.
  • As a direct result of this astounding lack of assigning accountability recently released 2016 STAAR reading scores for grades 5 and 8 reveal that these two RISD grades still do not read above the Texas state average.
  • The obvious conclusion? In the districts enthusiasm to implement TASA vision-based Common Core related teaching strategies this Board is not concerned that our kids cannot read.
• Per the Texas Education Agency there are 5 failing schools in RISD the highest in recent history. Based upon recent comments more failing schools are on the horizon.
• The NICHE survey of 100s of parents and citizens ranks RISD #20 among DFW Metroplex public school districts. When I moved my family to the DFW area Highland Park and Richardson were #1 and #2.
• This performance can only be described as a significant collapse of what was once one of the DFW Metroplexs most admired school districts.

There are solid vision-related reasons why RISD student academic performance is in decline. There is an across-the-board sacrifice of academic rigor in favor of transformed Common Core-related teaching strategies that promotes students teaching students abstract concepts like 21st Century Learning and Project Based Learning and implementing the common core 4 Cs:

1. Collaboration
2. Communication
3. Creativity and
4. Critical Thinking

Knowledge of facts is downplayed almost mocked. Describing 21st Century Learning one speaker at a 2015 North Texas Superintendents Consortium said Memorization is unimportant since information is only one Google click away. But in his book Cultural Literacy E. D. Hirsch writes:

There is a network of information that all readers must possess. It is background information stored in their minds that enables them to take up a newspaper and read with an adequate level of comprehension getting the point grasping the implications relating to the unstated context which gives meaning to what they read.

An example: Consider the words Oh say can you see by the dawns early light. The third grade state standards (TEKS) require learning about Francis Scott Key and his all-night vigil in Baltimore harbor during the War of 1812. But in promoting the new strategies we often hear the Common Core-related criticism of current curriculum saying it is a mile wide and an inch deep". If the new strategies omit the mile wide and inch deep" basics o our nations Founding athers and American Exceptionalism histories surely the story of Francis Scott Key will be also relegated to the dustbin of U.S. history The result? Students who do not possess that network of information will be unable to comprehend nor appreciate the meaning of the words of our National Anthem. Sacrificing academic knowledge is a damaging price for our students to pay in return for the implementation of the unproven teaching strategies promoted by Texas education establishment. Legislative Actions:

1. Expand prohibition of Common Core State Standards to include the related alphabet soup of Common Core-related teaching strategies such as Project Based Learning (PBL) 21st Century Learning and its over emphasis on computers College & Career Readiness (CCR) Social & Emotional Earning (SEL) and the corresponding  de-emphasis of academic knowledge.
2. Return to traditional teaching to allow students to achieve a level of academic knowledge necessary for them to function as informed citizens of the Texas community.

Read more by Bill Ames:

• Texas Educators Ideology & Visions Penalize Students
• AMES: Texas Trounces the Lefts War on History
• Education UPDATE: Texas ISDs Should Comply with Texas Social Studies Standards
• A Conservatives Guide to Education in Texas 84th Legislative Session
• APUSH Provides Contempt for America in Texas High Schools
• CSCOPE The Obamacare of Texas Public Education
• Happy Birthday America … We hate you!
• A Series on CSCOPE Part 3: Common Core Project Based Learning Damages Texas Students

Bill Ames is an education activist who lives in Dallas. His book TEXAS TROUNCES THE  LEFTS WAR ON HISTORY"  (WNAenterprises.com) tells the story of his experience in developing Texas U. S. history standard in 2009-2010.  Ames reviewed CSCOPE lessons as part of the State Board of Educations Ad Hoc Committee Project. His work in his local school district resulted in Board reviews of both its Social Studies Curriculum and Project Based Learning implementation as well as securing a superintendent commitment to modify the AP History course to be Texas standards (TEKS) compliant. He welcomes reader comments at billames@prodigy.net