Category: Education (Early Childhood)
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Virginia Board of Education: Stay the Course
Standards and Curriculum Framework are Both Needed – Not One Without the Other by Kathleen Smith In November, the Board of Education put off the approval of the Virginia History and Social Science Standards again. The Board members seemed quite perplexed as they were asked to approve only the Standards without the Curriculum Framework –-…
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Virginia’s Self-Perpetuating Schools of Education
by James C. Sherlock We are in the midst of a series of articles examining Virginia’s system of schools of education. In this one we will look at how the rules for licensure of teachers and other school staff have changed and impacted teacher education. Those answers are found in the laws of Virginia and in the…
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Can Teaching Be Fixed to Transform It From a Burnout Job? – A Professional Approach
by James C. Sherlock K-12 teachers all over the state and country report burnout. There are lengthy discussions — OK, arguments — about the reasons for that situation. But no one denies it is happening. One of the attractions of teaching when I was a kid and a young man was that teachers, largely then…
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Where Does Virginia Most Need Charter Schools?
by James C. Sherlock Discussing failing schools in Virginia, people tend to speak in generalities. When an example is needed, the City of Richmond Public Schools is chosen — an uncontested layup. But failed schools are not a problem just in Richmond. And bad public schools in Richmond are not limited to RPS. They are…
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Fix One Thing — School Physical and Electronic Security
by James C. Sherlock I offer an apolitical suggestion. We know how to begin to fix school security. Do it. Step 1. Every school division has a security instruction. How many of them monitor whether that guidance is being followed? I will let them answer that. Step 2. The more complete solution is deployment of…
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Statewide Teacher Shortage: 2,500 Vacancies and Counting
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s public schools had 2,500 teacher vacancies in October 2021, according to Virginia Department of Education data, reports Capital News Service. That number is likely higher today, as burned-out teachers quit their jobs in the middle of the school year in unprecedented numbers. Despite hiring 700 to 900 teachers per year…
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The Latest Euphemism: “Unfinished Learning”
James A. Bacon A remarkable euphemism has entered the lexicon of Virginia’s educational bureaucracy — “unfinished learning.” Unfinished learning is what you get when school children do not demonstrate grade-level proficiency in reading, math, and other subjects by the end of the year. Ever sensitive to tender psyches, Virginia educators don’t want to tell anyone…
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Mystery: What’s Behind the Dramatic Fall-off In K and Pre-K Enrollment?
by James A. Bacon There are many gaps and omissions in the Northam administration’s just-published “2021 Annual Report on the Conditions and Needs of Public Schools in Virginia” — most notably the lack of recognition that the acute problems described by the report stem in part from policies endorsed by the Northam administration itself —…
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Day One Powers of the Governor – Removal of Members of Boards and Commissions
by James C. Sherlock The left routinely reminds us that elections have consequences. Well, indeed they do. People ask what can Glenn Youngkin really do on day one of his administration. The answer — more and more consequentially — than is commonly understood. I have written here repeatedly about long term corruption in the Board…
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Candidates Matter
by James C. Sherlock Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe proved that candidates matter, even in blue states like Virginia. Jack Ciattarelli and Phil Murphy in yet bluer New Jersey have proven it again, no matter how that dead even race turns out. I wrote here in early May that Glenn Youngkin and Jason Miyares would…
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By Failing, Progressives ‘Win’
by James C. Sherlock Progressives in America have perfected the art of winning by failing. They create demand for more government with devastatingly destructive government programs badly run. It is the idea of control and the money it brings policy makers from rent seekers rather than the management of programs that attracts them. Plenty…
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Terry McAuliffe as Governor Aggressively Denied Charter Schools to Poor Minority Children
by James C. Sherlock Terry McAuliffe demonstrated as governor that he will fight public charter schools. He will oppose them regardless of the lifelong costs to the students of some truly pitiful Virginia public schools, many with majorities of minority students. When governor, he vetoed a major attempt by the General Assembly to help those…
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Biden and McAuliffe to Complete the Roundup of Toddlers by the State
by James C. Sherlock Updated 26 October 1:48 PM The progressive dream of government control of children from birth is approaching reality in Virginia. Terry McAuliffe shares that dream and wants to lead Virginia to that promised land. Governor Ralph Northam and the Democratic General Assembly have established state control of our youngest children, but…
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Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI+) Pilot – Hidden Data, Disappearing Value — Thanks for Nothing
by James C. Sherlock This is a follow-up to my Monday report on VPI+, a federally funded four-year pilot program to assess the value of the Virginia Preschool Initiative. Today we will discuss what was not reported to the public. We will also assess the dreadful results of the pilot participants after those kids graduated…
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Virginia Preschool Initiative Pilot – Political Conclusions Belied by the Data
by James C. Sherlock. Updated Oct 18 at 5:38 PM Those who have followed my reporting know that I am passionate on the subject of helping poor children do better in Virginia’s schools. They also know of my disdain for Virginia’s hyper-political education establishment. Well, the Northam administration has turned the Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus…