Glenn Youngkin has been traveling throughout Virginia touting education as one of his top priorities and making it sound like schools in Virginia are badly in need of reform. His position is misleading, to say the least.
First of all, Virginia is not on a “race to the bottom when it comes to expectations”. As a matter of fact Virginia schools currently rank fourth in the nation --- and this is in spite of the fact that our teacher salaries rank 34th .
Youngkin states that he “will sign an executive order returning Virginia’s schools to pre-McAuliffe standards.” What exactly does that mean? As governor, McAuliffe did not decrease standards. He loosened the school accreditation process by de-emphasizing the Standards of Learning assessments (with bipartisan support), but he also placed greater focus on critical things that contribute to student success --- expanded pre-k programs, implementation of mandated computer science programs for all students, meal programs for low income students, and workforce preparedness programs. Standardized testing merely measures student growth – it does not improve the quantity or quality of instruction. To move forward, we need well paid teachers, increased staff, lower class sizes, equitable funding, universal access to technology, quality Pre-k and investments in career readiness programs. All of these are included in Terry McAuliffe’s plan.
In addition to denigrating Virginia’s educational system in general, Youngkin has been pushing the narrative that our schools teach Critical Race Theory and that he will stop the practice through an executive order when he is elected. In reality, there is nothing resembling CRT in Virginia’s curriculum. As stated on his website, Youngkin says that he wants to “remove politics from the classroom and teach all U.S. history — the good and the bad”. It strikes me as contradictory that someone who wants to remove politics from the classroom would use Critical Race Theory and the banning of critically acclaimed books as a politically divisive ploy.
Don’t let Youngkin fool you. He offers very little specifics on to improve Virginia’s schools. When it comes to education, his goal is the same as any other Republican – promote charter schools over public education and the discourage diverse viewpoints in educational discourse. That’s where most of his energy and investment will go, if elected.
First of all, Virginia is not on a “race to the bottom when it comes to expectations”. As a matter of fact Virginia schools currently rank fourth in the nation --- and this is in spite of the fact that our teacher salaries rank 34th .
Youngkin states that he “will sign an executive order returning Virginia’s schools to pre-McAuliffe standards.” What exactly does that mean? As governor, McAuliffe did not decrease standards. He loosened the school accreditation process by de-emphasizing the Standards of Learning assessments (with bipartisan support), but he also placed greater focus on critical things that contribute to student success --- expanded pre-k programs, implementation of mandated computer science programs for all students, meal programs for low income students, and workforce preparedness programs. Standardized testing merely measures student growth – it does not improve the quantity or quality of instruction. To move forward, we need well paid teachers, increased staff, lower class sizes, equitable funding, universal access to technology, quality Pre-k and investments in career readiness programs. All of these are included in Terry McAuliffe’s plan.
In addition to denigrating Virginia’s educational system in general, Youngkin has been pushing the narrative that our schools teach Critical Race Theory and that he will stop the practice through an executive order when he is elected. In reality, there is nothing resembling CRT in Virginia’s curriculum. As stated on his website, Youngkin says that he wants to “remove politics from the classroom and teach all U.S. history — the good and the bad”. It strikes me as contradictory that someone who wants to remove politics from the classroom would use Critical Race Theory and the banning of critically acclaimed books as a politically divisive ploy.
Don’t let Youngkin fool you. He offers very little specifics on to improve Virginia’s schools. When it comes to education, his goal is the same as any other Republican – promote charter schools over public education and the discourage diverse viewpoints in educational discourse. That’s where most of his energy and investment will go, if elected.