Virginia public schools have been deceiving parents

[Anonymous]

For the record- it does look like political grandstanding and absolute bs from Youngkin to try to get more GOP state reps. Don’t fall for it like the whole TJ and CRT bs.

He is two votes away from banning abortions and dissolving our public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the report, it cites concerning data regarding the performance of public schools, like how the Virginia Board of Education lowered SOL cut scores in 2019 and 2020.

But the reactions on this board opposed to the report don't tackle any of the data - they just say "Fake News!" and "I didn't vote for him so I won't believe any piece of data from that administration unless it fits my views!" Interesting how people on the far left and far right have so much in common.

Actually no, but keep on telling yourself how smart you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the report, it cites concerning data regarding the performance of public schools, like how the Virginia Board of Education lowered SOL cut scores in 2019 and 2020.

But the reactions on this board opposed to the report don't tackle any of the data - they just say "Fake News!" and "I didn't vote for him so I won't believe any piece of data from that administration unless it fits my views!" Interesting how people on the far left and far right have so much in common.

Actually no, but keep on telling yourself how smart you are.

+100

If you looked at the graph and the “trigger” language like “honesty gap” it’s obviously that they are not targeting the best and the brightest.

They’re targeting the idiots who will vote for them again because Darla can’t get a break!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be very skeptical of reports coming from people who were appointed to these roles for the specific purpose of undermining confidence in public education to create an opportunity to roll out for-profit charter schools.

Yep. This is what Youngkin had to say about Aimee Guidera last year.

“She believes in charter schools, which is a big part of our agenda.”

Well, I might just be ready for charter schools. ACPS is a bona fide s#$T show, I'm ready for any and all options.

You would have to hope your kid lotteries into the charter school, because otherwise you’d still be stuck in ACPS except it would get even worse.

Yeah, it’s cute how these people assume THEIR kids will always be the ones let into the charter schools.

Like how they assume Darla is gonna get into AAP?

[Anonymous]

I wonder who Youngkin and his minions think they will be able to get to teach at their charter schools. If they keep treating teachers in VA like dirt with tip lines and reports like this, they won't be able to find any.

[Anonymous]

This is crap. My sister lives in a common core state and blames common core for all of its perceived public school failings. She married a Republican, and slowly has lost her way. First, before the pandemic, she pulled her kids to parochial school. Then during the pandemic became disenchanted with the parochial school that was also following “inferior” state standards (common core), to a more conservative religious school. Finally she wouldn’t get her kids vaccinated and complains about mask mandates. There’s always something to be upset about, which has radicalized her. I don’t even know her anymore. So this trope that OP is trying here in NOVA is garbage and the first step toward dismantling public education with the help of not so smart parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some very real regional differences surrounding the importance of education and the quality of schools. I would guess that the kids in FCPS and surrounding counties are in good shape.

I'm a teacher, and personally I think we need to switch to a national curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be very skeptical of reports coming from people who were appointed to these roles for the specific purpose of undermining confidence in public education to create an opportunity to roll out for-profit charter schools.

And I’d bet my FCPS paycheck that OP is one of those parties interested in dismantling public education.

I bet you are one of those parents whose kids benefit from inflated grades. Maybe you have connections such that your nearly illiterate kid will still have a steady income no matter their life choices. But the rest of the 98% of income earners need their kid to actually learn enough to be competetive in the workplace.

NP here. You are so right. My nearly illiterate child is in med school for radiology. You should have worked harder to provide for your child so that they don't have to be competitive. Sorry that you failed at parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some very real regional differences surrounding the importance of education and the quality of schools. I would guess that the kids in FCPS and surrounding counties are in good shape.

I'm a teacher, and personally I think we need to switch to a national curriculum.

The irony here is that republicans spent years fighting the national curriculum because it was the “feds telling states what to do.”

Now they are using it as justification….. slippery little suckers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder who Youngkin and his minions think they will be able to get to teach at their charter schools. If they keep treating teachers in VA like dirt with tip lines and reports like this, they won't be able to find any.

Aren’t they also trying to reduce/eliminate teacher certification requirements?

They will get good little Christian ladies to teach them how to be good little Christian children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some very real regional differences surrounding the importance of education and the quality of schools. I would guess that the kids in FCPS and surrounding counties are in good shape.

I'm a teacher, and personally I think we need to switch to a national curriculum.

I agree. I always thought the proprietary standards were a total waste of effort.

Not need to reinvent the wheel here.

[Anonymous]

An awful lot of people on here outraged by data that shows what even our own APS dashboard shows - we have too many kids, specifically kids of color and SWDs, who are below grade level in math and reading. Many of them will be graduating out of APS within a few years.

Maybe instead of the tin-foil hat conspiracies, we actually accept what people in our community have been telling us - we've been failing these kids for years and we need to get our heads out of the sand and do something about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Students who showed proficiency in SOLs are failing nationally normed tests. This is why Virginia did not want common core. They knew their students would fail and wanted to appease parents with inflated grading.
https://wtop.com/virginia/2022/05/state-report-blasts-virginias-public-schools/

"A Virginia Department of Education report released Thursday morning slammed the state of the commonwealth’s public schools, saying expectations, standards and academic performance have all been in decline, while the achievement gap among Virginia’s students has grown.

The report, presented Thursday morning by Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow and Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera, also says the state has failed to be transparent about academic failings and calls for an expanded say for parents in public education.

The report blames lagging achievement on a series of factors and policy choices that took place over the last decade and were exacerbated by school closures in 2020 and 2021, state officials said on a call with reporters Thursday morning.

“I think there’s a general culture of just lowering of expectations,” Guidera said. “What happened before today is we took our eye off the ball.”

Among its core takeaways, the report states that state Standards of Learning reading test results fell from 2017 to 2019 for grades three through eight, and that 42% of Virginia’s second graders scored below reading benchmarks on PALS assessment (a metric developed by the University of Virginia that’s used in Virginia elementary schools). The report also points to a growing gap between SOL results and national assessment results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, calling the difference an “honesty gap.”

“Only 38% of Virginia’s fourth graders and 33% of eighth graders were proficient in reading on the 2019 NAEP, compared to 75% and 76%, respectively, on the 2019 state fourth- and eighth-grade SOL reading tests,” the report says."

So, wait, just so I can keep up: Common Core is something to aspire to now?

[Anonymous]

Did Youngkin break down the scores by region? I wonder how the red schools following the right standards in Bristol are doing compared to the leftist Loudon schools. Surely Page County schools make FCPS look like garbage

[Anonymous]

Wasn’t it republicans in Virginia who fought against the common core because #StatesRights? And because Obama was the one who was pushing it?

I’d love a national curriculum and national standardized tests. But I don’t think that’s realistic and it would be great if at least Virginia could invest a lot in public education and get excellent curricula and excellent teachers and have high standards for all our students. Too bad Virginia Republicans don’t seem too interested in doing that.

(And can we not blame state-level democrats for long school closures, it was democrats who passed a law mandating schools stay open, schools being closed too long was the fault of county reps in heavily democratic areas)