OBAMALAND: Minority Teachers Fail Teaching Tests – Can You Guess What It’s Blamed On?

Isn’t everything these days? It’s unbelievable. Earlier this week, a white police officer resigned under pressure in McKinney, Texas after the mayor of that city threw him under the bus for having the unmitigated gall to try to restore order when a mob of teen trespassers refused to leave a private swimming pool. He’s seen on a video tape, alone, surrounded, subduing a defiant teen brat, a 14-year old girl, who refused to comply with his order, while other kids circle menacingly. She was resisting arrest, but she was also black, so I guess you can see why he would be the bad guy for doing his job. You don’t see that? I hope I don’t have to report you to the Dear Reader.

It sure is a good thing that we elected our first “African-American” (or is that just African? Sometimes I’m not sure …) president. Imagine how polarized the races would be in this country if we hadn’t elected Barack Obama!

Imagine, also, the horrible place America would be without federal judges like Kimba Wood of the Federal District Court in Manhattan around to protect us from racist ideas like making sure people who want to be teachers can pass tests showing that they know things. Seriously? No worries, though, Judge Wood is on the case. From the Liberal Death Star aka New York Times:

A federal judge on Friday found that an exam for New York teaching candidates was racially discriminatory because it did not measure skills necessary to do the job, the latest step in a court battle over teacher qualifications that has spanned nearly 20 years.

The exam, the second incarnation of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test, called the LAST-2, was administered from 2004 through 2012 and was designed to test an applicant’s knowledge of liberal arts and science.

But the test was found to fail minority teaching candidates at a higher rate than white candidates.

According to Friday’s decision, written by Judge Kimba M. Wood of Federal District Court in Manhattan, the pass rate for African-American and Latino candidates was between 54 percent and 75 percent of the pass rate for white candidates. Once it was established that minority applicants were failing at a disproportionately high rate, the burden shifted to education officials to prove that the skills being tested were necessary to do the job; otherwise, the test would be ruled discriminatory.

(emphasis mine)

OK, now that’s what I’m talking about! We can’t have some stupid, obviously racist test like that stopping people from their God-given right to government jobs!

Judge Wood is like some kind of ninja, with her fists flying to smack down every evil, racist test that mean, hating hater racists come up with to replace the ones she destroys with one stroke of her mighty pen and swift gavel. Also from the New York Times article:

With this ruling, the LAST-2 meets the same fate of the LAST-1, an earlier version of the test, given from 1993 to 2004, that was also found to be discriminatory.

It was not immediately clear how many people would be affected by the decision or how much this might cost New York City.

So far, about 3,900 people have filed claim forms over the first version of the exam. Mr. Sohn said the compensation is still being litigated. Some of those people worked as substitutes and may now be eligible for full-time positions, while others had already been promoted because they met other hiring requirements.

Mr. Sohn said thousands of people presumably took the second exam version while it was in use, and under Title VII, the federal prohibition on employment discrimination, minority candidates who failed might be entitled to back pay . This ruling applies only to the city, but could have ramifications for the rest of the state, where the test was also used.

(emphasis mine)

Cost? The cost to taxpayers be damned! We’re talking about education here, People, so money is no object! In addition, no price is too high to compensate these would-be teachers, victims of racism, something that Judge Wood obviously understands. And, just when you thought that she had done everything possible to defeat the forces of unfairness and invidious discrimination, like Ron Popeil, I say to you, wait there’s more!

Neither version of the exams is still in use in New York. Instead the state administers a new test called the Academic Literacy Skills Test, or the ALST, along with a slate of other assessments. The fate of the ALST, however, was recently called into question as well. This spring, Judge Wood began questioning whether that test, too, was racially discriminatory. A hearing is scheduled on the issue for later this month.

Some of you might be wondering how this expensive litigation will help the supposed beneficiaries of New York public schools, the “children” that liberals care so very much about. Shouldn’t we be more concerned about hiring smart, competent teachers, regardless of their race or ethnic background? Whatever happened to that whole quaint “content of character, not color of skin” idea? Shouldn’t we be setting high standards for “educators,” many of whom whine that they aren’t respected as “professionals?” No, at least in Judge Wood’s jurisdiction. The article concludes:

The examination of the ALST comes at a time when many states are introducing more rigorous certification tests, an attempt to raise the bar of entry to the teaching profession and, supporters say, to ensure that all teachers are qualified and able to do their jobs well.

But the tests’ impact on minorities has also been a concern because of a dearth of minority teachers.

Last month the state Board of Regents agreed to postpone for a year the requirement that candidates pass the ALST.

(emphasis mine)

And, yes, History fans, this is the same Kimba Wood that Bill Clinton nominated to be Attorney General, only to discover that she has hired an illegal alien nanny, causing her to withdraw from consideration.

Politics, Pop Culture, the Hottest Issues of the Day, the flagship show of the Informed America Radio network, The Teri O’Brien Show, featuring America’s Original Conservative Warrior Princess, Live and in vivid red, white and blue, Sundays 5-7 pm Eastern time (4-6 pm Central) at teriobrien.com and http://www.spreaker.com/show/the-teri-obrien-show, and anytime on demand on iHeart Radio, Stitcher Radio, and iTunes.