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Governor Youngkin continues to gaslight the public by manufacturing problems that he continues to blame on public schools in Virginia. It worked stunningly to get him elected in 2021; nevertheless, parents are weary of Youngkin’s empty claim that he is the “education governor.” This November, all of the Virginia General Assembly and many school board seats are up for election, thus the Governor and his supporters are repeating the tired claim that Virginia K-12 schools are failing . This seems like an odd self-own since the Youngkin administration has been in charge of the Commonwealth’s schools for nearly two years. Also, this claim flies in the face of the fact that Virginia public schools are rated fourth out of all the states, based on reviews by both Forbes and the World Population Review . In Fairfax County, all 12 non-partisan school board seats are up for election on November 7, 2023; therefore, the Fairfax County Public School system (FCPS) is in the eye of Youngkin’s storm of attacks . Additionally, far right and right-leaning candidates are smearing the current Fairfax County school board in order to justify an enormous shift to the right come November. In advance of the election, one of their many claims is that a recent decline in SAT scores demonstrates that Fairfax County schools are failing, which will lead to a drop in property values in the county . This is an astonishing claim, because FCPS performs above both the state and global SAT averages . Also, it is absurd to condemn the Fairfax County School Board for a decline in local SAT scores when schools across Virginia, in other states, and around the globe had similar declines between 2018 and 2022. Many variables limit our ability to accurately compare performance based on SAT scores before, during and after the pandemic. However, it is clear that the pandemic has had an influence on SAT scores across the country: fewer students took the test, participation varied among school systems and years during the pandemic, and SAT scores dropped . In fact, the College Board reported that only 1.5 million students took the SAT in the class of 2021 versus 2.1 million in the class of 2020. A significant number of colleges and universities no longer require applicants to submit SAT scores, resulting in a smaller number of students taking the test and a shift in the profile of students taking the test. Because some school systems like Fairfax County now offer school-day and free SAT testing, more students from lower-income families have been taking the test . In addition, there are reports that fewer students are retaking the test for a better score, more students are not reporting their scores to colleges, and students not planning to attend college are now taking the test. These are some of the variables that changed the pool of students taking the SAT, and have affected average SAT scores for all school systems. Surprisingly, there does not seem to be a similar pandemic effect on SAT prep course attendance . The dip in average SAT scores for FCPS is influenced by many of the same factors that influence dips in SAT scores across the country; however, FCPS has been working to maintain and increase their SAT testing rate. One strategy is offering FCPS seniors free access to SAT School Day testing. Although residual impacts of the pandemic and changes in college admissions requirements have mostly delayed the return to the pre-pandemic SAT testing levels, the participation rates for FCPS “ reflect a developing nationwide movement to de-emphasize entrance exams within the college admissions process.” This is part one of a three-part series on Gaslighting the Public in Virginia by Governor Youngkin : Part 2 covers the Manufactured Crisis over SOL Scores . Part 3 covers Misinterpreting Student Performance and NAEP Scores

The Problem Two hundred thirty-three amendments : there are so many problems with the Governor’s amendments to the bipartisan budget that it’s hard to know where to start. I mean, who thinks to take retirement funds out of the school buildings and repairs budget ?  Governor Youngkin’s administration has been fraught with various forms of misrepresentation,  from iffy sole source consultant procurement practices to stacking commissions and boards with conflict of interest candidates,  but no initiative has been more flawed than his dream project of establishing 20 charter/Lab schools  during his term of office.  Still, Governor Youngkin is determined to open the gates for creating independently run but publicly funded charters in the state of Virginia, and to place authorization firmly at the state level. Currently, the Governor’s appointees are scrambling to convince universities to submit applications and are changing the approval process  to fast track approval of lab schools by removing first review, which limits public input and reduces process transparency. They are desperately trying to get as many as possible in the hopper before June 30 in the hopes that the renewed interest will convince the legislature to approve Governor Youngkin’s $85 million he would like to have for Charter-Lab school implementation. The Current Situation From the beginning in 2022, Education Secretary Guidera toured the state creating rosy pictures announcing Lab-Charters that would open in Fall 2023 at universities that had not yet submitted even a planning grant application.  In spite of those glowing promises that 13 Lab Schools might open by fall 2023 , by December 2023, only one school, the VCU-CODEVA  program was near opening in January 2024 and that “school” incorporated two programs that had already existed.  Of the 23 planning grant applications only 5 had moved forward to apply for an actual implementation grant, and the legislature declined to reauthorize the remaining $85M in seed money due to expire on June 30.  The stated goal of the Charter-Labs has been to create innovation and to serve under-served or at-risk students. However, most of the applications piggy back on programs that already exist such as AVID, Dual Enrollment, Coding, and career Health Science courses, and the lottery selection process for “at-risk” students is unclear in at least some of the program profiles. Thus, they are nothing innovative and it is unknown if they will serve the targeted populations. In a last ditch effort to reinvigorate the initiative, Youngkin restored $85 million in his April 2024 budget amendments. He and Secretary of Ed Guidera launched another media blitz appealing for the funding by pushing districts that opted out to reconsider and pursue a Lab School. Two more were authorized in early April and just Thursday (April 11th) the five person Lab School standing committee voted to  by-pass first review of applications  to expedite quick approvals. Unfortunately, the latest publicity matches reality even less than the initial stories.  The refusal to abide by the Lab-Charters restrictions have bordered on violation of the laws from the beginning. To get the budget seed money of $100 million, the initial agreement between the administration and the legislature were for lab schools that could be sponsored by the 14  public four year universities  joining with local school districts. The other critical limitation was that this $100 million needed to be spent by July 1, 2024 or returned to the general fund. Those agreements were ignored. Across the two years, the Lab-Charter committee and Board of Education have expanded eligibility to 27 private universities including Liberty University, Marymount University, and George Washington University, 23 community colleges, and to the five state regional Institutes and Centers. The partnering units are now virtually any post-high school institution and any approved partnering entity including employers and independent specialty training programs.  Secretary Guidera has talked about 23 schools that will serve 4000 students . But the reality is less than one-third of her projection.  Of the 7 Universities that have completed the required $5 million implementation applications for start up, the required detailed budgets for the first year and 5-year contract period are there but leave many questions. Most of the 7 applicants propose programs that will serve under 100 students each of the first two years, (with the exception of UVA which is proposing to offer 7th graders in Charlottesville a career exploration course). JMU’s application   anticipates serving 600 students divided across 5 districts five years from now.  Another concern is staffing costs, including expensive directors serving a small population of students. For example, many of the 7 applicants expect to employ a full time Executive Director and substantial implementation staff (6-8) while still relying on college student interns and the local district teachers to supply core instruction. It is unclear how the per-pupil dollars given to the Lab-Charter will affect the state’s allocation of per-pupil funding to the local district or how those programs will be funded once the $85 million is spent.  Most of the 7 Charter-Lab applications say they will be ready to start or soft-launch in August 2024, which is after the funding deadline, with staff in place and students identified and admitted. As of April 2024, it was unclear from most the applications how that would be achieved. Just to juxtapose numbers Gov. Youngkin’s budget amendments cut the At-Risk Add-on which would serve 247 of the lowest income communities (over 123,000 students)  across the commonwealth from $300 million to $96 million (the current level of funding), while the Charter-Lab $85 million would serve under 1000 students in year one, and under 1500 in year two.  When we look at the programs   The Charter-Lab school applicants want to provide and ask: “Who is served and what is offered in Virginia now?”  According to JLARC 42,000 students already take Dual Enrollment Courses each year.  16 of the Virginia community colleges offer an Associates degree in Early Childhood Development (pre-K teacher training). 5,662 students now take AP computer science courses, and 785 students take CodeVA programs or workshops.  There are 89 AVID sites in Virginia schools which would reflect approximately 1,700 or more students.  24 Community College sites across Virginia offer welding programs. Virginia currently has 9 Governor’s Health Science Academies which provide Health Sciences career and technical education.  Should Virginia seek to provide more access to great opportunities like these to high school students? Absolutely.  The Why? However, if we already have most of these programs available, why create a completely separate administrative staff and pseudo-schools to serve such a small sample of students, students who would probably be the enrollees for the existing programs?  The simple answer to this “Why?” for Youngkin is to create a state-level charter school authorization Standing Committee that can bypass the Virginia Constitution and local districts that insist on things like the viability of programming and responsible budgets–that has been the dream of Glenn Youngkin… to take public education into his hands and have state-run schools that serve few students while taking taxpayer funds from local schools.

On Friday, June 17 Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin fulfilled his campaign promise of 20 new charter schools in the form of university and college affiliated lab schools that will have their own independent governing boards. The legislature gave him 100 million dollars to start them; dollars that won’t go to public schools at a time when Virginia still ranks 41st in per pupil spending for public school students, somewhere between Mississippi and Missouri. The lab schools are also promoted by Go Virginia , the Chamber of Commerce’s program for increasing K-12 workforce training for Virginia’s major companies. Private religious universities such as Liberty and Virginia Union will be eligible to start lab schools and able to access the millions available. But what will those lab schools look like? Will they be elementary schools that provide high quality academic opportunities for children of faculty and staff of the university, as some lab schools around the country do? Will they be elementary schools that focus on career choices in grades 1-6 as some have suggested?. Taking the “What do you want to be when you grow up?” question to a whole new level of concentration? Will they be urban centers for under-served youth in grades 9-12 in the handful of colleges that exist in less affluent neighborhoods? Will they be variations on the Career and Technical programs already provided across 21 career fields by existing high schools and community colleges? It is hard to tell at this point. Though a few universities and colleges have been in behind the scenes talks, no new application processes have been posted to the DOE website yet, and the details won’t be revealed until we see the individual applications. Another problem is how to structure a deal in which the legislature’s bill and regs require a 5-year financial plan, but the budget bill only provides 1-year of seed funds. For parents and universities there are more questions than answers: For parents: Do I want to risk my child’s education on a program that is funded for one year; for which there is no stated curriculum and the teaching perspective is oriented toward job training, rather than educational excellence? For colleges and universities: Do we want to invest time, energy and resources in developing a program that is highly dependent on one party holding a slim majority in the legislature, and stretches our expertise from educating young adults to educating children? How will establishing a new K-12 charter school under the auspices of the universities’ business department or a private management company serve the mission of the larger institution? So, Governor Youngkin has his charter/lab schools, but two central questions for Virginians still remain: Who do the charter/lab schools really serve? And why does Governor Youngkin want to move toward a privatized charter model which has failed so thoroughly across so many other states?

The following is a transcript of remarks made by 4 PE's Cheryl Binkley made to the Virginia Board of Education at their meeting on April 19th: There are so many problems with Governor Youngkin’s lab schools I hardly know where to start. I urge you to delay moving forward on approvals of lab school guidelines, applications and programs until the legal issues with them are resolved. It will save you from later involvement in testimonies about your part in a program that is at best a misguided ego scheme, and at worst an illegal attempt to take over Virginia’s schools. 1. First they are for the most part illegal. There is no legislative authorization for the giant project you are facilitating. In fact, the Lab School bills failed to pass in the General Assembly in both 2022 and 2023. Secretary Guidera and Governor Youngkin have gone around the state offering free money to authorizers that are clearly excluded from the budget bill language of 2022, and they play carrot and stick with our public universities to push them into participating. They know their proffers are illegal and pursue them anyway, announcing ready to open Lab Schools in the local news even before the local authorizer has filled out an application. There are already complaints filed with the state auditor about misappropriation of funds, and the legislature is unlikely to offer future support to a program that has run so roughshod over the rule of law. 2.. Second, Lab Schools are unconstitutional. The Standing Committee structure, and independent regional boards which do not answer to local school boards or any elected authority violate the requirement that local districts control the curriculum of Virginia’s public schools. 3. Third, many of the lab schools that are planned are not full schools at all, but after school tech activities, Dual Enrollment scholarships, coding training, career Academy classes, or company internship programs. They are mostly duplications of programs we already make available, and bypass input from the better qualified departments in our system such as the health and nursing programs. Other than meeting SOQs, there is little to no mention of providing the full range of courses that are required of a full service K-12 school. Are Lab School students even going to get a high school that includes science, languages arts, math and history or just on the job training? 4. Lab Schools are expensive, $150 million requested this year, and rising costs every year afterward; money that will bleed local schools dry, and will make our business environment less entrepreneurial and less attractive as these programs support the regional largest companies to the exclusion of more creative business opportunities. They will train kids to grow up with no more aspiration than to work at the company store or factory. 5. They further disrupt and damage the qualified teacher supply and seek to lower training qualifications. Some of the applications talk of turning out teachers on the street at the age of 20 with a truncated high school experience, and two years of college. That does not describe a high quality education experience for those prospective teachers or for the students they will be expected to teach. Please do not take the next steps in establishing this program.

This is Public Comment Given at Arlington Public Schools Board Meeting by Anjy Cramer on September 19, 2024. Please note that h istorical documents are used as references in this blog, which means that you may encounter harmful, discriminatory language that is no longer acceptable. Please proceed with that in mind. In 1960, Arlington Superintendent Mr. Ray Reid gave testimony  to the US Commission on Civil Rights reporting on APS’ desegregation progress. He said, in part: “Standards of… Arlington County schools are high... [Black] students… experienced severe scholastic difficulties… [They]… are working considerably below the average of other students…”  Dorothy Hamm’s own child was denied admission to the school that now bears her name “for lack of academic achievement.” See Ms. Hamm’s letter below. Four children desegregated Stratford  not because the proximity to whiteness would somehow make them smarter, but because they lacked the same opportunities in their home schools. “Separate but equal” was anything but. Over-scrutinizing their standardized test scores followed. Here is a document of test scores from SY 1963-64  comparing our three Black schools to APS county averages. Look at how much lower those test scores are.   Was   it really the fault of the Black kids in segregated schools? Our schools are still segregated. Whose fault is it now? This is not academic failure. Just as in 1959, it’s a failure of opportunity. We’ve been failing them for 65 years now, not just since the Pandemic. More if you want to talk about when they didn’t even have access to public education. Stop calling it an achievement gap… it’s an OPPORTUNITY GAP . How many more opportunities does Discovery  have with their $118,000 PTA budget, $71K raised at their annual fundraiser last year   compared to Carlin Springs? More teacher stipends, more field trips, more enrichment…. I’m not saying don’t collect or analyze the data. I believe you need to put these results in the proper context and create solutions for success based in best practices and academic research  rather than wax poetic every year. We need to invest in these children in different and more intensive ways than dominant culture, and that will involve… yes, lots of money, time and commitment. Make the budget work for them!  These kids are so much more than their test scores. I wish people would stop misusing math and statistics to further marginalize them. I know VDOE is forcing your hand too , but APS doesn’t have to frame this issue to suit their narrative either. There are people on the sidelines who are cheering for these children to fail to justify their own agendas. Don’t give them red meat. Our Black, Brown, Immigrant and disAbled children deserve at least that much from APS leadership. ** Thank you to John Stanton, Arlington Public Library, Charlie Clark Center for Local History for assistance in locating the source documents linked herein.

Social Media Threats Close Schools and Delay Games in Multiple Virginia Counties Nationwide there is always a spike in threats of violence after a school shooting, but Virginia has been included in the social media threats of the last three weeks. Social media threats to at least three schools have made local headlines in Chesterfield Co .,  Pulaski Co . and at a  Virginia Beach private school; however, we are aware that other schools and districts have also had threats  All three lost one day or more of school. Fortunately, in Virginia all three of the threats that made headlines have been traced back to their origin with seemingly no continuing threat level. Briefly, Hanover County residents even though schools on a TikTok list referred to their schools, but then recognized Georgia schools of the same names were the actual targets.  These incidents coincide with a nationwide wave of violence related to the Apalachee High School shooting which killed four and injured nine, and the presidential debate Ohio political hoax against migrants that has triggered regional aggression and closures in twelve or more Ohio school districts. At this writing, the Proud Boys fascists are marching in Springfield Ohio as they did in Charlottesville Virginia. In addition to Georgia and Ohio, incidents are being reported from numerous states. Florida, describes their schools as being inundated with social media threats. Kentucky , Indiana ,  West Virginia , Texas,   Colorado , and  Tennessee  all report recent outbreaks.  There is a long list of questions to be asked about these outbreaks and the prevalence of violence and violent threats. What are root causes, contributory issues, immediate costs, and longer term solutions? Are there higher level policies and national leadership actions that carry responsibility, such as weapons laws and the use of hate and disinformation in our political rhetoric?  However, these Virginia closures are not just national trends. They are local. They are immediate and personal for the families, students, and school employees who feel threatened and whose lives are affected by immediate fears, uncertainty, closed schools, delayed games and longer-term fears. One day, these threats may become actual violence. Also, these concerns disrupt learning and teaching, long after the threat has been dealt with. The questions we ask when it’s our own communities are different from those we ask at a safe distance. Are our students and families getting the support they need to meet the challenges of current times? How can we protect our children without creating a barricaded existence for them? How do we build a community where we all belong and are not alienated from our neighbors and fellow students? One of the reasons we as a society put so much emphasis on the quality of our schools is because they are an almost lone indicator for the quality of our communities. Are our local neighborhoods peaceful and nurturing to our families or are they dangerous and a source of fear? Our local schools mirror those questions for us, and when they are disturbed and threatened, our sense of who we are as a community and as a people is disturbed. Our confidence in our own ability to live together is shaken. After all, what kind of society allows its children to kill one another without effective intervention? There have always been hoax school threats. In 1998, one of my students called in a bomb threat from the pay phone at the front of the building to avoid that morning’s math test. He was picked up before he walked away from the phone, and never came back to school. I knew this kid and he was not capable of harming people, but he was very creative at avoiding school work. Today he would be criminally charged, not just sent to an alternative school with more intense psychological services and smaller class sizes.  Many of the students who are using social media to close their schools for the day are winding up charged with felonies. Sadly, we no longer have the luxury of not taking social media threats seriously. The tragedies of school shootings and of racist attacks on school children must be responded to, and with so many school shootings that is almost an unending process. Education Week  reveals, ” There have been 28 school shootings this year that resulted in injuries or deaths, according to an Education Week analysis. There have been 210 such shootings since 2018 . There were 38 school shootings with injuries or deaths last year . There were 51 in 2022 , 35 in 2021 , 10 in 2020 , and 24 each in 2019  and 2018 .” The divide between those who would harden schools with drastic measures and those who believe we must make deeper changes that provide living conditions and psychological supports that help our children before their mental health reaches crisis levels will no doubt be a larger topic this year among parents and policy makers because we all feel the need to respond more than ever.  It is easy to be paralyzed by the fear some want us to feel, but we can work through the chaos political hate has unleashed. We have to remember we are the people who define what we want the world to be like for ourselves and our children and make it so. Note: Since this piece was written, there have been even more documented threats at Virginia schools. On September 19, 2024, the date of the letter (see below) from Fairfax County Schools Superintendent Dr. Reid regarding gun violence, it was hard to know what school shooting she was referring to when she said, " Recent news of another school shooting in our nation has deeply impacted our community," as there were a number of known incidents of gun violence at schools around that day, in addition to a threat in Palmyra, VA and a 6 year-old bringing a gun to a school in Orange, VA earlier in the week.

Disruption is NOT Accountability The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) created disruptive accountability measures that will harm Virginia students. The VDOE has not been transparent with or accountable to stakeholders by ignoring input from public listening sessions, and by withholding information before rushing to approval. Then, a Virginia Board of Education (VBOE), composed primarily of members who have worked to defund public education, rushed to approve the disruptive measures. Just yesterday, it was revealed that the Virginia Secretary of Education accused critics of a  “misinformation campaign” and asked close associates to write opEds, submit positive input, and speak at the VBOE meeting. ALERT: VBOE changed the date of the September meeting to September 26th. Please consider joining 4 Public Education on our Road Trip to Richmond next week. See graphic for more information. We need you to act NOW by contacting your state senator  or delegate , submitting input to the VDOE by Sept 25th , and/or by signing up to speak at the VBOE meeting on Sept 26th  to tell them to reject the VDOE regulatory revisions, because these ill-advised changes will: 1) Harm Virginia’s Long-standing Reputation as an education powerhouse and ideal place to locate a business. Simultaneously, taxpayers and legislators will be on the hook for this unfunded mandate while more than half of Virginia’s students, families, and schools will suffer the consequences of shrinking opportunities, especially in rural, low-income, immigrant, and Black and Brown communities.  What will be the impact of ‘failing school’ designations on local communities and property values? Will this make DC or Maryland properties look more appealing for future homeowners and entrepreneurs? 2) Create Radically Inappropriate Measures.  VDOE has radically changed academic expectations, likely to produce large-scale school-wide failures for Virginia’s school districts by placing 50-70% of Virginia’s diverse schools in a failing category. VDOE changes will increase current inequities for students while requiring already over-extended teachers to earn additional certifications to teach accelerated coursework in middle school mathematics, science, history and social science.  VDOE has reduced the number of semesters before English Language Learners (ELL) are counted as part of a school's performance from eleven semesters to three semesters is inconsistent with best practices. This means that ELL students are tested on English skills instead of the subject matter, which depresses their scores of the school that they attend.   VDOE expects middle and high schoolers to master accelerated coursework above their grade-level (e.g., Algebra 1 and 2, and English 11 courses in middle school, and Advanced Placement or college dual-enrollment courses in high school). This shows a troubling lack of consideration for the hundreds of schools unable to provide accelerated courses due to logistical and financial accessibility, and teacher certification challenges. Additionally, VDOE is ignoring the developmental readiness of students, which means these revised accountability standards may be setting up students to fail. Nevertheless, VDOE added accountability measures to assess all schools based on above grade-level, accelerated work for middle and high schoolers in mathematics, science, history and social sciences. 3) Disrupt with No Known Benefits or Additional State Funding. The new VDOE standards artificially downgrade Virginia schools. Parents and educators know this isn’t accurate, as it contradicts Virginia’s above-average scores on SATs and the Nation’s Report Card. In 2024, Virginia was ra nk ed # 1 state for business and education. There is no reliable evidence or studies showing that VDOE’s plan will improve education outcomes for students, families, and schools. The VDOE plan will require all schools and educators to quickly adjust by changing all curricula, learning disability supports, and education methodologies educators have developed for students over the last decade.  This is an unfunded mandate. There are no state funds allocated for VDOE to fully develop or implement their plans, nor has VDOE provided plans or funding to support the 1,000-1,200 schools they will artificially downgrade to failing (i.e., “off track” or “needs intensive support”). The impact will be even worse in rural, currently underfunded school districts with large populations of students who need greater support. This would likely increase funding needs in Virginia, if more than half of Virginia’s schools are re-classified as "failing," according to VDOE’s own projections.  The VDOE places the heaviest burden on already underfunded public schools to fix a problem manufactured by VDOE bureaucrats and their consultants. To education experts, this is a clear effort to siphon off public taxpayer money to private enterprises, instead of improving public schools. Please act immediately on behalf of students, educators, and public schools, and keep an eye on 4 Public Education for more alerts to support and protect our public schools. Contact your state legislator Submit input to VDOE by Sept 24th rejecting their Accountability revisions Sign up to speak at the Sept 25th VBOE meeting

We just updated our Events Calendar for the 2024-25 School Year with our September 26th Road Trip to Richmond (NOTE: VBOE date change!), some great opportunities with education partners around the state, and (of course!) lots and lots of upcoming school board meetings. If you are a group who would like to join us as an ally or partner advocating for public schools, please contact us at info@4publiceducation.org . Road Trip to Richmond on September 26th If you haven't heard, our August 28th Road Trip to Richmond made waves with the Virginia Department of Education , but not enough for the Virginia Board of Education to reject their disruptive accountability measures that will harm Virginia's school school children's opportunities and possibly even economic opportunities in the state. To make your voice heard, you can: Sign up to speak on at the VBOE meeting on Sept 26th , Submit online input to the VDOE by Sept 25th , and/or Contact your state senator  or delegate VBOE UPDATED THE DATE TO Thursday, September 26th THIS WEEK! Parents Not Politics Tour: School Board Conversations Consider attending upcoming school board community discussion events sponsored by Red Wine and Blue , a wonderful education partner, from September 23-October 6. This "Parents Not Politics" tour is also cohosted by We The People , Virginia Education Association , and 4 Public Education . Join the candid and critical conversations between school board members and candidates, parents, and students about the ongoing threat of extremism on local school boards and how these efforts to push a radical, far-right agenda harms our children and undermines public education. There will be four events held around Virginia (check our events calendar to sign up ): Virginia Beach on September 23, 2024 from 6-7:30 pm at the Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library, 4100 Virginia Beach Blvd, Virginia Beach, VA 23452 Radford on September 30, 2024 from 6:30-7:30 pm at the Radford Public Library, 30 W Main St, Radford, VA 24141 Petersburg on October 2, 2024 from 4-5:30 pm at the Petersburg Public Library, 201 WASHINGTON St, Petersburg, VA 23803 Arlington on October 6, 2024 from 2-4 pm at the Columbia Pike Public Library (Drew Room), 816 S Walter Reed Dr, Arlington, VA 22204 Be sure to check out the 4 Public Education 2025 Arlington Election Questionnaire before you vote in Arlington, Virginia! Click below. LGBTQ+ History Month Rally FCPS Pride is hosting an October 10th rally at 6 pm before the Fairfax County School Board Pride Proclamation at the 7pm meeting. Come to listen to advocates and elected officials speak their truth, and stand together with the LGBTQ+ community and allies to celebrate queer change-makers and champion inclusive history. There is no doubt that we are at a turning point in LGBTQIA+ History. We want to ensure that students who enter our schools in the future will learn about how our community met the current crisis. Learn more about the October 10th rally here . Fairfax School Board Meetings We just added nearly all of the Fairfax County School Board meetings to our calendar. Consider attending these meetings so that you can offer public input or listen to policy and plans that may affect your school community. Click on any of the school board events 2-5 days before the meeting date to sign up to provide public input. If you cannot attend, but want to watch, the meetings are simultaneously televised on FCPS Channel 99 and later posted on the FCPS Youtube channel . Check out the full Fairfax County School Board meeting calendar here to find out about other meetings you may want to attend. It is strongly recommended that you sign up for alerts from FCPS, your school, and/or your school board so that you can keep up to date on community events, news, and opportunities to make change for the future. Click here at the "News You Choose" to sign up so that you can stay informed and involved.

Report Out on the 8/28/24 Virginia Board of Education Meeting Despite citizens across Virginia rallying to action , the Virginia Board of Education (VBOE), approved Governor Youngkin’s Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) amendments to Virginia’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan per Nathaniel Cline’s reporting in the Virginia Mercury . This is not surprising since VBOE is made up almost entirely of Youngkin appointees who overwhelmingly have voiced support for defunding public education and/or work directly with groups that support charter schools and/or private education.  The lone dissenting vote was Ms. Anne Holton, a Former Secretary of Education and board member appointed by Governor Northam, who echoed the concerns  of many of the speakers during public input when she expressed that she felt the new VDOE system was “ fundamentally flawed in a number of ways ” including that it ignored “loud, persistent” feedback from parents, the Parent Teachers Association (PTA), School Board Association, Teachers’ Associations, and assessment directors in the divisions, the folks who most understand this system and its implications,” all of whom represent thousands of Virginia voices. She added that the plan is not “fully fleshed out,” lacks modeling of potential impact on schools and families, and that it will be hard to implement because the associated VDOE offices are already “over-extended.” As 4 Public Education has noted , this policy change makes schools all over Virginia ripe for takeover, reputational damage, and privatization . However, before that happens, all schools and educators will need to quickly adjust to new student measurement plans, which will change all of the curricula, supports, and education methodologies they’ve developed over the last decade. All of this is expected by Younkgin’s VDOE with no promised additional financial support to our schools and students. Unfortunately, the meeting was delayed by an hour-and-a-half and was sparsely attended despite the importance of the accountability plans which will completely change how schools are judged by the Youngkin VDOE, and will have extensive and possibly devastating consequences in many communities. Citizens’ concerns regarding these changes are below.  One cannot help but note that the atmosphere in the room was not welcoming, as Chair Grace Creasy seemed either annoyed or bored by the public feedback. She displayed extra irritation in the face of additional speakers and admonished participants for clapping. Her comments and behavior occurred after Ms. Creasy reminded the audience to “model professionalism, dignity, and respect for others.” Inequity of Access to Advanced Courses Dr. Scott Brabrand , former Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) Superintendent and current Executive Director of Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS), thanked VDOE for their efforts and expressed interest in collaboration. He added concerns, including those about “the addition of advanced social studies and science coursework to Middle School just one year from now, as there are currently major inequities across the Commonwealth and [lack of] student access to that coursework, as well as Middle School teacher licensing issues. We understand virtual options are being explored; however, it's too early to agree to this incorporation until more defined supports are in place.”  He shared that VASS “remain[s] concerned about the On Track/Off Track summary of categories even with your updated partial modeling using 23-24 school year data…we still see [that] the new framework suggest[s] over 55% of our schools are off track or need intensive support. We strongly believe at VASS [that] all of our schools can continue to improve. We don't believe the majority of our schools are in those two categories, as we said last month. Ask yourself if this new framework aligns with a state that just received a number one ranking for business from CNBC that included within its methodology a number one ranking for Education.” "Ask yourself if this new framework aligns with a state that just received a number one ranking for business from CNBC that included within its methodology a number one ranking for Education.” -- Dr. Scott Brabrand Does VDOE have the Analytical Skills after False "Honesty Gap" Allegations? Dr. Marianne Burke  of Fairfax County, 4 Public Education Board Member and mother of three children who have graduated from FCPS and Virginia colleges, shared “grave concerns” about the VDOE plan and whether VDOE had the chops to “appropriately analyze the data for the proposed accreditation plan:” “In 2023, the GOP singled out Fairfax County schools  as failing because SAT scores had declined . The truth was that Fairfax county SAT scores were above  both the state and global SAT averages , and SAT scores dropped across all of Virginia, in other states, and around the globe at the same time.” In addition she said “Youngkin’s DOE used misinformation in their claim that there was an “honesty gap” in Virginia because SOL and NAEP scores differed . Published information had warned that the two tests measured very different things and scores can not be directly compared. Even now, the Governor refers to the honesty gap , showing the administration still doesn’t understand or does not want to give up this talking point that disparages public schools.” "Even now, the Governor refers to the honesty gap , showing the administration still doesn’t understand or does not want to give up this talking point that disparages public schools.” --Dr. Marianne Burke VDOE Ignored Parent and Expert Feedback Vanessa Hall ,Vice President of 4 Public Education and an FCPS alumnus and mother of FCPS students, first apologized for her disappointment before listing several ways that VDOE ignored feedback from parents, principals, educators, and other experts. In particular, she shared concerns about expectations that students take and excel at above  grade-level courses: “We asked for thoughtful measures , yet these measures judge our children based on college coursework rather than grade-level proficiency. Do you know how many students cannot access advanced classes due to language, disability, cost, or availability? We asked for support for English Language Learners , but these measures throw them under the bus. I’d love to see any of you learn a new language in 3 semesters sufficient to take science and history tests in it!” She questioned whether this plan was an unfunded mandate since it is unknown where funding will come from “to flesh out this policy outline, implement it, and then support schools that can’t meet these draconian measures.”  Thus far, VDOE has not provided answers to any of these questions. "I’d love to see any of you learn a new language in 3 semesters sufficient to take science and history tests in it!" -- Vanessa Hall Are these the Actions of Good Stewards of Public Education? Speaking gently, but firmly, Ginge Sivigny  shared that her children and grandchildren attended public schools in Fairfax County before reminding the VBOE members of the far reaching implications of their decisions on “Virginia’s children, families, school communities, and the very quality of life in Virginia” and that they have the choice of being remembered as a hero or villain: “When people look back on these times, will the actions this board takes be looked upon with gratitude or shame? Will you be respected as champions of public education, supporters of the common [good], or will you be looked upon with dismay, the way we now revile those who dismantled our public schools in the 1950’s and 60’s?” "Will you be respected as champions of public education, supporters of the common [good], or will you be looked upon with dismay, the way we now revile those who dismantled our public schools in the 1950’s and 60’s?” -- Ginge Sivigny Is Youngkin’s VDOE Breaking Our Schools on Purpose? Mike Karabinos , parent of children in Chesterfield, Virginia, likened the VDOE’s plan to breaking Virignia’s schools on purpose in order to remake them: “Early on in my career I was delivering a new PC to a coworker who pulled a paper clip out of the power supply because he wanted a new pc. The unethical life hack there being if it ain't broke and you want it replaced, break it on purpose.” He voiced the sincere concerns of many about this impact since Governor Youngkin and his allies on this board "have acted like they have a mandate to dismantle successful schools in order to sell voucher systems and Charters to enrich his friends in private education. Snitch lines, watered-down history standards, abusive model policies, underfunding, the empaneling of people from states with far worse records on education than this state on higher level boards, [and an] accountability crisis that's about to be manufactured by this new policy…These new consultant-written standards are crafted to provide a manufactured metric foundation to the false claim that this Administration keeps making, but our schools are not failing.  Virginia has some of the best schools in the country in spite of his efforts over the last three years.” Mr. Karabinos referred negatively to the backgrounds of most of the VBOE and the leaders of VDOE in his speech, indicating that they came from states “with far worse records on education” than Virginia, lacked credentials, or were involved in efforts to promote charter schools and/or privatize public education. Likely he was referring to the former and current appointed VDOE Superintendents of Public Instruction: 1) Jillian Balow , former Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction, and 2) Dr. Lisa Coons  who served as chief academic officer for the Tennessee Department of Education. Virginia is typically ranked in the top 10-20% of schools across the nation while Wyoming ranges from top 30-50% and Tennessee ranges from the bottom 20-40% of schools across the nation. "These new consultant-written standards are crafted to provide a manufactured metric foundation to the false claim that this Administration keeps making, but our schools are not failing.  Virginia has some of the best schools in the country in spite of Governor Youngkin's efforts over the last three years.” -- Mike Karabinos Don’t Label our Students as Failures! Cheryl Binkley , President of 4 Public Education and retired teacher, began by reminding VBOE that policy makers working in back rooms are not going to be affected by this policy, but it will be “the children: Brown children, immigrant children, Black children, poor children who do not have the luxury of living in the most affluent communities of the state yet the they are the people that you are going to hold accountable by calling them and their schools failing. Over half of the children in Virginia? That's how you're going to label them? These [policies] are not for the children or for our schools.” She added, “This is a disaster. It is made to create chaos and made to create punishment. Please don't do this. This is not what Virginia does. We support our kids.” Her voice broke as she spoke these words. “This is a disaster. It is made to create chaos and made to create punishment. Please don't do this. This is not what Virginia does. We support our kids.” -- Cheryl Binkley Too Many Moving Targets for Schools and Teachers to Be Successful Carol Medawar, who  serves on the School Board in Spotsylvania County and as a math coach in Northern Virginia, offered a critical perspective from someone on the ground in education with 28 years of education experience. Her passion for students, teachers, and their needs was infectious. She had intended only to listen so she could collaborate, but felt called to speak after the “moving targets and absolute misinformation campaign, and making it impossible for school divisions to know how they're being measured, what they're being measured on, when they're being measured on it with to no instructional Resources.” This is after teachers and schools have worked hard to understand the current measures, to align instruction, and built in scaffolds for struggling students, they are being told that they need to change it all. Ms. Matawar went to the listening sessions where growth was the primary measure, but now VDOE has completely removed these measures, which pushes things back 20 years for teachers: “Let's change it all…. You have now instituted new language, standards, new math standards with no crosswalk year to even go from the old standards to the new standards and you want to set new cut scores and you want to do a new accreditation system and you want to change the testing platform all at the same time so that you can say 55% … of our schools are failing and it's just not true. That is dishonesty. Our school buildings in Virginia are doing amazing things for kids every single day: kids who struggle, kids who are new [English] Language Learners, kids who are excelling, and we are working to make progress in every single one of those areas.” "Let's change it all. You have now instituted new language, standards, new math standards with no crosswalk year to even go from the old standards to the new standards and you want to set new cut scores and you want to do a new accreditation system and you want to change the testing platform all at the same time so that you can say 55% … of our schools are failing and it's just not true." -- Carol Medawar Failing Labels do not Define Student Experience or Success Jeff Coupe  of Richmond, VA said that he has participated in the listening sessions and shared his views. Like Ms. Medawar, he had not planned to speak but felt compelled to speak to share his reservations. He used a story of his kids’ experiences in so-called “failing schools” under the No Child Left Behind Act. He said that these kids, whether disadvantaged or English Language Learners, came away with great educations and attended colleges, despite being at schools labeled “failing.” He echoed Ms. Medawar’s request to retain growth standards, and identified that although growth is important, some kids need more time for mastery and this is supported by educational research, thereby intimating that the new standards may not offer that time. Additionally, he offered suggestions to the plan, that he called the “nuts and bolts of teaching,” including:  Favoring internal responsibility of teachers and the community over external accountability Quality support that is asset-based, not deficit-based. As an asset-based system, VDOE needs to remember the drivers and factors causing underperformance at schools will be varied, so educators and the community need to evaluate theories of change. Any system will need to put an emphasis on formative assessment and quality of feedback. "The educational research basically [says] what separates mastery for some students and from others is is is time. Some kids need more time" --Jeff Coupe What can you do? 4 Public Education has been keeping a close watch on this issue, including four of us taking a day to "Roadtrip to Richmond." Accountability is complex and appears uninteresting or irrelevant until you dig deep and realize that accreditation and accountability underpins all public education funding, initiatives, curricula, and success. As Dr. Presidio Sloan  stated at a recent FCPS work session on the subject, “Like many things in large bureaucracies, I think the process has been quite complicated and pretty opaque and difficult…for community members to understand.”  Many of the speakers mentioned that there is no additional funding provided by VDOE for revising accountability measures. Since Dr. Lisa Coons completely overhauled the accountability framework, it will be expensive to flesh out the full plan, implement it, and offer support to the more than half the schools that will require support after implementation. Taxpayers and legislators will be on the hook while students, families, schools, and communities will suffer the consequences. Unknown is the impact the ‘failing school’ designation will have on property values.  Please consider learning more about this critical issue and letting the VBOE, VDOE, and your legislators hear your opinion. You can message the Board of Education with your response to their plan via any (or all!) of these methods below.   Contact your state legislators to let them know how you feel! If you need help on what to say, feel free to check out our blogs below, or review the list of critical concerns on our Facebook page . Additional Resources, If You Would Like to Know More VDOE’s Statewide Comprehensive Support Plan VDOE’s Performance and Support Framework   An examination of the VDOE accreditation and accountability system  by the Fairfax County School Board. Check out the 4 Public Education blogs on this which have great links to more information (most recent at the top): Youngkin’s Privatization Team Makes Its Move on Virginia’s Public Schools VDOE's Accreditation Overhaul: An Unnecessary Risk for Schools Does VDOE want Accountability or Disruption of Virginia Schools? Ironically, the VDOE Accountability Listening Tour Lacks Both Transparency and Accountability Keep Virginia DOE Accountable by Providing Input on Public School Accreditation and Quality! A (Seemingly) Pleasant Surprise from Virginia's Department of Education: A Review of the Northern Virginia VDOE Accountability Listening Session

On Wednesday August 28, the Virginia Board of Education will hold a Special Session to consider the Statewide Comprehensive Support Plan . The Plan proposes the requirements that will be imposed on schools and districts when they do not meet the Board’s new rules for accreditation and accountability.  Despite significant outcry, the board approved the new rules for schools, the School Performance and Support Framework , at their July 24 meeting. The Board projects that under the new performance plan 60% of Virginia public schools will be rated as low-performing or failing, in spite of Virginia’s still high national ratings. Virginia public schools ranked 4th when Youngkin took office. Most recently they were rated best in the nation by CNBC.   The Statewide Comprehensive Support Plan will require schools in Tier 3, those in the 60% deemed low performing, to sign a custom designed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) which will in essence give Youngkin state control over the daily running and conduct of the school. Sixty percent of Virginia’s schools can, at the state’s discretion, be taken over based on the VDOE’s time-line by September 2025.  According to the VDOE plan, schools will be reported for not conforming, and will be required to sign MOU’s by that date one year from now.  Currently, Virginia has only five districts  which operate under MOU agreements. Most are  economically distressed zones  which have strived for decades to gain higher performance levels. Thus, such a large-scale take-over plan is unprecedented. Calculating the 60% estimate, based on Ballotpedia’s listing  of numbers of schools and students, the new policy could impact over 1,000 schools and over 75,000 students across Virginia.  Though carte-blanche school take-over plans have been used in other states, they have occurred mostly where legislatures passed legislation to authorize such an invasive action. The Virginia legislature has not passed such a bill, nor has JLARC, the research arm of the legislature, recommended bills initiating such changes. The Youngkin VDOE is once again bypassing authorization from the elected legislators for enormous changes in how Virginia’s highly respected public schools will be administered.  Under the new policies, districts which have one-quarter of their schools labeled as failing under the new VDOE regulations will be required to agree to MOU which implements takeover for the entire district, not just individual “underperforming” schools.  The Performance and Support Framework cuts services for Multilingual Learners from 11 semesters to 3, effectively requiring them to take English Language exams long before academic language fluency can be met. Many researchers  project that it takes 3 to 5 years for English language learners to reach conversational fluency and 3 to 7 for academic fluency. Three semesters is a radical expectation, likely to produce large scale school wide failures for Virginia’s high diversity districts. The test scores resulting from this change are likely to put highly diverse schools in the troubled or failing category.  Also, the new regulations increase the number of reporting levels. The changes will most affect students who meet the PASS standard in SOL levels. That level will be divided into Proficient, Basic, Below Basic. Proficient is a term from the national NAEP which is above grade level performance, but it is unclear how the Proficient level (or any of these levels) will be calibrated for Virginia students. This leaves schools with a moving target for testing goals. If Proficient is used as the required standard for pass rates, more schools will be caught in the “failing” net while being held to above grade-level requirements.  From Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order 1  on day one, to last week when he misrepresented SOL scores in a surprise, unvetted release of partial scores, the Governor has been attacking Virginia’s public schools. His appointments to the department and the board of education have almost universally gone to people whose day jobs advocate for privatization of Virginia’s schools, and they have acted as might be expected.  Each attempted policy change by Youngkin, from teacher tattle lines, to whitewashing Virginia history, to banning books, and creating Lab Schools as backdoor charters, has failed, creating more chaos, confusion, and cost than positive learning impact.  This scheme to take over 60% of Virginia’s schools in one year cannot be allowed to move forward. Youngkin and his allies cannot be allowed to strangle the futures of Virginia’s children for the sake of greed and politics. Please message the Board of Education with your response to their plan via any (or all!) of these methods below. Signup to speak at the 8/28/24 9am Board of Education Send your written comments to Board of Education.  Contact your state legislators to let them know how you feel!