Hone was to spearhead a vote to postpone accepting the report until the school board and staff members had time to discuss the merits of this type of data analysis.
In 2006, the Fairfax County School Board mandated that Fairfax County teachers divide any data they collected, in terms of a students’ socioeconomic status, learning ability, reading level and every other significant data by race. “I believe that the intention of that was so that [the school board] identify problem areas and fix them. They [failed] to realize that when you collect data so susceptible to bias, it’s just not valid data,” Hone said.
The Fairfax County School Board has three specific objectives: to promote high academic achievement among all students, civic engagement and to provide students with essential life skills in the form of morality and ethics. However, its challenge lies in inspiring all of its students including minority students, which make up 46 percent of the student population, to succeed in all three areas.
“When you don’t have a school board or school system that reflects the diversity of the community that we serve, [there are] consequences. It makes a difference in how things are viewed,” Hone said.
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