Education Week - June 1, 2022 - 5

might be received on their merits.
What is clear, though, is that
there's currently little existing case
law specifically on transgender students,
privacy rights, and schools-
even as the larger legal landscape
about transgender people's rights is
rapidly evolving.
Under the Biden administration, for
example, the U.S Department of Education
has argued that discriminating
against students based on their gender
identity violates Title IX, which protects
against sex discrimination. It has
cited a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling
that extended protections against
sexual harassment and discrimination
in the workplace to gender identity.
The Biden administration is also
completing a rewrite of Title IX expected
to codify transgender students'
rights in education-setting it up for
direct conflict with states that have recently
passed restrictive policies.
Elsewhere, while a few courts have
ruled that gay students have a reasonable
expectation to privacy about
their sexual orientation, it's not clear
how far that right extends or whether
it includes gender identity. And in a
2013 ruling, a federal appeals court
concluded that there was no clearly
established privacy right under the
14th Amendment precluding school
officials " from discussing with a parent
the student's private matters,
including matters relating to sexual
activity of the student. "
All of that uncertainty has collided
with steps districts have taken in the
past decade to make schools more welcoming
for gay and trans students-
some prompted by gay-rights groups.
GLSEN, a group that supports
LGBTQ students, publishes a model
policy for administrators that, among
other things, reads that " staff or educators
shall not disclose any information
that may reveal a student's
gender identity to others, including
parents or guardians and other staff,
unless the student has authorized
such disclosure, ... This disclosure
must be discussed with the student,
prior to any action. "
GLSEN didn't respond to requests
for comment.
But Olson noted that hundreds of
other school districts have managed
to strike an appropriate balance on
these issues.
" We know about thousands of
districts across the country that successfully
navigate these issues and
provide supportive and affirming environments
for students in coordination
with parents, " he said. " The focus
should be on supporting reasonable
policies, rather than a knee-jerk reaction
that says we need to start suing
schools. "
Complicating matters still further, a
handful of states have already passed
laws or issued guidelines about transgender
students and privacy, which
means that what's currently permissible
in one state isn't necessarily in
another.
New Jersey law specifically allows
students to be called by the name and
pronoun they prefer, and state guidance
says that " parental consent is not
required. " Virginia, in 2020, issued a
model policy that reads, " if a student
is not ready or able to safely share with
their family about their gender identity,
this should be respected, " though
unlike in New Jersey, that recommendation
doesn't carry the force of law.
Echoes of the parents' rights'
framing
Claybrook said if the parents win
in the Montgomery County case, it
wouldn't mean chucking out most of
the district's guidelines. It would only
mean that the district must inform
parents if a child confides that they
want to socially transition at school.
" You're basically saying that school
officials, based on maybe half an hour
with a student, will decide they have
abusive or neglectful parents. There
are provisions in Maryland and every
other state to deal with abusive and
neglectful parents, and that requires
due process to be followed, " he said.
" There are certainly, of course,
instances when the parents are notified,
and that is fine. We're just worried
about the ones where [educators]
make a decision based on that
1-to-10 decision in that form and
decide they're not supportive. What
scores does a parent have to get before
they're notified? A 6? Or does it take a
9 or a 10? "
Legal issues aside, much of the
rhetoric in the lawsuits echoes that of
a resurgent " parents' rights " movement
in education that has largely
cast schools as sites of indoctrination
on race and gender identity matters.
In the lawsuits, the parents variously
claim that schools are hiding things
from them, deceiving them by using
one set of pronouns with students and
another when addressing parents, or
operating LGBTQ clubs in secrecy
that might sway students' perception
of their gender identities.
The clear subtext to such arguments
is that the increase in the number of
people who identify as transgender
has a social component.
" I think one of the theories is that
this is in part at least socially driven,
that students that struggle with this are
affected by the messages they hear in
schools, the messages they hear from
their peers, and there are kids who
struggle with this who would not have
were it not from the messaging they
hear every day on schools from social
media, " said Berg of WILL.
There is also a distinct conservative
bent behind the legal firepower.
The Alliance Defending Freedom
and WILL, which are representing
the two sets of parents in Wisconsin,
have supported other parents-rights
cases and related legislation, such as
curriculum-transparency laws aimed
at uncovering supposed indoctrination
in schools.
The lawsuit that has progressed the
furthest so far is the one against the
Madison district, where a state court
judge issued a preliminary injunction
preventing the district from using its
guidelines " in any manner that allows
or requires district staff to conceal information
or to answer untruthfully in
response to any question that parents
ask about their child at school. "
Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme
Court heard an appeal in the case
about whether the parents bringing
the suit can remain anonymous.
WHAT THE
RESEARCH SAYS
Pace of Grade Inflation Picked Up
During the Pandemic, Study Says
By Sarah D. Sparks
High school grade inflation ratcheted up in 2019
and the pace accelerated during the pandemic,
according to ACT, the national college testing group.
The findings echo a recent federal study that
also showed signs of grade inflation, and highlight
one more hurdle for high school students trying
to regain their academic footing after credit and
graduation disruptions caused by the pandemic.
" Grade inflation is a persistent, systemic
problem, common across classrooms, districts, and
states, " said Janet Godwin, ACT's chief executive
officer. " Students work hard to earn the highest
grades possible so that their high school GPA, a
cumulative measure of what students know and
can do, makes them eligible for advancement in
sequenced courses and ultimately a high school
diploma. Grade inflation upends the reliability of
that measure. "
Edgar Sanchez, a senior research scientist at ACT,
analyzed data from 4.3 million students from more
than 4,700 schools, who took the ACT between
2010 and 2021 and graduated from public high
schools. The average cumulative high school GPA
rose every year during that period, from 3.17 out of 4
in 2010 to 3.36 out of 4 in 2021. However, the mean
composite test scores for the ACT fell during the
same period, and Sanchez found the gap between
rising GPAs and falling standardized test scores
accelerated beginning in 2018.
" We did see grade inflation ... across the entire 10
years, " Sanchez said, but added that " since 2020 and
2021, there seems to be this real substantial increase
in grade inflation. We really need to think about,
what are the national trends or national pressures
that are going on that have been influencing grades
in the last couple of years, and what implications
that might have to grading standards and to how
those grades are really interpreted and used. "
States gave districts wide flexibility in setting
graduation requirements during the last two years,
and districts have varied significantly in how they
have handled grading and end-of-course testing
for students who moved in and out of remote
instruction. Sanchez also noted that the kinds of
students who were able to take the ACT during the
disruption may differ than those in previous years.
Grade inflation increased faster for girls than
boys, and faster for Black students than those of
other races, ACT reported. However, Sanchez found
grade inflation also increased faster for schools
where 75 percent or more of the students were
white or Asian American. He said there would need
to be additional analyses to determine whether
students of color at majority-white schools had
disproportionately inflated grades within their
schools, compared to other students.
ACT's findings echo those of a national high
school transcript study, which the Education
Department's research agency released in March.
That study, by the National Center for Education
Statistics, calculated GPAs individually for students
taking different kinds of coursework, such as
college-preparatory or career-technical education.
The federal study found similar trends as ACT.
Grade Inflation or More Student Effort?
ACT, NAEP Offer Insights
The college testing group ACT, Inc. finds the gap
between 12th graders' rising course grades and falling
test scores continues to widen. In a new study, the
group calculated the difference in adjusted GPA to
account for this potential grade inflation.
Note: School poverty rates were calculated by those at the
25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of the percentage of students
eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
SOURCE: ACT, 2022; NAEP High School Transcript Study, 2019
Though the graduating class of 2019 had taken on
average more-challenging coursework and achieved
the highest GPAs in more than a decade, there
had been declines in 12th grade performance in
reading and math on the National Assessment of
Educational Progress, the set of tests often dubbed
the " Nation's Report Card. "
In fact, according to the NCES, which administers
the NAEP, little more than 1 in 3 high school seniors
who took the test in 2019 performed well enough
in math and reading to be considered ready to start
college with nonremedial courses in those subjects.
That's one reason grade inflation in high school
can hurt students in the long run. Nearly 42 percent
of all students starting college have to take at least
one remedial course, and 65 percent of students
starting public two-year degree programs must do
so, according to the most-recent NCES estimates.
These classes can be expensive and don't generally
count toward a student's degree. Studies have found
that the more remedial classes students take, the
lower their odds of ultimately earning a degree.
But at least one expert was unconvinced the gaps
were caused by grade inflation alone.
" There could well be grade inflation, but I think
we could have greater effort [from students]
simultaneously, " said Robert Balfanz, a research
professor at the Center for the Social Organization
of Schools at Johns Hopkins University School of
Education, where he is the director of the Everyone
Graduates Center.
Greater attention to college selectivity has
heightened pressure on schools to offer, and
students to work harder in, college-preparatory
courses, Balfanz said. " Even beyond the Ivy League,
state flagship schools [of higher education] are
getting hyperselective, and as they get more and
more selective, it just tells kids you've got to do
better and better. "
From remote learning for young children to playground infection risks, schooling under the pandemic is raising a lot of questions
for teachers and education leaders. This new research column aims to help readers understand what the research says-and doesn't
say-about our new context for learning. If you have a question, please send it to ssparks@educationweek.org.
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Education Week - June 1, 2022

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