Category: Education (K-12)
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Virginia’s Northam Learning Gap
by L. Scott Ligamfelter It should surprise no one. After the ill-conceived March 2020 closing of Virginia’s public schools by former Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam, it should have been evident that children would suffer academically. We now know the extent of that damage to fourth and eighth grade students. Virginia’s Secretary of Education, Aimee Rogstad Guidera,…
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Fork Union Has Produced 117 Pro Football Players
by James Wyatt Whitehead V One of my favorite times of the year is after Thanksgiving. That is when the playoffs for the Virginia High School League football championship thunders into overdrive. For fifteen years I had one of the best seats for high school football as the public address announcer for Briar Woods…
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Ed Department Office of Civil Rights Rules Against Fairfax County
by Asra Q. Nomani FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Tears of joy came to the eyes of special education advocates Callie Oettinger and Debra Tisler as they read a much-anticipated decision by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. For years, they have been advocating — to deaf ears in Fairfax County Public Schools…
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Don’t Forget the Dismal History SOL Pass Rates
by Carol J. Bova As the battle rages over the History and Social Science (HSS) Standards of Learning criteria — the State Board of Education decided earlier this month to delay its review of Youngkin administration revisions — it is worth noting how poorly Virginia students mastered the old standards. More than one-third of Virginia…
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Homelessness in Petersburg – Part 2
by James C. Sherlock I wrote yesterday about the excellent investigative reporting by the Progress-Index about the knock-on effects of the renewal of fire and building code enforcement in Petersburg. My position is that Petersburg must enforce its codes for public safety and the livability of the city. But I also recognize the need to provide…
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Petersburg Resumes Important Actions Against City Code Violators — Homeless Needs Increase
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes absolutely necessary actions have more than one outcome. Such is the case in Petersburg. Joyce Chu of Petersburg’s indispensable Progress- Index last evening initiated a multi-part series on the impacts of the city’s closure due to safety violations of two motels used by otherwise homeless people. Her first article makes…
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Not A Rubber Stamp After All
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Youngkin just got a lesson on how being governor is different from being CEO of a hedge fund. He just cannot get what he wants by fiat. The Board of Education, on which his appointees constitute a majority, on Thursday rebuffed the administration on two of its top priorities — Standards…
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Afghan Immigrants and Their Children in Virginia – Part 1
by James C. Sherlock The flow of Afghan refugees into Virginia has been at a much higher volume than is generally appreciated. I have data on Virginia resettlements of Afghanis from 2016 through the middle of 2021, when the total was 8,560. The current total is far higher as a result of the Kabul airlift.…
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The History Standards: A Correction, An Apology, and Some Comments
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In an earlier post dealing with the proposed Standards of Learning in History and Social Studies, I complained that I could not find a copy of the earlier draft on the Department of Education website and suggested that it had been purged. I was mistaken. The draft is available on the website.…
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Loudoun’s School Board Special Election
by James C. Sherlock The people of Loudoun County have spoken — just barely. They elected Tiffany L. Polifko to the School Board. Ms. Polifko is a conservative with 20 years experience as a public and private school special education teacher. She currently serves as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst working with children on the autism…
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Those History and Social Studies Learning Standards: Another Perspective
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Predictably, the Youngkin administration’s proposed Standards of Learning for History and Social Studies have created controversy. Being able to compare the administration’s proposal with the Standards developed by the previous Board of Education that were ready for consideration and adoption, but put on hold by the Superintendent of Instruction, would add some…
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Lame Responses to Youngkin’s History SOL Standards
by James A. Bacon The Youngkin administration has laid out the thinking behind its revisions to the History and Social Studies Standards of Learning tests. The broad thrust is to educate students on how Virginia and the United States came to have the institutions they have. Underlying assumptions are that (1) representative government, property rights,…
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Teaching History as the Struggle for a “More Perfect Union”
The Youngkin administration has published a document, “The Guiding Principles for Virginia’s 2022 History and Social Science Standards Revisions,” which lays out the thinking behind revisions to the history and social-science Standards of Learning standards. The document does not dictate what teachers will teach. To the contrary, it states explicitly that the goal is to…
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So Much for Burying the Dark Side of Virginia History
by James A. Bacon The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has posted a new set of proposed goals for the teaching of civics, geography, and economics — the first major changes to the History and Social Science Standards of Learning since the existing standards were adopted in 2015. Critics have accused the Youngkin administration of…
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Student Misbehavior Is Schools’ Biggest Challenge, JLARC Says
by James A. Bacon In what will come as no surprise to Bacon’s Rebellion readers (other than the reality-denying ankle biters frequenting our comments section), Virginia public school staff cite poor student behavior as their most serious challenge, found a study of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC). More than 56% of respondents…