Second Seattle Times' Eye-Rolling Take (Part Two)

This article is entitled, Why Seattle Schools is hinging student success on Black male achievement.

It's not so much an article as a puff piece on how great the initiative for Black boys in SPS is. The comments seem to back this up as it doesn't even note how many Black boys there are in SPS.

One other item in the article that gets noted - the answer to the math problem in the photo at the top of the article is wrong. Oh my.

Many commenters questioned the idea of equity in math problems. The district and the article don't explain how it might be the case that math problems can house inequities.

I do agree with this:

“There is a common belief in our society that some people are math people and that other people are not,” Farmer said. “Societal beliefs impact what students can do and what educators think what students can do.”

My late husband used to wish that there was a math specialist in every elementary school to help kids get excited about math from someone who knows how to get there.

The article does point out how the district is nowhere near reaching their math and reading goals.

To reach math goals, there’s a possibility the district will have to reconsider its timeline.

You think?

Many commenters took issue with this:

But so far the climate survey has more to do with how well students think they will do in classes. And the results don’t align with the low-performing SBA scores. Based on survey results, about 82% of African American males in grades sixth through eighth either “strongly agree,” “agree” or “kind of agree” they will do well in any math classes they take.

It's great to go into a class believing you can do the work but the outcomes are not there. Maybe the district should ask those kids, "Why do you think you'll do well?"

The article talks about the schools where they are pushing these efforts but doesn't mention that Southshore K-8 gets a million dollars a year more than any other school in the district and STILL hasn't raised scores.

What is weird about the article is that it twice links to two educational sites that are selling curriculum and consulting.

This sentence was intriguing:

The district has also replaced 30 books for elementary students with ones that better reflect the diversity of the school and community.

Which books got replaced?

I wish the Times' reporting on education was not so all over the place but again, if the Gates Foundation is funding most of it, then yeah, this is what you get.