When choosing a new teacher, Denver public schools seek "an anti-racist mindset." They want a candidate who works "to dismantle systems of oppression and inequity in our community." In Washington, D.C., they search for candidates who promote "equity so that we eliminate opportunity gaps and systematically interrupt institutional bias."
This is according to an investigation by the NGO National Opportunity Project (NOP) on the "ideological screening" of teaching personnel in public schools throughout the country. The research covered 69 school districts. Of those, 18 refused to provide information or censored parts of their content. In 23 of them, the NOP was able to find conclusive evidence of ideological bias in hiring.
Ideological filtering ranges from hiring quotas to job descriptions to interview questions. "What does a socially just classroom look like?" is one of the examples recorded by NOP. Another: "How do you plan to keep equity at the center of your classroom?" An additional question was:
How have you raised your level of consciousness regarding your own values and biases and how they may affect people who are racially or culturally different from you?
Although the researchers say that "the starkest, most direct evidence" of discrimination based on ideological beliefs is the criteria with which the answers of the candidates were evaluated.
In Fairfax County, Va., for example, concepts such as "equity journey," "equity work," and "understand that race is social construct" were positively valued. On the other hand, those who showed "no reflection" on "affirming the identities" of students or say that equity is the responsibility of others or who promote "practices reflecting on maintaining the status quo" received the worst score.
Recruiters at municipal schools in Decatur, Ga., asked candidates to do a written test. One of questions was, according to NOP:
An upset parent emails you regarding a classroom discussion with your students about Critical Race Theory. They accuse you (the teacher) of anti-Americanism, changing “real history,” and of making White children feel marginalized and attacked. Please discuss your course of action and draft a response to this parent.
At another school in Illinois, they run a background check on the internet. The objective is to verify that the candidate is "neutral." The research covers Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and the candidate's professional website.
Lack of transparency
In trying to investigate the problem of bias in hiring, NOP came across another issue: the lack of transparency in the selection processes.
Several school districts denied access to questionnaires, protocols or hiring rubrics. Some officials argued that the information was regulated by state law, while others maintained that the request was too broad, even though the NOP says it repeatedly narrowed its demands.
"There’s a fine line between compromising the integrity of the hiring process and accountability to the public," the organization said. "But withholding records or parts thereof could hide hiring practices that are ideologically biased."
According to the NOP, the fact that some districts have submitted the required documentation, or even more than requested, increases doubts about those who decided not to do so. It might even imply that their discoveries only "scratch the surface."
DEI criteria as an excuse
Patrick Hughes, president of the National Opportunity Project, explained that, during COVID, parents took a "very particular interest" in their children's education. During the lockdowns, they saw with their own eyes what their children were learning. What they found, he says, was that instead of math or language, districts and teachers focused on "indoctrination from the left."
He also assured that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) criteria are used as a pretext to introduce "a particular political or social ideological point of view." They are terms that, he maintains:
Sound nice, because equity sounds like equality. And everybody talks about how diversity is our strength. But in reality the left is just taking these terms and using them as a pretext in order to get their social ideological and political philosophies into the k through 12 systems.
The NOP investigation also shows that the recent Supreme Court ruling did not end affirmative action, Hughes lamented.
Hiring tactics that limit teaching staff to certain prescribed viewpoints, ideologies, and backgrounds are incompatible with our fundamental values. It is time to re-evaluate teacher employment practices in light of the Supreme Court’s recent rulings.
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National Opportunity Project (NOP) by Santiago Adolfo Ospital on Scribd
