Troubling math, reading skills in FWISD should be priority, not critical race fight

It was probably inevitable that the roiling national debate over “critical race theory” in schools would come to Fort Worth.

Tuesday’s school board meeting saw an outpouring of passion from all sides. What Fort Worth ISD needs now is similar devotion by all involved to improving student achievement.

That doesn’t mean debate over how schools approach race should end. It just cannot distract from the urgent mission of educating tens of thousands of at-risk children.

Nor can it exclude discussion of how our schools address the impact of years of racism upon marginalized communities. Lest anyone forget, nearly nine of every 10 children FWISD serves is Black or Hispanic.

Critical race theory is an academic framework, but it’s become the overarching label for the arguments we’re having around race, equality and justice. You won’t find the term bursting forth from school district documents or the curriculum. But the district clearly employs many of its concepts.

How much gets to the classroom? Critics generally can’t point to specifics in the curriculum. They fear that the overall framework will lead to teachings that America is inherently racist, that people are defined by their membership in a racial group rather than their individual merit, and that “whiteness” not only exists but is by definition oppressive. And they’ve pointed to teacher training materials that they say reinforce such ideas.

“We’re not trying to erase history or say that racism isn’t real,” said Missie Carra, a FWISD parent who is Texas director of Parents’ Rights in Education, a social conservative group that has weighed in on issues such as sex education. “It’s kind of like cancer. It’s a top-down problem. The tumor is the ideology.”

Carra was among those who helped organize a march and series of public speakers at Tuesday’s meeting. She said the opposition stems from the idea that Superintendent Kent Scribner brought an equity focus to the district in part as a way of improving student achievement, which has languished.

LACK OF SPECIFICS

The complaints aired, though, were vague. Some claimed that teachers have left the district rather than work under an equity framework. Others said students have heard suggestions in class that their race defines their lives. Among them were Black and Hispanic parents fiercely opposed to critical race theory.

And most teachers will tell you that they’re too busy with grading, test preparation and discipline to make time for indoctrination of any kind.

An emphasis on better outcomes for Black and Hispanic students, which Fort Worth must embrace, doesn’t have to devolve into a race war. FWISD should target resources and help at the weakest schools and neediest students.

And as we said when Southlake voters spoke loudly by electing two opponents of the district’s “Cultural Competence Action Plan,” there’s room for compromise that the vast majority of Americans would embrace. Students should learn more about the systematic oppression that followed emancipation, especially in the Jim Crow South, and how the country still suffers as a result.

But they should also be taught that American ideals, even when not quite reached, have made the way for tremendous progress on race relations and all manner of human freedom.

POLITICS AND NEW LAWS

Here and around the country, the battle over critical race theory is steeped in politics. Republicans, looking at examples such as Southlake, see a winning issue of importance to their base voters, and conservative groups and commentators are fanning the flames. Legislatures are swinging into action. Texas has enacted a law proscribing certain classroom discussions that’s drawn much attention, but its vagueness has even proponents such as Gov. Greg Abbott saying there’s more to do.

But parents’ distress at some of the ideas offered in the name of equity — such as a California proposal to prevent advanced math students from being separated based on comprehension — is real. The issue isn’t going away.

“I want the district to understand: We’re here now, you’re going to have to deal with us,” Carra said Wednesday.

Trustees should listen to all sides. But overall, they must keep the board’s and the administration’s attention on the urgent needs in Fort Worth schools. Achievement in reading and math remains alarmingly low, compounded by the challenges of the pandemic. Concern is rising among political and business leaders, and the district needs better results, soon.

Trustee Tobi Jackson, elected board president by her colleagues Tuesday night, said bluntly that the primary focus must be student progress. She and other trustees will have to work to keep it there.

After all, it might be the one thing that most can agree on.

Said Carra: “Ultimately, a lot of us that were there last night on both sides of the table, we want the same thing: to see our kids succeed.”

This story was originally published June 24, 2021 at 10:42 AM.