Students Struggling: News Miner 26
Notes on homeschooling, test scores, abortion, the election, religious conservatism, policing, and more.
Students Struggling—NAEP Edition
Complete Colorado published my new column about the latest standardized test scores. I contrast how my son has done homeschooling with how many students have done in the “public” schools. On the first point, I write (in part):
During the pandemic, when a lot of students were stuck in chaotic remote learning, my homeschooled kid succeeded academically. If anything he moved ahead academically because we weren’t attending as many social events. He’s a solid year ahead in math.
On the scores, I write:
Many students were not as fortunate. Results are in from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and they are bleak. Colorado Public Radio reports, “Colorado mirrored many states across the nation, where test scores plummeted between 2019 and 2022, erasing many years of progress.” . . .
The NAEP sets three bars of achievement: basic, proficient, and advanced. This year, 75% of Colorado fourth graders reached the basic level in math, 36% proficient, and only 8% advanced. In reading the numbers are 68%, 38%, and 11%. Among eighth graders, only 63% reached the basic level in math, while 73% did so in reading.
I conclude:
My family has found a viable path forward through homeschooling. Although that’s not the path most families want to take, I hope that schools can embrace more of the parental choice, flexibility, dynamism, and individual fit that make homeschooling work for us.
Students Struggling—CMAS Edition
Chalkbeat reported this summer:
Colorado third graders did almost as well on standardized tests this past spring as third graders did before the pandemic. . . . But older students in most grades and subjects did worse, even as test scores rebounded from very low levels in 2021. And the majority of Colorado students didn’t meet grade-level expectations on the tests, known as Colorado Measures of Academic Success or CMAS, just as they didn’t before COVID.
Most remarkable about this report are the differences in performance between white and Asian students versus black and Hispanic students. Among eighth graders, only 17% of black students, and 15% of Hispanic students, are at grade level in math.
The Election in Haiku
I wrote a little Haiku about the elections:
With elections lost
Colorado's GOP
will scapegoat Kyle Clark.
Kedron Bardwell added his own:
We would have won it
If only our candidates
Had been more extreme
Some people are still bullish on some Republican upsets; we shall see soon enough.
Religious Conservatism vs. Rational Liberalism
Jeff Hunt Tweeted:
I don't know about you. I'm voting for people who know the difference between a man and a woman, fear God, like babies, want parents to see school curriculum, pray, own guns, limit government, and aren't carving up minors to change their genders.
I responded:
I'd like to vote for people who know the difference between biological sex and expressed gender, respect reality, like freedom, want rights-respecting government, use reason, and don't lie about their political opponents.
California Abortion Law
Tina Peters claims, “Gavin Newsom has just passed a law that will kill babies 28 days after they’re born.” Obviously that’s bullshit (par for the course for Peters).
True, the bill in question was tightened up to clarify the matter. Here’s the final language:
Notwithstanding any other law, a person shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability or penalty, or otherwise deprived of their rights under this article, based on their actions or omissions with respect to their pregnancy or actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcome, including miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion, or perinatal death due to causes that occurred in utero.
I have no opinion on whether the law was a good idea. But clearly it does not legalize infanticide.
A Denver Search Warrant
Zack Newman and Angeline McCall wrote a thorough article for 9News about a Denver search warrant. A party stole a truck that contained several guns. Police thought an iPhone tracker associated with the truck led to a specific house, but police found nothing there. My question is, how good was that tracking data? Did it really strongly indicate a specific house or was that a big stretch?
Newman added on Twitter:
The iPhone last pinged to that address. It’s unclear exactly why but it could have attached to the WiFi signal for some reason. The accuracy of it for a search warrant is unclear.
The truck was recovered a couple of days later in Aurora. The police did not say in their warrant that they saw the car in question through any security cameras. They didn’t do any on-the-ground police work mentioned in the warrant.
Quick Takes
The Nazis: Craig Silverman interviewed Steve Durham about the Nazis as socialists and the state history standards. Silverman is not happy with how Durham and others have handled the matter. I’m not sure what Silverman thinks of my take; see my first and second articles.
Antisemitism: Some group distributed antisemitic flyers in Colorado Springs. Disgusting.
Libertarian Polis: “We’ve leaned into individual responsibility in Colorado, which is very consistent with our culture as a state. We’re a fiercely independent state that values our freedom,” Polis said. HuffPost’s puff piece notwithstanding, Polis’s policies mostly do not match his rhetoric. See my “The Tax and Regulate Reality Behind Governor Polis’s Libertarian Image.”
Peotter: The Libertarian (so-called) in the U.S. Senate race, Brian Peotter, says he has faced “heavy pressure from friends, family, and others to drop out,” Colorado Newsline’s Chase Woodruff reports. Woodruff adds, “In 44 U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races dating back to 1950, Colorado has never had a clear-cut third-party spoiler.” But this time the Libertarian has Republican supporters. I’ve written about Peotter before.
Cutter: State legislator Lisa Cutter said, “Sometimes, you can’t be completely honest.” Part of the context is a recycling bill, which I review in my “The Tax and Regulate Reality Behind Governor Polis’s Libertarian Image.”
Schools: A Colorado school board member who quoted Hitler in a social media post drew criticism that she was “accusing our teachers of harming our kids,” the Gazette reports. It’s so weird how government-run schools become so political.
Catholic Schools: According to the Archdiocese of Denver, Catholic schools should not hire transgender teachers, enroll transgender students, or recognize the transgender identity of students, reports the Denver Post. Also, a Catholic school should not “treat a same-sex couple as a family equivalent to the natural family.” What bigoted nonsense (which, of course, Jeff Hunt defended). See also Brianna Titone’s critical remarks.
Police: “Idaho Springs reaches $7M settlement after police used Taser on 75-year-old man,” reports the Colorado Sun.
More Police: Remember the police officers who put a suspect in the back of a squad car and left the car on train tracks, nearly causing the death of the suspect? Two officers now have been charged, one with attempted manslaughter.
Even More Police: Jeremy Jojola reports, “Log Lane Village . . . has two police officers tasked with watching over their safety, yet a 9NEWS investigation reveals one of them is currently out on bond for a felony case, and the other faced allegations for sending nude photos to women while on duty.” It’s so weird how many people do not trust the police.
Internet: The federal government (i.e., taxpayers) is spending a billion dollars to provide high-speed internet in Colorado. This simply is not a proper governmental function.
Drug War: Congressional candidate Barbara Kirkmeyer outright lied about Democrats allegedly “legalized fentanyl.” See the 9News report. My position is that possession of a drug should not be a crime, but that is not the position of most Colorado Democrats.
Crime: This is horrific, as reported by the Colorado Sun: “One man was killed and five people were wounded . . . when three assailants opened fire with handguns outside of a market in east Denver, police said.”
More Crime: This is terrible in every way: “Two boys not old enough to get a driver’s permit [ages 12 and 14] now face two charges of first-degree murder and arson in a fire that killed a mother and her young daughter on Oct. 31.”
Rehabilitation: Mesa County is experimenting with some innovative ways to help people transition from prison to normal life.
Abortion: Because other states have banned or restricted it, abortion is up by a third in Colorado.
Bernett: State representative Tracey Bernett faces felony charges about lying about her place of residence for purposes of voting and running for office.
Marijuana: The Colorado Sun has out a long story about the (partial) legalization of marijuana in Colorado.
Population: Fewer people are moving to Colorado. Moreover, from 2020–21, Denver and some surrounding counties lost residents, while many counties gained residents, according to the Colorado Sun. Of course, some of that has to do with remote work. I think some of it has to do with Denver’s crime, street “camping,” and housing restrictions.
Phonics: Teaching kids to read phonetically is again the standard. See the report in Chalkbeat. How many children were harmed by contrary fads? Natalie Wexler comments on reading in schools.
Ganahl: Why in the hell did the Republican candidate for governor appear on the podcast of a conspiracy fantasist to cast aspersions on Colorado’s election procedures, right before the election? See Quentin Young’s report. In related news, Ganahl also appeared, again, on Steve Bannon’s show. She also appeared on the show of Joe Oltmann, who has suggested that Polis be executed. See also Kyle Clark’s Twitter thread.
Propst and Furries: Colorado State Board of Education candidate Peggy Propst said, “We have furries in our classrooms, kids that come to school and believe that they want to be treated as a dog or a cat and have litter boxes in the bathroom,” reports Jason Salzman. This is a moral panic wrapped around a tiny grain of truth. See my previous commentary on the matter.
Nuclear War: Michael Huemer comments on the possibility of nuclear war.
Housing: People with properties to rent have been slow to apply for Denver’s “residential rental license.” We need more freedom in the housing market, not more bureaucracy.
Speech: In December the Supreme Court will hear the case about the Colorado web designer who doesn’t want to make web pages for gay weddings. Here is my take.
Republicans: Heidi Beedle reports, “The El Paso County Republican Party held a special central committee meeting to censure 33 party members, many of whom are current elected officials and candidates for Tuesday’s election. Many of those censured Saturday have also opposed or otherwise run afoul of El Paso County GOP Chair Vickie Tonkins or her slate of FEC United-backed, extremist candidates.”