Nation
Biden admin setting aside millions for ‘racial equity’ grants in STEM education

The Biden Administration says they are fighting “systemic racism” and working to further “racial equity” in science, technology, engineering, and math-related careers by funneling millions in grants to promote equity in learning.
As reported by Just the News, the administration is moving millions through the National Science Foundation in the form of grants. An official with the Department of Energy said that the “data makes it clear that we need diversity in STEM.”
They added “We really want to see a diverse pipeline of future workforce and our problem-solvers and scientists.”
The NSF has a synopsis on its website on the program it uses to pursue racial tasks, the Racial Equity in STEM Education Program.
“Persistent racial injustices and inequalities in the United States have led to renewed concern and interest in addressing systemic racism,” the website reads. “The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) seeks to support bold, groundbreaking and potentially transformative projects addressing systemic racism in STEM.”
Just the News found that $30 million will be going to 45 grant winners in 2021, according to government grant tracking.
The news comes as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said “the data makes it clear that we need diversity in STEM” at Howard University last week.
Read the full article here.
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education
Parents, advocates call on leaders to step down after ZERO children pass math at 13 Baltimore state schools

How long will leaders who let our children down blame Covid-19 for their failures? Anger swept across Baltimore, Maryland, after not a single student passed their state math exams, and almost 75 percent testing at the lowest possible score.
The Daily Mail reports “The poor performances came in the latest round of Maryland‘s state testing, where 13 high schools in the city – a staggering 40 percent – failed to produce a single student with a ‘proficient’ score in math.” Baltimore City Schools not only received $1.6 billion last year from taxpayers, but the school district also received $799 million in Covid relief funding from the federal government.
“So, it’s not a funding issue. We’re getting plenty of funding,” said Jason Rodriguez, deputy director of Baltimore-based nonprofit People Empowered by the Struggle, to Fox Baltimore. “I don’t think money is the issue. I think accountability is the issue…This is educational homicide, there is no excuse for the failure, which has come after years of warnings over the city’s poor education standards,” added Rodriguez.
A bombshell study published this month by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) found that 16 million students were chronically absent during the pandemic. “The millions of students had missed more than 10 percent of schools days during the 2021-22 year, twice the number seen in previous years. More than eight in 10 public schools also reported stunted behavioral and social-emotional development in their students due to the pandemic, according to a May survey cited in the report.”
However, six years ago a similar report by Project Baltimore found that 13 schools in the city had zero students test ‘proficiently’ in math. An almost identical finding. “We’re still dealing with these same issues year after year,” Rodriguez continued. “It’s just scary to me and alarming to me because we know that what’s happening now, you know, it’s just opening up the floodgates to the school-to-prison pipeline. I’m beyond angry… This is why we’ve been calling for the resignation of the school CEO.”
Daily Mail notes that Rodriguez’s group has previously held rallies over the mounting educational crisis in the city, and in 2021 led calls for Baltimore City Schools CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises to resign over low test scores and falling graduation rates.
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