The San Francisco Chronicle stated on Saturday that student performance at an elementary school in the San Francisco, California area declined after implementing a teaching approach funded by a $250,000 federal grant aimed at promoting social awareness.
As a component of these initiatives, educators underwent training from the profit-driven organization Woke Kindergarten, aimed at addressing issues of racism, oppression, and white supremacy to eliminate these obstacles to learning in schools. Despite this, midway through the three-year agreement, Glassbrook Elementary’s performance in math and English has reached an unprecedented decline.
During the 2022-23 academic year, merely 11.6 percent of students were deemed proficient in English at their grade level, with math proficiency standing at only 3.8 percent. This signifies a decrease of 4.5 percentage points across all categories compared to the previous year. The statistics were gathered by the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress.
Woke Kindergarten describes itself on its website as a worldwide, abolitionist environment for early childhood education and an imaginative platform that offers assistance to teachers, families, and children in advancing queer, trans, and pro-Black liberation in early learning.
Nevertheless, as reported by the Chronicle, in light of these examination outcomes, numerous teachers have begun to question whether the grant funds are being utilized in the most effective manner, particularly in addressing the needs of the students, given that 474 students in the school come from low-income backgrounds. Additionally, over 80 percent of the student population is Latino or Hispanic, with another two-thirds classified as English language learners.
Nonetheless, officials from the Hayward Unified School District have supported the program, contending that it has achieved success in the targeted areas it was designed to enhance, such as improved attendance and reduced suspension rates. Additionally, Glassbrook Elementary is no longer on the state watch list.
