NJ to stress fairness instead of sameness in education

By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... The state Department of Education wants to replace the word "equality" with "equity" in its public policy guidelines to prioritize fairness over sameness in the services it provides students.
..... The state's push to rewrite and reframe its education policies is partly procedural. Changes are reviewed and, if necessary, changed every seven years.
..... This year's [2023] review also reflects hard realities.
..... The impact of the global pandemic on student learning and of social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter threw the needs and the interrupted trajectories of the state's most vulnerable students into the spotlight. This spurred change within school districts long before the state began to put in place the official language to describe it.
.... The state is making changes to Chapter7, a set of rules and regulations on how schools should approach and provide access to learning and services in its pubic schools to serve every student.
..... Discussions began in December [2022] at a meeting of the State Board of Education, an unelected body responsible for approving the Education Department's rules and regulations. A second discussion followed last week. [01/12/2023]
..... The state will offer up a formal proposal for changes in the coming months, and the public will be invited to comment on the revised chapter, with final approval set for August. [2023]
..... The overarching change is to the title of Chapter 7, which the state recommends should be "Managing for Equity in Education: rather than "Managing for Equality in Education."
..... The state is also changing "equality" to "equity" within the chapter, to better align with current practices, officials said. This signals a different approach since the regulations were first adopted in 2003.
..... The new language does not mean that a whole set of new approaches and practices will be unleashed; rather, the language is being changed to reflect practices and policies that have long been in place in New Jersey's schools state officials said.
..... "Equality" is the wrong word "Equity is the correct word," state board member Joseph Ricca said in an interview. "I think unfortunately people are so hung up on these words and they add political charge to it," even though equity is not political, Ricca said.
..... The idea, he said, is "very beautiful and inspiring," and American in spirit. It was codified into law in 1975 when the Individual with Disabilities Education Act was passed to include children with disabilities who used to be excluded from general education classrooms, he said.
..... Giving all students i the same class the same assignment is a simple example of equality. "But if you don't speak English and the assignment is in English, then what are you going to do?" Ricca said. That's when equity comes in. "equity means that if I'm going to give that assignment to everybody in the class, it needs to also be given to them in a language or in a modality that they can understand," he said.
..... Language learners in public schools are eligible for lessons in subjects such as science in their own language so they can meet state standards while also becoming proficient in English. The two things can and do happen side by side, he said.
..... Replacing "equality" with "Equity" in the law reflects the state's goal to provide differentiated services for different students so that students receive equitable services, as opposed to equal (or the same) support." The state is also changing the definition of "equity" to mean all students "have the opportunity" to master curriculum goals in a fair, just and impartial education environment with access to resources, a member of the state Department of Education said during a December [2022] meeting.
..... Whether it's a classroom aide or a special toy for a distracted student who needs to fidget, being equitable means getting each child what they need to succeed.
..... "It comes up in the classroom, but it comes up with parents all the time, too, in terms of talking about what other children get and what their children get," said Halley Potter, a fellow at the Century Foundation, a Washington D.C., think tank. Equity, reflected also in extra funding for high-poverty schools where students often lack resources readily available to those in wealthy districts, has been a federal priority and a driving force in education policy for decades.
..... That is fairness, but it can look like unfair treatment to children and parents who do not understand that different benefits are based on each child's needs - a cornerstone of equity, Potter said.
..... But the changes being made in New Jersey's official polices, though they seem to be coming "a little late," also likely have to do with the current political context, she said.

Equity and sex education

..... Equity became a hot-button issue post-2020 for right-wing groups in their ongoing backlash against parallel movements to recognize discrimination against LGBTQ and racial minorities.
..... New Jersey could be "trying to double down on equity," Potter said, adding that because of "push-back against so-called critical race theory and related initiatives in schools across different states, there are many places now where there are lists of concepts and terms that educators simply can't use," Potter said. "People know that just the word 'equity' is putting a target on their work."
..... Some school leaders do not use the word in public, she said, for fear of backlash in states where unofficial or official gag orders exist.
..... Nine laws passed since 2021 in Arizona, Idaho, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas restrict pubic schools from teaching or training on certain topics, according to a report from PEN America, an organization that advocates for fee speech.
..... In New Jersey, too, local and national groups with support from some Republican lawmakers have refused to accept the Education Department's new sex education guidelines handed down in the 2020 Heath and Physical Education standards. They have falsely accused the state of using "work ideologies" to brainwash students and threaten family values.
..... The sex education opposition groups have also been protesting a single change in policy the state is making to Chapter 7. The change states that if schools separate students for sex education classes, they will be required to do so based on the student's gender identity instead of their gender. The classes must offer the same content. The current policy states that schools may separate students according to whether they are male or female.
..... State Bord of Education Vice President Andrew Mulvihill objected to this change, saying it did not take into account the rights of students who prefer to be separated by birth gender, and that the decision should be left to the local level, not dictated by policy.
..... But that approach does not stand up under the lens of the law, the state said in written responses published on its website. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity, and it generally requires a place of public accommodation (including a school), when reasonably separating individuals based on sex, to admit individuals to one or the other group based on their gender identity or expression, the state wrote. Transgender students will also likely to be permitted to participate in gender-segregated school activities in accordance with their gender identity.
..... "Given the ability of school districts to align their curricula to local needs, the issue raised regarding comfort of students can be addressed at the local level when decisions are made regardless whether to hold separate sessions on this subject matter," the sate added.
..... The board meeting was stopped for a private session in which the state deputy attorney general discussed the legality of Mulvihill's objection on Tuesday. [01/17/2023]
..... But gender-separated sex education classes are largely a thing of the past in New Jersey's public schools, except in the elementary grades, when children watch the "puberty video."
..... The Montclair and Paterson school districts have policies that do not separate students to receive classes in sexuality. State law allows parents to opt their children out of these classes.
..... "I'll not that I have never seen so many comments on one issue in my 10 years' history," Mulvihill said, speaking for the people who objected to the change.
..... "There is so much politics in this conversation, frankly, that it makes my stomach hurt," Ricca said in disagreeing with Mulvihill. "In schools, I think we really need to be very sensitive and understand that when the question about gender is asked, the student and their family respond to that question, and that's the end of the discussion."

What equity means in classrooms

..... The state introduced the term :opportunity gap" to the chapter, which refers to the lack of access to resources among students. It redefined "achievement gap," which refers to outcomes such as the difference in test scores for students from low-income areas compared with high-income areas, a trend that has worsened during the pandemic and was evident in the state New Jersey Student Learning Assessment scores.
.... If you love your child, but because "you gotta work three jobs you're not there to help with homework, you know what the opportunity gap is because you're living it," Rocca said.
..... "I don't care what you want to call it. The fact is, there is a gap. And we, the adults, must do everything we can to close it," he said when asked why the naming matters.
..... Paterson's 25,000-student school district ended a practice called "social promotion" in 2017-2018. It used to move students up to a new grade even if they weren't ready. In 2017, the district replaced it with weighted measures that considered projects and activities instead of just standardized assessments to create a more comprehensive picture of the students and their reediness to be promoted.
..... "That was an equity issue, because it provided a better picture of a student's progress, but a the time we talked about it in terms of fairness," said Assistant Superintendent Cicely Warren. Equity work began again in earnest during the pandemic in 2020, but it was actually :a natural evolution" in an ongoing "journey," she said.
..... The district created a social justice and equity committee for staff, and YES (Youth Equity Stewardship), a program that teaches students to advocate for themselves. It purchased a framework called"Courageous Conversations: to give staff the language and training needed to discuss uncomfortable issues regarding race and identity.
..... The New Jerry School Boards Association said it did not submit comments to the state on changes to Chapter 7 but "appreciates the robust discussion that is taking place." The proposed changes were made in consultation with stakeholders, but the state Department of Education did not comment on who they are at the time of writing.

More Chapter 7 proposed changes

* The title change from "managing for Equality in Education" to Managing for Equity in Education."

* Definition of "achievement gap": The achievement gap represents the results created by opportunity gaps and other factors.

* Definition of the new term "opportunity gap": The opportunity gap represents "inputs" that affect access to resources.

* Replace "African American history curriculum" with the term "Amisted Commission Curriculum" (created in 2022).

* Replace "Holocaust and Genocide Curriculum" with "Commission on Holocaust Education Curriculum." Holocaust education was mandated beginning in 1994.

* Currently, provided the course's content is the same, portions of classes that deal exclusively with human sexuality may be conducted in spearat4e developmental-appropriate sessions for male and female students. The removing the gender-specific terms of male and female students to be based on gender identity.

* Schools need to assess additional data, such as attendance, access to educational activist and programs, when creating district Comprehensive Equity Plans, which are required by law and are revised every three years.

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