Student achievement at a San Francsico-area elementary school fell dramatically following the establishment of a woke teaching policy through a $250,000 federal grant.
Two years into a three-year contract with Woke Kindergarten, a for-profit company that trains teachers to confront white supremacy, disrupt racism and oppression, and remove those barriers to learning, test scores in English and math at Glassbrook Elementary in Hayward, California, reached new lows, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.
Just 3.8% of students were proficient in math and 11.6% at grade-level in English for the 2022-23 school year — a decline of about 4.5 percentage points in each category from the previous year, according to data from the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress.
Woke Kindergarten describes itself on its website as a "global, abolitionist early childhood ecosystem and visionary creative portal supporting children, families, educators, and organizations in their commitment to abolitionist early education and pro-Black and queer and trans liberation."
The decline prompted some teachers to question whether the money was well-spent given the needs of the school's 474 students who are predominantly low-income, the Chronicle reported. Two-thirds are English learners, and more than 80% are Hispanic/Latino.
Officials at Hayward Unified School District defended the program, the Chronicle reported, saying Woke Kindergarten did what it was hired to do. The district said there were improvements in attendance and suspension rates, and that Glassbrook Elementary was no longer on the state watch list. The Chronicle reported Glassbrook not only was still on the state's watch list but dropped to a lower level.
Woke Kindergarten's curriculum, according to its website, includes " woke wonderings," which pose questions for students, including, "If we abolished the police, what else could we do to keep the world safe?" and "If the United States defunded the Israeli military, how could this money be used to rebuild Palestine?"
In addition, there is a "woke word of the day," including "anti-racist," "abolish," and "ceasefire," and "woke read alouds," which include books on gender identity and affirming identities and on how capitalism is to blame for a mother and daughter only being allowed to spend a day together each week.
Tiger Craven-Neeley, a teacher at Glassbrook, told the Chronicle he supports discussing racism in the classroom but found the Woke Kindergarten training confusing and rigid. He said he was told a primary objective was to "disrupt whiteness" in the school — and that the sessions were "not a place to express white guilt."
Craven-Neeley, who is white and a self-described "gay moderate," said he questioned a trainer who used the phrasing "so-called United States," as well as lessons available on the organization's website offering "Lil' Comrade Convos," or positing a world without police, money, or landlords. He said he wasn't trying to be difficult when he asked for clarification about disrupting whiteness.
"What does that mean?" he said, adding that such questions got him at least temporarily banned from future training sessions. "I just want to know, what does that mean for a third-grade classroom?"
Hayward Superintendent Jason Reimann said the decision to hire Woke Kindergarten, which was approved by the school board, was made by the school community, including parents and teachers, as part of a federal improvement plan to boost student achievement by improving attendance.
Newsmax reached out to Woke Kindergarten by email, but an automated response said its founder, Akiea "Ki" Gross, "is recovering from surgery & will get back to you."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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