Someone should remind Oregon that schools are supposed to make students smarter.
The state’s Democratic governor, Kate Brown, signed a bill late last month that drops proficiency requirements for high school students over the next three years. This means that high school seniors will no longer need to prove they are proficient in math, reading, and writing to qualify for graduation. In other words, they won’t have to prove they learned anything at all.
Oregon’s Education Department said the law is aimed at helping “Black, Latino, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color.” Apparently, it’s not racist to admit you expect minority students to perform worse than others. We used to call that the bigotry of low expectations. Now, it’s called equity.
The supporters of the law insist that it is unfair to expect students to be able to read, write, and do basic math. What, then, is the point of requiring them to go to school? Why not just drop all educational standards, including the expectation that they show up to class?
Like it or not, standardized tests help serve as checkpoints so educators can accurately gauge the progress a student is making. These tests are far from perfect, but they do serve a purpose — and an important one at that. Get rid of proficiency testing, and there will be many students who fall through the cracks of the public school system without ever receiving the academic help they need.
But that doesn’t matter to Oregon’s lawmakers — not as long as high schoolers can demonstrate proficiency in the three most important subjects: diversity, equity, and inclusion.
