Reading Failure: News Miner 47

Also: The Republican meltdown, Pat Schroeder, crime, the new right, romantic art, and more.

Failing to Read

Complete Colorado published my new article, “Colorado public schools failing kids on literacy.” Here is how the piece beings:

“Literacy is the fundamental civil right of our time.” So says Kareem Weaver of the nonprofit FULCRUM, Full and Complete Reading is a Universal Mandate. Weaver is the main voice in The Right to Read, a new documentary produced by Levar Burton of “Reading Rainbow” fame. The film takes a firm stance in the “reading wars” on the side of phonics instruction, which actually works, unlike long-popular programs that encourage children to guess at words rather than read them.

Colorado’s public schools, like those nationally, are turning far too many students into functional illiterates. To again review some results from the recently administered National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 35% of Colorado eighth graders read at a proficient level or higher. A full 27% read below a basic level. (The test breaks results into four categories: below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced.)

For minority students, outcomes are much worse. Whereas 82% of eighth-grade white students read at or above a basic level—bad enough!—only 55% of black students and 59% of Hispanic students do. Relative to white students (43%), only about half that fraction of black students (21%) and Hispanic students (19%) read at or above a proficient level.

Where is the outrage? Where are the marches in the streets for literacy? Where are the serious plans from legislators and school boards to fix this deep-seated problem?

Read the entire piece.

More on the Republican Meltdown

Recently I wrote about the meltdown of the Colorado Republican Party. My Tweet declaring I was leaving the party got a bit of attention.

This bit from Dan McLaughlin sounds familiar:

In one state after another, the official Republican Party is at best useless and at worst an affirmative enemy of the party’s causes and electoral chances. Some state parties have been taken over by zealots and lunatics, some by more cold-blooded grifters. The Arizona Republican Party’s efforts to censure anyone who dares win a statewide election in their state as a Republican is an icon of idiocy.

Over at Bulwark, Tim Miller wrote, “The Colorado GOP’s Slow-Rolling MAGA Suicide.”

9News had a segment about others leaving the party.

See also Colorado Pols’s take.

Quick Takes—Colorado

In Memory: Former member of Congress Pat Schroeder has died. Jared Polis remembers “her wit, wisdom, and great love for our country.”

Crime: The Common Sense Institute has out a new report on Denver crime. The astonishing thing (to me) about the report is that it reveals very wide differences in crime rates in different parts of the city. For example, District 2 had 34 crimes (all kinds) per 1,000 residents in 2022, while District 9 had 246.

Denver: KDVR reports, “Denver was ranked as the nation’s worst city to raise a family, according to a Scholaroo report.” The review was “based on seven metrics: safety, health care, finances, education, leisure, quality of life and home atmosphere.” Crime and costs of living (among other things) hurt Denver’s ranking.

Schools: PBS reports that “a Colorado Springs school district” will “decide whether teachers can ask students for their chosen name and pronouns.” This is so stupid, and probably grounds for a civil rights lawsuit if the district goes ahead with the restrictions.

Schools II: Oh no! Someone presented information about transgender people at a Thompson Valley teacher training. Let the moral panic ensue.

Schools III: Sherrie Peif writes about serious claims of abuse and bullying at a Boulder Valley school. There’s a court case; I guess eventually we’ll learn the outcome.

Bags: Rob Natelson continues his one-man crusade against grocery-bag restrictions. He claims people are “stealing small plastic baskets at an alarming rate” (although he doesn’t give numbers). He also points out that single-use plastic bags are sanitary and extremely resource-economical to produce.

Quick Takes—General

Fascists: Nazis—as in, armed, Nazi-flag waivers—protested a drag event in Ohio. One of the fascists screamed “Pedophiles get the rope!” and “F**s go home!” reports Ford Fischer. In case this is not clear to anyone: The guys waiving the Nazi flags are the bad guys!

The New Right: Shikha Dalmia explores the ideological influences on today’s right and its decidedly anti-liberal turn. If you don’t know who people such as Yoram Hazony and Curtis Guy Yarvin are, read this. Basically, the Trumpist right is a combination of “greater good” conservatives, nativist traditionalists, and anti-liberal Nietzscheans.

Art: One of my favorite contemporary artists, Jon Wos, who has “brittle bone” disease, gave a talk about his background and his art. See also Wos’s work through Cordair. A remarkable talk by a remarkable person—highly recommended.