Thu Aug 3, 2023 – 4:12 pm EDT
(LifeSiteNews) – The California Department of Education (CDE) is attempting to prevent two Stanford University academics from testifying against the state’s education performance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative impact on students.
In 2020, attorneys representing lower-income minority students filed a lawsuit alleging that the state’s turn to “distance learning” in response to COVID contributed to substantial learning loss and deprived students of their right to free and equal education. “These conditions would be unacceptable in wealthier, whiter communities and do not meet the minimum standards set by the California legislature for the 2020-2021 school year, which the state has done nothing to enforce,” the suit contends.
EdSource reported that the attorneys asked Stanford professors Sean Reardon and Thomas Dee to testify about the research they have conducted on COVID learning loss, but the two are barred from doing so under an agreement they signed with CDE that prohibits them from testifying against the department in exchange for access to K-12 education data.
Reardon declined to participate due to the agreement. Dee agreed to participate and filed a brief arguing that “[b]ecause of both its
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at LifeSite News
The views expressed in this news alert by the author do not directly represent that of The Christian Journal or its editors