Proposed Math Textbook in Paradise Valley Schools Contains Graph Showing Conservatives Are Allegedly More Racist

The Paradise Valley Unified School District is in the process of approving a new precalculus textbook for students, and one of the textbooks the school district is considering contains a survey showing that conservatives are allegedly more racist than liberals.The textbook, titled “Precalculus 6th Edition,” by Robert F. Blitzer, includes a graph labeled “Measuring Racial Prejudice, by Political Identification,” which claims that “very conservative” people score 39 when it comes to being racist, whereas “very liberal” people score only 26. There are several in between groups that generally progress to becoming less racist as they become more liberal.

Kerwin Franklin, a mother of five boys in the district, discovered the chart when she was told parents could come inspect the book in the school district’s lobby. She told the Arizona Sun Times, “Kids read these things and they think they’re fact, they don’t know that they’re planted there.” She said the author of the book and the people approving it have an agenda. “It’s racial justice, diversity, trying to let kids know we’re the most racist society around.” 

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Another No-Bid Contract Under Tennessee’s Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn

Tennessee’s Education Commissioner, Penny Schwinn, wants to award another no-bid contract – this time, $7.5 million in federal funds over 3 years for a variety of services from NCS Pearson. These services would entail a K-3 Early Grade Universal Screening and Monitoring System (EGUSMS), which would include universal screening for literacy and math, dyslexia screening, mental health screening, progress monitoring, and data organization. Pearson’s EGUSMS would also provide the online reporting tools, training resources, and technical support for educators implementing the EGUSMS tools. If all options to renew are exercised for a 5-year term, then the cost would total $12.5 million.

Schwinn justified the decision to make NCS Pearson the sole source by claiming that none of the other vendors met the state’s minimum requirements. Schwinn added that the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) hadn’t put forth a complete request for proposal (RFP) out due to the short notice and prompt need for schools to obtain these services.

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More Than 2,000 People Fail North Carolina Math Exam to Become Licensed Teachers

by Neetu Chandak   An education standards commission in North Carolina unanimously voted to phase out a portion of a teaching licensing test as about 2,400 teachers failed the math exam. The commission voted to replace for-profit Pearson publishing company’s math test with a math exam from Praxis, created by nonprofit test provider Educational Testing Service (ETS). The standards commission consists of educators, administrators and those working in colleges, The Charlotte Observer reported Tuesday. Those against the Pearson math test say the exam requires middle- and high school-level math skills, often not used when teaching younger kids. Pearson math test supporters, however, believe teachers need to understand higher-level math to prepare those in the lower grade levels, according to the Observer. The standards commission will share its recommendations with the North Carolina Board of Education (NCBOE) in January. The option to take the Praxis math test instead of Pearson’s could begin as early as February if the guidelines pass with the NCBOE, the Observer reported. “We’ve got teachers who are taking that same Pearson (math exam) over and over and over and are not passing, and the cost’s coming out of their pockets at $35,000 a year for a beginning teacher,” Glenda Jones, an assistant superintendent in Cabarrus County…

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More Than 2,000 People Fail North Carolina Math Exam to Become Licensed Teachers

by Neetu Chandak   An education standards commission in North Carolina unanimously voted to phase out a portion of a teaching licensing test as about 2,400 teachers failed the math exam. The commission voted to replace for-profit Pearson publishing company’s math test with a math exam from Praxis, created by nonprofit test provider Educational Testing Service (ETS). The standards commission consists of educators, administrators and those working in colleges, The Charlotte Observer reported Tuesday. Those against the Pearson math test say the exam requires middle- and high school-level math skills, often not used when teaching younger kids. Pearson math test supporters, however, believe teachers need to understand higher-level math to prepare those in the lower grade levels, according to the Observer. The standards commission will share its recommendations with the North Carolina Board of Education (NCBOE) in January. The option to take the Praxis math test instead of Pearson’s could begin as early as February if the guidelines pass with the NCBOE, the Observer reported. “We’ve got teachers who are taking that same Pearson (math exam) over and over and over and are not passing, and the cost’s coming out of their pockets at $35,000 a year for a beginning teacher,” Glenda Jones, an assistant superintendent in Cabarrus County…

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Outrageous: A New 2019 History Textbook Suggests President Trump Is A Racist

The well-known textbook publisher Pearson Education, which is British-owned, is planning a new U.S. history textbook entitled “By the People” for 2019 — and here’s what’s so galling. The strikingly leftist tome goes so far as to suggest that President Donald Trump and his supporters are racist, and that they long for a bygone America in which those in power are almost exclusively white.

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