by Elizabeth Troutman | Mar 20, 2024 | Education, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Arizona State University’s journalism school teaches students “cultural sensitivities, civil discourse, bias awareness and diversity initiatives.”
The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication requires students in at least three of the undergraduate degree programs to take a course called “Diversity and Civility at Cronkite,” the Goldwater Institute uncovered.
ASU’s online course catalog says the class “emphasizes the importance of diversity, inclusion, equity and civility to ensure all Cronkite students feel represented, valued and supported.”
The course “Offers training and awareness on cultural sensitivities, civil discourse, bias awareness and diversity initiatives at the Cronkite School and ASU” and “Empowers students to approach reporting and communication projects with a multicultural perspective and inspire mutual respect among students from various backgrounds and beliefs within different Cronkite professional paths,” the catalog says.
The “Learning Outcomes” on the course syllabus lay out identity categories: “By the end of this course, students will be able to … understand the value of their own and other people’s identities in terms of the work and study at Cronkite.”
The course’s seven units affirm the theme of identity. Units include “Race & Ethnicity,” “Geography and Income,” “Language & Citizenship,” “Sexuality and Gender Identity,” “(Dis)ability,” and “Differences and Conflict.”
The “Race & Ethnicity” unit includes the learning objective “Learn what microaggressions are and why they matter.” The instructor asks students to review a list of “typical microaggressions” published on a University of Minnesota webpage.
Examples of microaggressions include “America is a melting pot,” a statement that demands that people “assimilate/acculturate to the dominant culture;” “There is only one race, the human race,” a statement “denying the individual as a racial/cultural being;” “I believe the most qualified person should get the job,” a statement communicating that “people of color are given extra unfair benefits because of their race;” and “Everyone can succeed in this society, if they work hard enough,” a statement communicating that “people of color are lazy and/or incompetent and need to work harder.”
A week of the course is dedicated to discussing “sexuality and gender identity” to make students:
- Understand the difference between sexuality and gender identity and why it matters.
- Recognize privileges related to sexuality and gender identity.
- Know how to ask for and why to use a person’s pronouns and the benefits of gender-neutral language.
The unit includes an assignment to read an article which defines nonbinary as “a term that can be used by people who do not describe themselves or their genders as fitting into the categories of man or woman,” and Agender as “an adjective that can describe a person who does not identify as any gender.”
Students are asked to demonstrate what they learned about gender ideology by responding to the following prompt:
“Imagine you’re working at a PR firm and you have a client whose first album is about to drop. Your client’s gender identity is nonbinary and they use they/them pronouns. They have a massive press tour planned.
How do you prepare journalists to talk with your client?”
Diversity initiatives at ASU are not limited to the journalism school. Goldwater identified more than 100 classes offered in ASU’s Spring 2024 course catalog that include terms like “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion,” or that fulfill the university’s general education requirement in “diversity.”
“To return Arizona’s public universities to their educational missions, it is imperative that the institutions themselves—or the bodies who oversee them—adopt a change in policy to eliminate politicized ‘diversity’ based course requirements such as DCC,” said Timothy K. Minella, senior fellow at the Goldwater Institute’s Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | Mar 16, 2024 | Education, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Arizona State Superintendent Tom Horne said Tuesday that his top priority is reversing the teacher shortage in the Grand Canyon State.
Arizona is facing a serious teacher shortage with more teachers leaving than staying, he said.
“We have got to turn around the situation, bring about equilibrium, so we’re not, we’re not losing more teachers than we’re gaining,” Horne said in his speech to the House Education Committee. “We cannot continue doing that.”
Horne said teacher shortages are a “potential catastrophe” that requires immediate attention.
“Currently, we have 60,000 teachers in our classrooms. 8,000 of them are leaving each year,” Horne said. “Our educator preparation programs produce 1,900 per year that actually show up in our classrooms. 2,815 teachers also return to the classrooms. That is a net loss of about 2,300 per year. If that trend were to continue, it would eventually lead to zero teachers.”
His speech also addressed reading proficiency levels. Horne said it’s a “scandal” that some Arizona high schoolers cannot read.
“Kids go to school day after day, every day throughout the year, eight years,” he said, “and they still can’t read.”
Horne outlined sixteen initiatives to increase academic outcomes in public schools. Some of these include growing the number of school improvement teams, leadership training, paperwork reduction, school safety, using data to improve academic outcomes, and teacher development.
“We entered into an agreement with the leaders of the major companies in our state: we will provide the skilled workers,” he said. “In return, the businesses will either teach our career technical education teachers what skills to teach or will provide people to teach those skills.”
Horne said he supports legislative efforts to raise teacher salaries as well as a bill to require more district and charter administrative support for teacher discipline. Those issues were cited in a recent survey of teachers as the top two reasons for leaving the profession, Horne noted.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Mar 13, 2024 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Arizona’s auditing agency for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) found no wrongdoing in its recent audit of Grand Canyon University (GCU).
The Arizona State Approving Agency (SAA) undertook the audit in response to the ongoing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit against GCU for allegedly deceptive advertising and illegal telemarketing. The FTC sued GCU in December, several months after the Department of Education (ED) fined the university over $37 million for allegedly deceiving doctoral students into paying more for their degrees than advertised.
In the SAA letter to GCU reviewed by AZ Free News, SAA said that its audit yielded no evidence supporting the Biden administration’s claims.
“The Arizona SAA did not have any substantiated findings based on our review of Grand Canyon University,” stated SAA’s letter to GCU. “There are no findings impacting the continued approval of Grand Canyon University at this time. There are no follow-up actions required by Grand Canyon University at this time.”
SAA announced its audit in January, the second one to take place in under a year; the last SAA audit occurred last May.
GCU President Brian Mueller told AZ Free News that the SAA’s findings were in agreement with two favorable court rulings in recent years, all of which found GCU to not be guilty of the issues that the Biden administration claims exist. Mueller said that these discrepancies were “troubling,” and further indication of an unjust and purposeful targeting.
“The SAA, our accrediting body and two federal judges all looked at the same set of facts as the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. and came to the complete opposite conclusion,” said Mueller. “To have zero findings, praise and a court ruling that our disclosures are clear on one end and then have the U.S. Department of Education impose its largest fine ever on the other… that is very troubling. To be targeted in this manner by the federal government is an egregious example of overreach and the weaponization of these federal agencies.”
The Higher Learning Commission, GCU’s accrediting body, assessed the university’s doctoral disclosures to be “robust and thorough,” providing a “clear” academic and financial pathway for prospective students.
The Biden administration appears to be alone in its unfavorable assessment of GCU; further records to provide context as to why have not been made available for public review, either.
The lack of transparency prompted the Goldwater Institute to sue the Biden administration last month. ED denied their public records request seeking the documents that informed ED’s decision to fine GCU. The records request was spurred by the fact that ED didn’t include student complaints or visitations to GCU as part of their investigation into the university.
In our report issued several days before ED announced its record fine into the university, the Biden administration apparently coordinated efforts between ED, FTC, and VA to investigate GCU after the university sued ED for denying its nonprofit status. The IRS granted nonprofit status to GCU in 2018, but it took until late 2019 for ED to deny the status.
SAA recognized GCU as a private nonprofit in its most recent audit report.
Several months after GCU sued ED in early 2021, the agency launched a multi-year, off-site review of GCU. Several months after ED’s announcement, the FTC announced that it found GCU in violation of federal law; each violation incurs civil penalties of up to $50,000. The last time the FTC exercised the authority it leveled against GCU was in 1978.
The FTC, ED, and VA began their investigations into GCU in 2022.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Mar 12, 2024 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Many Arizona state schools may not be teaching students about the Holocaust.
Earlier this month, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne revealed that 322 of 750 Arizona districts and charter schools (approximately 43 percent) “have affirmed that they are teaching about the Holocaust and other genocides as required by state law.” Most of the state’s district and charter schools did not respond, according to Horne.
At the start of the year, Horne requested that “all Arizona district and charter schools report their compliance with state law that requires students to be taught about the Holocaust and other genocides.”
In a statement, Horne said, “After the horrific events of October 7, there was a one-sided pro-Hamas presentation at Desert Mountain High School that produced antisemitism among students and made Jewish students uncomfortable and fearful. If Holocaust studies are presented properly, students will be less gullible to antisemitic presentations. I am gratified that 322 districts and charters are following the law, with many of them taking anywhere from two to four weeks to do the instruction. That is commendable, but we need this bill to be sure all districts and charters are in compliance with the intent of the law.”
The law giving the state’s schools chief authority to require the information from Arizona schools was HB 2241, which was passed by the legislature and signed into law by then-Governor Doug Ducey in 2021. The bill was sponsored by Alma Hernandez, a Democrat. It passed both chambers with almost unanimous support. Ducey, in his letter to then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, informed her that he was signing the legislation to “ensure that we continue to teach our students the history of past atrocities, which in return will instill greater compassion, critical thinking, societal awareness, and educational growth in our students.”
Horne’s original deadline for Arizona schools to report to the state Department of Education was January 24. However, Horne announced in early February that he would be extending the deadline to February 23 due to the lack of responses from schools.
Not only did Horne extend the deadline for schools to report compliance with the law, but he is hoping state legislators and the governor are able to strengthen the statute for future students. He again noted that two Arizona state lawmakers have embarked on a bipartisan mission to pass a bill that would “require students in grades 7-12 to twice complete a three-day program on the Holocaust and other genocides.”
The Republican Superintendent added, “Current state law requires teaching about the Holocaust and other genocides, but it does not specify how much time is spent. We surveyed districts and charters to find out if they are following the law, but more than half did not respond. This shows the need for HB 2779, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Republican Rep. David Marshall and Democrat Rep, Alma Hernandez to be passed and signed into law.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | Mar 5, 2024 | Education, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Paradise Valley School Board candidate Eddy Jackson said he is running to represent stakeholders, not a teachers union.
“I refuse to seek the endorsement or campaign funds from district unions or contractors because I seek to represent all stakeholders, including all teachers, not just those in the union,” Jackson said in an email. “I will vote to give staff members that opted to not be in the union a seat at the table for contract negotiations and district committees.”
As a school board candidate, Jackson said he received an email from a district union Political Action Committee congratulating him for qualifying for the November 2024 ballot and inviting him to participate in their questionnaire to be considered for their endorsement. The PAC is called “Paradise Valley Fund for Children PAC.”
“Is their focus really children?” Jackson asked.
The PAC’s questionnaire focuses on questions about their power and influence in the district and district funding. Jackson noticed a lack of questions about declining enrollment, school closures or raising academic achievement, which he believes are the real issues parents care about.
Candidates funded by the PAC in 2022 elections recently voted to close Desert Springs Prep Elementary, Sunset Canyon Elementary, and Vista Verde Middle School.
The recommendation to close these schools arose out of the School Closure and Boundary Review Committee that violated Open Meeting Law and the public’s trust by holding secret, closed door meetings throughout 2023 and waited to reveal their recommendation until December, after the record $340 million dollar district bond was narrowly approved by voters, according to Jackosn.
Eddy Jackson is a father of four kids who attend school in the district. He is running on the platform of preparing students for success, protecting parental rights, supporting great teachers and staff, advocating for taxpayers, and protecting and putting students first.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | Mar 2, 2024 | Education, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
More than 900 Arizona schools declined to answer if they teach Critical Race Theory.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne released figures showing that 900 schools would not answer five academic focus questions related to matters such as ensuring schools do not inappropriately expose students to explicit content and avoiding instruction that promotes racial division such as Critical Race Theory.
Of Arizona’s 2,467 district and charter schools, as of Feb. 29, 1,565 have affirmed that they are following these guidelines, but 902 have not.
Other questions attempt to ensure that any sexual content is developmentally appropriate, administrators fully support teacher discipline, and schools avoid excessive distractions such as Social Emotional Learning.
Social Emotional Learning claims to equip children with the ability to manage emotions, feel empathy for others, and maintain positive relationships, but it integrates Critical Race Theory in the education system.
“It is scandalous to see that more than 900 schools have declined to be transparent with parents who entrust their children to be educated by these schools,” Horne said. “Parents have the right to be fully informed about what their neighborhood schools value and how instructional time is used.”
The media claims public schools don’t teach CRT, Horne said. The superintendent said this is false, as the Balsz Elementary District on the east side of Phoenix explicitly and publicly teaches CRT.
“The fact that more than 900 districts and charter schools did not answer the question proves that the problem is widespread and distractions from academics are contributing to low test scores,” he said.
“Every instructional minute is precious, and every minute should be devoted to academics, not unnecessary distractions, lessons that divide people by race, or exposing students to subject matter that is not developmentally appropriate,” Horne continued.
The schools that declined to answer the questions will have that information on their school report card provided on the department’s website. If schools eventually choose to respond, their report card will be updated with that information.
Early next week, the department will finish compiling and releasing information on whether schools are following state law that requires instruction on the Holocaust and other genocides.
“Schools have a responsibility to teach to the state standards and graduating students who are academically proficient,” Horne said. “This is simple common sense and easily achievable by every school in the state.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
