On July 14, 2021 Oregon passed Senate Resolution 744, which has two major directives:
- It directs a potentially extremely valuable review of the Essential Learning Skills required for graduation under normal circumstances; and
- It suspends, overruling any contrary intention by the State Board of Education, the Essential Learning Skills for those graduating between now and the 2023–24 academic year.
Oregon! Did you think about the consequences of removing standards without any amelioration? Did you think about the students who won’t put in the extra effort to better themselves because it doesn’t matter? The teachers who will let basic skills slide because they’re overwhelmed and their kids will still graduate? I know most of your teachers will still try to do their best — and I hope dearly that they can use the extra flexibility to craft ways to better serve their pupils. But you could have helped them out.
You had an opportunity, Oregon, to invest in your children’s future. COVID-19 has severely disrupted conventional learning, and the basic skills may indeed be tested or taught in an inequitable way. But basic skills are incredibly important for the future of your children. Don’t abandon them! Not teaching a child to tie their shoes is no kindness. Nor is failing to teach them to read fluently, think clearly, calculate basic quantities.
Imagine if, in this bill, you had included funding for tutoring for anyone falling short on the Essential Skills, applied in order of need! Imagine if you had provided funding for early identification of students struggling to meet their Essential Skills requirements and some means of helping them catch up! Imagine if you had invested in your children instead of declaring that you care so little about them and have so little faith in your entire educational system that you don’t even want to apply your most basic uniform standards! You already had ways to assess Essential Skills that go beyond one-size-fits-all standardized testing (https://www.oregon.gov/ode/schools-and-districts/reportcards/Documents/rptcard2020.pdf, page 33). Your materials talk a lot about anti-racism, but who do you think is most likely to be harmed by just lowering standards without doing anything to make up the difference? If people are struggling, while you’re working out how to more fairly assess them, why not support them?
Yes, yes, it costs something. You already rank above average in per capita GDP, but below average in per-pupil funding. You can afford it.
Absolutely do investigate whether your Essential Skills requirements are inequitable. That’s very important. It is demoralizing and unjust to withhold diplomas from students just because they didn’t fit some arbitrary mold that seemed reasonable to whoever set the requirements. But the most important thing is to invest in your students’ futures, especially the ones who do not have the financial resources to compensate for any deficits in your system (who were likely most of the ones who might have had trouble with Essential Skills to begin with).
Can you honestly and confidently say that Senate Bill 744 does that?
To me, it looks like the students who most needed your help and suffered the most from the disruption by COVID-19 are just going to be shoved out the door, without you trying to catch them up.
If this is true, it’s a terrible shame. You could help them. You should. Because for the rest of their lives, ability matters.