Go woke, become stupid: Bay Area school performance drops after adopting 'Woke Kindergarten' program

An elementary school in California has experienced further decline in academic scores following the implementation of a woke program designed to teach kids about "social justice," highlighting how such programs only serve to impede childhood development.

Glassbrook Elementary School in Hayward, California, has experienced a decline in student achievement after implementing a program by Woke Kindergarten, a company hired to provide training on topics such as white supremacy and oppression.

Despite a $250,000 investment from federal funds intended to enhance test scores in the nation's underperforming schools, the school's performance in English and math has worsened, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

As I highlighted on X, the founder of Woke Kindergarten proudly proclaims her belief that the United States has "no right to exist." 

"I believe every settler colony that has committed genocide against native people, against indigenous people, has no right to exist,” says Akiea Gross, a self-described "tactivist, abolitionist early educator," and founder of the organization who goes by "they/them" pronouns. 

The Woke Kindergarten curriculum introduces students to a "language of resistance," featuring a "woke word of the day" with terms like "strike, ceasefire," and "protest." The program aims to provide children with a "liberatory vocabulary" for critiquing systemic issues.

However, since the adoption of this approach, the school has seen a four-percentage-point drop in both English and math proficiency, with less than 4% of students proficient in math and less than 12% in English.

Most students at Glassbrook are low-income, with two-thirds having English as a second language, and over 80% are Hispanic. The school has been on a state watch list for improvement since 2020 and has recently been demoted to the lowest performance level.

Concerns have been raised by some teachers about the program's focus on progressive activism over academic improvement. One teacher, who identified as a "gay moderate," faced pushback for questioning aspects of the training, such as the meaning behind "disrupt whiteness" in an elementary classroom context. This teacher's inquiries into the program's content, including sessions that referred to the "so-called United States" and envisioned a world without police, money, or landlords, were met with resistance.

Hayward Superintendent Jason Reimann defended the decision to hire Woke Kindergarten, emphasizing the goal of enhancing student attendance and creating a safe environment as integral to academic success. Reimann stated, "We are in favor 100% of abolishing systems of oppression where they hold our students back," and acknowledged the financial concerns but justified the expenditure based on the program's perceived effectiveness.

“I get that it’s more money than we would have liked to have spent,” the superintendent added. 

While Glassbrook Elementary and the broader school district saw an improvement in attendance, with a decrease in chronic absenteeism from 61% to 44% last year, critics argue that the focus should be on direct academic interventions.

Other Bay Area schools have seen success with different approaches, such as a San Francisco elementary that significantly improved math proficiency through a targeted math intervention program.

Ian Miles Cheong

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Ian Miles Cheong is a freelance writer, graphic designer, journalist and videographer. He’s kind of a big deal on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/stillgray

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