7 February 13 - 19, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents aware of actions that are often considered anti-Jewish, and this definition offers a clear and concise set of guidelines which sort of can help combat anti-Semitism.” How North Texas Schools Define Antisemitism The University of North Texas, the Univer- sity of Texas Dallas and the University of Texas Arlington each list the IHRA defini- tion of antisemitism in publicly posted stu- dent policies. “Antisemitism means a certain percep- tion of Jews that may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. The term includes rhetorical and physical acts of antisemitism directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals or their property or toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities,” the pol- icy documents state. The adopted definition is in compliance with a state executive order issued last year by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who ordered all public schools in the state to include the IHRA definition in their campus free speech policies. The governor’s order also specified that students protesting in support of Pales- tine had been documented chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which Abbott called an antisemitic phrase. While the ADL defines the phrase as such, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) believes the chant should be protected free speech. Abbott’s executive order has been chal- lenged by FIRE and student groups at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Houston and the University of Texas at Dallas. Last fall, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ruled the groups were “likely to suc- ceed” in proving that the policies instituted after the executive order resulted in a chill- ing effect on free speech. Pitman declined to block Texas universities from enforcing the order while the case works its way through the court system. Broadly, FIRE has criticized the “vague” and “broad” IHRA antisemitism definition, warning that it could allow for students to be penalized for criticisms of Israel as a na- tion. Already, university faculty members have reported struggling to navigate the hot- button topic. At UT Dallas and UT Austin, respec- tively, 66% and 70% of professors reported that it is difficult to have “open and honest conversations” about the conflict between Israel and Palestine, FIRE’s latest campus free speech survey showed. “It’s very chilling. Students and professors may be deterred from speaking about any topics regarding Israel for fear of being shut up under this policy,” FIRE attorney Zach Greenberg said. “We may see these classes, these discussions, maybe the [pro-Palestine] student groups who are dedicated to this is- sue — we see those discussions disappear or become less prominent on campus to the det- riment of free exchange of ideas.” While the IHRA definition does include some guidance on what conversations sur- rounding Israel as a nation should be deemed antisemitic — such as drawing com- parisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis and claiming that the exis- tence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor — the guidance also acknowledges that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be re- garded as antisemitic.” The definition has been adopted by a number of governments, Horn added, who have nonetheless “found it possible to criti- cize Israeli policies and practices.” “Different campuses are experiencing [an- tisemitism] in different ways,” Horn said. “[IHRA] is not an end-all be-all. So if a univer- sity were to adopt this, it wouldn’t necessarily be like, okay, check a box, we’re done. We think that there’s further education and professional development opportunities that can go along- side it. But this is a good first step.” ▼ EDUCATION TESTING, TESTING DALLAS ISD TEST SCORES IMPROVE AS STATE, NATIONAL PROGRESS SUFFERS. BY EMMA RUBY D allas ISD middle schoolers have made impressive gains in reading comprehension over the last few years, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores show. But a broader lens reveals that students across the United States are struggling to make up ground on pandemic-induced learning gaps. Every two years the NAEP samples read- ing and math test scores of fourth- and eighth-graders across the country. Students in both grades are, on average, scoring five points lower in reading than they were in 2019. Fourth-graders are scoring 3 points lower in math than they were in 2019, and eighth-graders’ math scores dropped 8 points in that time. According to Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statis- tics, proficiency losses are especially worry- ing in the reading comprehension scores of lower-performing students. High-perform- ing students are making up for pandemic losses, but Carr said their lower-performing peers are not. “These 2024 results clearly show that students are not where they need to be — or where we want them to be,” Carr told The Dallas Morning News. “Our students, for the most part, continue to perform below pre-pandemic level, and our children’s reading skills continue to slide.” Though education gaps in math have been attrib- uted to the pandemic, national slides in stu- dent reading comprehension began years before. The 2024 survey showed more eighth-graders reading below the NAEP’s basic standard than ever before in the as- sessment’s history, Carr said. Students are considered below basic if they are missing foundational skills, such as being able to identify the meaning of a grade-level ap- propriate word. Dallas Students Are Holding Steady, Mostly Dallas ISD is one of around two dozen districts that participates in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA), which tests an increased number of students to al- low for district-specific takeaways. Fort Worth ISD is also enrolled in the program. In Dallas ISD, the number of eighth- graders deemed proficient in reading is 18%, an improvement from 2022’s 12%. Ac- cording to the district, only the Chicago school district had higher reading gains in eighth-graders of the TUDA participants. Fifteen percent of eighth-graders are where they need to be in math, up from 12% in 2022. One out of five fourth-graders were deemed on-level in reading, a 2% improve- ment from 2022, and math resulted in a 5% improvement, for a 33% proficiency rate. Math scores for Dallas ISD fourth-graders put the district in the middle of the TUDA pack. Although the results show room for im- provement, Dallas was one of only four cities whose scores are not significantly different from 2019 pre-pandemic results. Dallas ISD outperformed Fort Worth ISD in all four categories. “These results tell us that the supports we have implemented for the past three years both for teachers and students have helped us recover,” Dallas ISD Superintendent Stepha- nie Elizalde said in a statement. “However, they also tell us that we still have work ahead of us to get back to pre-pandemic levels and to narrow the gap with our peers. It is more important than ever to invest in the education of the children in our state and our district so we can continue the learning improvements.” Michael Barera / Wiki Commons The University of North Texas has adopted the antisemitism definition required by Gov. Greg Abbott.
