Category: Education (Early Childhood)
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McAuliffe Lets the Cat out of the Bag
by James C. Sherlock Current Virginia law and Terry McAuliffe cannot coexist. “A parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent’s child.” Code of Virginia § 1-240.1. Rights of parents. “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Terry McAuliffe, Sept 28,…
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How Does Virginia Budget Early-Childhood-Education Money Wind Up in a Park in Detroit?
by James C. Sherlock – updated Oct 15 I’d like to report an organized crime. It’s just not illegal in Virginia. The political Left, fully in control of Virginia government, sends taxpayer money to leftist non-profits, who take their cuts and then send it on to local government entities and yet more nonprofits. It is unethical,…
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What Does Northam’s Masking Order Mean for 70,000 School Kids with Disabilities? Does Northam Even Know?
by James C. Sherlock My own preferred policy for schools is mandatory vaccination for school staff, recommended vaccinations for the kids and voluntary masks for everyone. One of the advantages of that is that it is executable. One of the disadvantages is that I have no influence whatever over the governor or health commissioner. Pretty…
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Shots and Masks in Richmond Schools
by James C. Sherlock Belt and suspenders? Vaccinations and masks now are both mandatory in Richmond Public Schools. Vaccinations because the school board ordered it last night. Masks because the Governor ordered it last week. The vaccination order, though many oppose it, has science behind it. Vaccinations work. For the vaccinated, though, the mask wearing…
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Virginia Local Ability-to-Pay Calculation and State Contributions to Public Schools — Some Surprises
by James C. Sherlock Some things are very important that the average citizen knows little to nothing about. For example, a complex state computation, the Composite Index of Local Ability to Pay, determines how much state money per student goes to your school district to maintain an overall state ratio of 55% state and 45%…
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Some Northern Virginia Schools Get Failing Grades on Black Student Literacy and Numeracy
by James C. Sherlock We spend a lot of time here documenting the raging debates at Northern Virginia school board meetings over Critical Race Theory in schools. Raging is the right word. Yet those same school systems fail to educate the kids they claim to care about most. Consider what we see from VDOE…
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School Closings Negatively Affect Female Employment
by D.J. Rippert Mom at home. An article from The Center Square summarizes a number of studies relating COVID-19, school policies during the pandemic, and the number of women in the workforce. A study by the journal “Gender & Society” characterized the matter as a “tidal wave of women” leaving the workforce in 2020. Center…
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VDOE Does Define Educational Equity as Equal Outcomes
by James C. Sherlock An African American Superintendent’s Advisory Council (AASAC) was formed by the Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2020. It is charged “to develop policy recommendations to advance African American students’ academic success and social emotional well being to inform VDOE priorities and strategies”. It has proven extremely influential. I have yet…
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Marx, White Moral Panic and a White Liberal’s Rosary
by James C. Sherlock A couple of days ago Dick Hall-Sizemore published CRT and Virginia History here. Dick is an excellent essayist. That one was the exception that proves the rule. He indicated early in the more-than-1,500 word piece that he would discuss “the legitimacy of this antagonism regarding CRT.” I actually looked forward to hearing…
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VDOE’s Radical Approach to SEL Far Exceeds Its Legislative Mandate
by James C. Sherlock Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane is running into fierce public resistance to draft SEL regulations. See the 409 comments so far. They overwhelmingly oppose what he has offered as a draft SEL instruction in his April 23 memo. The basic problem is apparent. The Board of Education/VDOE are citing laws for…
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VDOE to Take Over Child Care
by James C. Sherlock We have joined in a lot of discussions about the Board of Education and the Virginia Department of Education. I think it time that readers contemplate the vastly expanded role of both that happens on July 1 of this year. From that date, the Board of Education will be setting policy…
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Fall Elections Threaten Northam’s Radical Education Team
by James C. Sherlock Politics is a contact sport, and the two people in the Northam administration most likely to be blindsided are Secretary of Education Atif Qarni and Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane. I say blindsided — they won’t see it coming — because the hits will come from their own team. This…
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Virginia Board of Education – In Loco Parentis and Headed to Court
by James C. Sherlock Is your child yours or does he or she belong body and soul to the state in the person of the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE)? That is a question that is not only reasonable, but absolutely necessary after reading its new transgender student regulation. That regulation represents a straight-up, in-your-face…
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Board of Education Changes to Virginia Teacher Evaluation Guidelines Are an Embarrassment
by James C. Sherlock Education schools have a lot to be proud of, primarily their production of teachers. They also have a lot to answer for, including most of what passes for research and every bit of their practice of constantly changing the language of education to cover the lack of new and contributory ideas.…
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In 2019, 34% of Virginia’s Black 4th graders Could Not Read – Mississippi Offers Hope
by James C. Sherlock Since 2013, Mississippi has made unprecedented, best-in-the-nation improvement in the academic achievements of its children starting as measured in nationwide testing. The improvements were especially pronounced in 4th graders who benefited directly from its 2013 literacy law. I have done a deep dive into those results and traced them back to…