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Did the Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Denigrate and Misrepresent Student Learning for Political Advantage? Despite being in office for the past four years, gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears continues to present a flawed analysis of Virginia’s student achievement. She claims, as does the sitting Governor Youngkin, that previous administrations claimed students were learning when they were not, and passed students when they should not have. Both Earle-Sears and Youngkin refer to this as an “honesty gap.” Although for years they have been cautioned that those statements were invalid , both the current governor and lieutenant governor continue to use those claims in an apparent attempt to influence voters.  A major concern is that the administration’s inaccurate portrayal of Virginia’s public school system was used to justify the unnecessary overhaul of the Department of Education’s (VDOE) accountability system.  Essentially, the Youngkin administration created a fake problem which required an expensive and unnecessary solution. The fake problem was that Virginia’s student performance was lacking, but this “problem” was caused by the Youngkin administration comparing the wrong statistics from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) and the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) Tests (explained in sections below). Thus, the Youngkin administration reported that Virginia had been overestimating student performance and he accused the previous democratic administrations of creating an ‘honesty gap’ . He used this “honesty gap” as the impetus to overhaul the accountability system, which has been expensive and disruptive for Virginia school districts. At a recent Moms for Liberty Town Hall panel discussion of GOP candidates, Katie Gorka, Chair of the Fairfax GOP committee despaired that only 31% of 4th grade (and similarly, 29% of 8th grade students) could read with “proficiency” (i.e., above  grade level). In fact, the figures Gorka, the Youngkin administration, and candidate Earle-Sears should have used are 58%  and 66%,  respectively, which means that Virginia’s 4th and 8th graders are well above the state national average in Reading at  grade level. Correspondingly, 76%  and 63%  Virginia’s 4th and 8th graders (respectively) are at grade level in Math. In the following sections below 4 Public Education will explain how the Youngkin administration and Earle-Sears came to use the wrong statistics. Despite published warnings about their error, the Youngkin administration and Earle-Sears continue to ignore those warnings.  What is the Difference Between the NAEP and SOL Tests? The Youngkin administration and Earle-Sears conflate both data and the purpose of the SOL and NAEP tests. As  explained by Andrew Ho, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education , the NAEP is a “low stakes” test that monitors groups (i.e., the states), not individuals. On the other hand, tests like Virginia’s SOL are “high stakes” tests, because they contribute to decisions about school certification and which students need additional help (figure 1). Direct comparisons of statistics of the two tests are not valid because the tests differ in who  and how  they test, and how the results should be interpreted and applied.  Figure 1. The four types of educational tests and their purposes, from Ho (2022) Perhaps even more importantly, the Youngkin Administration and Earle-Sears not only made the egregious mistake of conflating terms used to compare results in the two tests, they then used their erroneous interpretation to cast aspersions  on the achievement of students and performance of teachers in Virginia’s public schools! Apparently, they assumed the term “proficient” had the same meaning in both the NAEP and SOL test results, despite abundant literature that explained how the statistical terms that have the same name also have different meanings in the two tests.  The Youngkin Administration first published the error in 2022 when Youngkin’s Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) released a report on student achievement  which made the incorrect claims that the SOL tests were overestimating performance of Virginia students. The VDOE claimed that more students should have failed because a greater proportion of students were classified as “proficient" in SOL tests results than in NAEP  tests results.  Shortly thereafter the Washington Post  explained the errors the Youngkin Administration made in their VDOE analysis, and further clarification was published by the Public Broadcasting System . Both publications explained that, although the NAEP and SOL tests use the same terms to categorize scores, the meaning of those categories differed greatly between tests. It was clear that direct comparisons of categories with the same name were not valid. But in the years since then the administration continues to use the same flawed reasoning  which undercounts Virginia schools’ performance in both Math and Reading The NAEP assessment sorts student scores into three achievement levels — basic, proficient, and advanced, which have different meanings than the SOL achievement levels despite the same names. The federal test makers who designed NAEP use “proficient” as a desirable or “aspirational” standard, while their “basic” category more closely correlates to achievement at a grade level. In fact, a multiple year   comparison of NAEP and state tests  revealed that “ most state standards for both grades [4 and 8] and both subjects [Math and Reading] mapped [achievement at grade level] at the NAEP Basic  achievement level” (Figure 2). As a result, the proportion of students performing at grade level should include students with scores in either the Basic or Proficient NAEP levels. Thus, the correct statistics are that  58% of 4th graders  and 66% of 8th graders  of Virginia students read at grade level in 2024, not the 31% and 29% figures used by the Youngin administration, VBOE, and candidate Earle-Sears.  Figure 2. The NAEP mapping study showed that “most state standards for both grades [4 and 8] and both subjects [Math and Reading] mapped at the NAEP Basic achievement level.” National Center for Education  Earl-Sears is Misrepresenting Virginia’s Performance It is concerning that Candidate Winsome Earl-Sears promises that if she is elected she will “peg the SOL scores to the NAEP scores” for Virginia for two reasons. First, this is pretty much what has already been approved for this year’s overhaul of the VBOE accountability system. The NAEP test is not designed to evaluate an individual student’s performance in a subject. Instead, the NAEP is designed to monitor learning across states, and to show where each state is ranked relative to the national average, primarily for reading and math. NAEP scores capture “two-year snapshots” of a small subset of students, and it is never the same group of students . As a result a high amount of variation among years should be expected.  In 2023, 4 Public Education again pointed out how Governor Youngkin was   incorrectly interpreting NAEP scores and how  his interpretation did not support his claim of an “honesty gap” . Yet his Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears continues to share the misinformation. She should know better. She served on Virginia’s Board of Education; therefore, it is hard to believe that she doesn’t know the difference between the NAEP and SOL performance statistics.  Why is she conflating the NAEP and the SOL scores? Is it because Earl- Sears, like Youngkin, finds this line of fearmongering a politically expedient attempt to convince Virginians that our public schools are failing? Is this to help push the state toward privatization of public schools? Or is it just to win an election? We need to remember that NAEP proficient scores are “ aspirational ”  and a “flawed benchmark ” and that “ not a single nation can demonstrate that not even 50 percent of its students can clear the proficiency benchmark in  fourth-grade reading ”. It is essential that the next gubernatorial administration in Virginia better understand the intricacies and appropriate application of data from these two very different testing methods. They must be accountable to Virginians and accurately report what the NAEP and SOL scores indicate about our public schools and Virginia students.  The bottom line is that in contrast to what the GOP candidates are claiming in the 2025 gubernatorial campaign, the majority of Virginia students are learning appropriately and students in Virginia continue to do better than students in most other states. Virginia students score in the 4th quartile for 4th grade Math and 3rd quartile for 4th grade Math, 8th grade Reading, and 8th grade Math. Wasteful spending based on politically motivated misleading claims is the opposite of what is needed.

Preliminary Investigations Reveal Truths about Outlandish "October Surprise" from the Republican Party You either live under a rock, or you are really good at filtering out the fake news of MAGA Times outlets, if you haven’t heard about the supposed “abortion scandal” at Centreville High School in Fairfax County Virginia. It was the perfect “October Surprise”  except that it began on August 5, 2025, and created chaos in Fairfax County before school had even started.  For over ten weeks, only an outlandish story told by right-wing media was known until Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) published  their preliminary investigation last Thursday, which was in response to demands by the Trump Administration’s U.S. Department of Education  and U.S. Senator Billy Cassidy . There is no word yet from the Youngkin Administration about their State Police investigation which began on August 14, 2025 . Last Thursday, October 16, 2025, Dr. Michelle Reid, Superintendent of FCPS, released the preliminary findings of the abortion allegations related to Centreville High School (HS). Her letter to the community  included links to the outside investigation performed by King & Spaulding, a highly regarded “top-tier” law firm  in Washington, DC. Next week, we will use the 61-page investigation  to correct the lurid stories released by an Ohio blogger ( Walter Curt ) and Fox/Fairfax Times reporter ( Asra Nomani ), as reported to them by Zenaida Perez, an ESOL teacher at Centreville HS.  Thankfully, the thorough, preliminary investigation  found that “based on fact-finding, it appears that the allegations are untrue.” In addition, King and Spaulding  found the “shocking” allegations by Perez, Curt , and Nomani  that “FCPS procured and paid for minor abortions without parent consent, are very likely untrue and lacking in factual or evidentiary support.” In summary, King and Spaulding’s report  finds: The evidence we have reviewed indicates that Mrs. Diaz and Mr. Lehman acted appropriately and consistent with FCPS policies and regulations and with applicable federal and state laws. Mrs. Perez’s allegations appear to be rooted in speculation. It also appears that in her zeal to prove her suspicions true, Mrs. Perez procured statements from students that were false. In doing so, Mrs. Perez, among other things, violated policies and regulations that require teachers to maintain professional boundaries with students. The two student statements procured by Mrs. Perez to support her claims both appear to be unreliable and are contradicted by other evidence, including Mrs. Perez’s own contradictory admissions and recent statements by one of the former CHS students in question…. There is also evidence suggesting that Mrs. Perez manipulated both statements to convey factual assertions she knew to be untrue, and that did not reflect the students’ actual knowledge or beliefs. Will this October Surprise Backfire for Republicans? It is interesting that this Republican “October Surprise” backfired so spectacularly, after the success of so many “surprises” over the last four years. Fortunately, it was clear to most people that this outlandish story was intended to influence the 2025 gubernatorial election by somehow connecting the democratic candidates to lurid details of “abortions facilitated” by public school staff in Virginia. Nevertheless, this story has been used repeatedly against the Democratic candidates. These seemingly false claims caused significant harm to many, including unrelated students and staff at Centreville HS. These students have been subject to filming by at least one known extremist group, Tradition Family Property (TFP) Student Action , who were identified by the red capes they wear. TFP Student Action is the campus outreach component of “The American TFP” which has been  cited by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a hate group for their “virulently anti-LGBT” views .   In fact, a teacher asked that the Fairfax County School Board  review their policies about filming students on school grounds due to concerns over recent filming of minors by TFP Action or their allies . She indicated that this group comes to protest at high schools around Fairfax County, which is a concern to many parents, guardians, and staff because it endangers the students and their safety. Additionally, there is potentially great harm done to all of the FCPS staff and leadership targeted by these claims, especially those named by Nomani in her reporting. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of social media posts threatening prison sentences and worse to innocent people involved in these likely untrue allegations, from Dr. Reid to the Centreville HS principal and social worker named in the allegations.  Also, the legal fees incurred by FCPS have been costly, and these funds will need to come from an already highly stretched budget. As we know from previous “scandals” like the National Merit Commended Certificate “scandal” that also involved Nomani and AG Miyares, the outside legal costs for FCPS were in excess of $1.6 million .  There are many who have been harmed by the sensationalism surrounding the sensational allegations by Perez, Curt, and Nomani, including the students directly involved, most of whom are immigrants and many of whom lack parental guardianship or housing. These students were drawn into this “scandal” without their consent, and (per the report) with some coercion.  Ultimately, the investigation found that the social worker targeted by Perez was irreparably harmed by the likely false accusations, which include accusations of criminal acts! She deserves support from the community and compensation for all of the harm done to her and her family: “Sadly, for all concerned, Mrs. Perez has not allowed the limits of her factual knowledge to hold her back. Based on assumptions and guesses, she has falsely and very publicly accused Carolina Diaz of criminal acts, causing Mrs. Diaz great emotional distress, interrupting her career, forcing her to incur significant personal legal expenses, subjecting Diaz and her family to threats, and harming many others in the process.” - King and Spaulding report, page 24 This is not the last we will hear of this story. Let’s just hope that more people are not harmed by this kind of faulty reporting and retaliatory actions.  4 Public Education will analyze the failures of the original reports about the Centreville HS “abortion scandal” next week. We are looking forward to showing you what we found.

Moms for Liberty Political Panel (credit: Vanessa Hall) Moms for Liberty Town Hall in Fairfax City, October 2025 I’m still questioning my life choices, but I attended the Moms for Liberty (M4L) Town Hall on Friday, October 3, 2025, and I survived. The event didn’t disappoint, but there were some surprises along the way.  Let's start with the pleasant surprises It was a well-run event, with professional greeters and a high-level of security, likely since the sitting Lieutenant Governor and her running mate were attending. Pre-registration was required, and we were required to wear visible M4L stickers. I ripped off the M4L on my sticker. Why would I wear the name of a Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) defined extremist hate group  on my sweater if I don’t want my kids to wear confederate symbols of their high school. Which parents are given a voice by Moms for Liberty? (credit: Vanessa Hall) There were so  many high-level M4L “celebrities ” in attendance: Tina Descovich (CEO and Founder), Jamie Hinkle (Coalition Coordinator), Katie Gorka (Advisor), Scarlett Johnson (Wisconsin chair). The event must have exceeded more than $50,000 in travel and production costs for only about 150 local attendees. I was particularly taken with one speaker , who gave a moving speech about autism and autistic children, which must have been hard in front of a crowd that often expresses negative views about kids with learning disabilities, much less in front of a crowd that on the whole believes that autism is caused by vaccines.  Tina Descovich, M4L cofounder and CEO, was surprisingly congenial as she introduced and facilitated the panels. She channeled empathy instead of the wild-eyed indignation that I expected. I was surprised by her approach since it was in opposition with the only other position on empathy I’ve heard from M4L, as previously shared by another headliner, Merianne Jensen . Perhaps empathy is acceptable within M4L, and only condemned when it is used for children and families outside of their patriotic embrace? Merianne Jensen, Prince William County Moms for Liberty, is upset that her kids' school teaches empathy. Of course, there were quite a few unpleasant surprises Despite being billed as “essential conversation about protecting parental rights and putting students FIRST,” students and parent’s rights took a backseat to partisan politicking. Call me naive, but I thought that a 501(c)(4) organization  should at least attempt  to have the appearance of nonpartisanship, but that was not the case.  Both Earle-Sears and Reid used their time to attack their opponents. Earle-Sears repeated allegations that her opponent, Abigail Spanberger, was “ soft on crime ,” which is odd since Spanberger was in law enforcement and received the police benevolent association endorsement for Governor. Reid claimed  that his opponent, Ghazala Hashmi, was the leader of “everything that is a problem” in Virginia schools. That seemed like a wild statement because Hashmi is an educator  and Chair of the Senate Education and Health Committee, where she has championed bills to increase support and funding for educators, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities. I’ve seen her oppose the culture wars of the Youngkin administration  when she stood up for parents, teachers, and students. Clearly, this was a campaign event for GOP candidates Earle-Sears and Reid, but it was also intended to bring M4L and Turning Point USA to Northern Virginia, especially Fairfax County:  Katie Gorka, Chair of the Fairfax GOP , begged the room for a volunteer to chair a Fairfax County chapter of M4L. Interestingly, the reason there is no M4L chapter in Fairfax County is because Gorka, M4L, and IWF kyboshed the chapter that a local mom started in 2022 . Personally, I’m not unhappy about the result, because I’ve seen what the Prince William County M4L chapter did to our Fairfax County students  when they snuck into a kids’ discord group in order to undermine LGBTQIA activism by students, thereby exposing them to danger and threats.  Emery Seigler,  Turning Point USA Club America Capitol Field Representative, invited students to start a chapter at their high schools. Her entreaty was repeated constantly throughout the event…along with complaints about barriers to finding sponsors.  Ian Prior , Senior Advisor of America First Legal , was on the political panel with Earle-Sears and Reid. He was hailed as some kind of savior to M4L parents in the room. He outlined his legal cases against school districts and connections to the current Trump administration  (e.g., Harmeet Dhillon , Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the US Department of Justice and David Warrington , White House Counsel), which should concern anyone who cares about influence, accountability, and transparency in government. As a citizen who advocates for civil rights in our schools, I’m concerned about his connections, because he may choose to wield them against me and mine at any time. The Town Hall was a constant airing of grievances where M4L described how “our children and parents’ rights are under attack” by radical school boards. This was repeated ad nauseum during the parents panel  where nearly all of the participants were employed by a Project 2025 group, a M4L leader, or not a current K-12 parent. At least half of them were involved in America First Legal lawsuits against their school districts, as well. Repeatedly, they acted as if kids starting TP USA chapters were oppressed by their peers and under attack for merely wanting to “have a conversation,” when in fact the “ debate me ” mentality is rooted in deceptive , often toxic , tactics (e.g., heavy use of logical fallacies ), and bullying. Not only that, why would most people want to engage with those who are interested in taking away fundamental human rights, or want to debate civil rights? On social media, John Reid praised the attendees “an awesome group of parents,” although most of the crowd were grandparents with no kids in our schools. Unfortunately, since he has blocked me on his candidate page–an odd choice for a man who claims to be open to conversations–I had to ask a friend for his post. Speaking of Reid, he had an outrageously awkward and maybe too personal moment at the event. You could hear widespread muttering and audible gasps when he mentioned Baptist preachers and strippers, juices flowing, and secrets . It’s worth a listen. The question and answer period at the end of the event was most illuminating. For example, in response to a parent question about Governor Youngkin’s   recent public health directive , Earle-Sears responded that it is their attempt to force Northern Virginia schools to comply with the anti-trans Youngkin model policies and Prior advocated for lawfare against school districts when he said, “keep suing these school districts.” People cheered, but I wondered how much this lawfare is costing my county and my schools. Nonetheless, even I was surprised when an attendee shared that he dressed up as a furry  for school board meetings. He seemed honestly confused as to why his antics would be considered disturbances by the school boards. I guess what he considers “performance art” is considered by others to be sharing demeaning, debunked conspiracy theories . Ironically, I was the target of insults by this attendee  at a previous M4L Earle-Sears and Reid campaign stop in Prince William when he made unprompted anti-trans remarks about me, a cisgender mom, which begs the question: Where does performance art end and bullying begin?  If this had been a bingo drinking game of right-wing buzzwords, I would have been incapacitated before the end of the event, as they used the following words interchangeably: SEL, CRT, DEI, Marxism. The audience applauded and loved these words, despite the fact that the speakers never defined them, much less used them correctly. M4L speakers used a lot of disturbing warlike metaphors calling our schools “battlegrounds.” In her opening speech, Jensen ended with this statement : Remember, we are not just saving our schools. We are saving our kids' futures. We’re building a Virginia where our daughters are safe, our sons are heard, and parents are respected.  - Moms for Liberty Are our daughters not to be heard? Are our daughters not allowed to advocate for themselves? Which parents are to be respected? I certainly didn’t feel respected or heard in that room. And I have found myself to be the target of people like Prior who has called me a “Karen” for advocating for student civil rights while his associates have labeled me a “groomer” for merely sitting at a school board meeting. The Town Hall’s constant emphasis of “keeping girls safe” from bureaucratic bogeymen and transgender children reminded me of segregationist messaging from the 1960s where white people claimed that they and their children would be endangered by integration in schools and public spaces–as if to share public spaces with Black people made public spaces more dangerous. As in the 1960s with Black children, there is no evidence to support statements that transgender children pose a danger. In fact, there is plenty of evidence to the contrary showing that transgender children are more likely to be endangered by their cisgender peers.  Jensen’s statement  about keeping “daughters safe, sons heard, and parents respected” made me begin watching the Handmaid’s Tale. Although a little too close for comfort, Margaret Atwood’s book and the Hulu series, tells the tale of the end result of Christian Nationalist efforts to “keep girls safe” where girls and women have no freedom of choice, movement, much less bodily autonomy. The slow slide of women like Serena Joy of the Handmaid’s Tale being both the architects and handmaidens of an anti-women movement until only their sons and husbands were heard was not lost on me--especially considering the majority of the M4L Advisory Committee is men, and nearly all of their funding comes from men.  M4L and their allies focus on school boards, teachers, transgender children, and Marxism as dangers to girls, while completely ignoring real and present dangers to girls–including gun violence, sexual abuse, suicide, accidents, and disease–seemed like political pandering using tired Christian Nationalist tropes. As such, I can’t help but feel that their messaging about safety leads down a dark and dangerous path when they misidentify the sources of danger. It makes me think that their solutions will be similarly misguided, and will not have the interests of girls, boys, or parents in mind. Especially not parents like me whose interests are not represented by M4L.

The Betrayal of Virginians and Our Public Schools Virginia’s Attorney General (AG) is responsible for enforcing the law and supporting the civil rights and safety of Virginians. Unfortunately, for nearly four years, it feels like our AG has decided that culture wars are more important than civil rights.  It even feels like AG Jason Miyares is acting as the Trump administration’s errand boy, ensuring that Trump Executive Orders are followed, even if they conflict with the rule of law, US Constitution, and Congressional authority. Miyares has signed on to red-state Amicus Briefs supporting Trump administration actions against immigrants  that permit prison camps and deportation of undocumented immigrants without due process, and has withdrawn from Amicus Briefs supporting women’s reproductive health care . Neither of these actions seem to comply with the Code of Virginia , much less the Virginia Constitution . In terms of Trump’s actions on education, Miyares has been notably silent on behalf of Virginians in terms of federal funding, civil rights, etc. In March 2025, Miyares refused to join 21 other Attorney Generals who sued  the Trump administration for illegally dismantling the U.S. Department of Education (US ED). In July 2025, Miyares refused to join 25 other Attorney Generals suing  over after-school funding paused by the Trump administration. Why is our AG failing our students, families, and schools? Unfortunately, it seems that Miyares has deep connections to various Project 2025 groups that are fulfilling Project 2025’s anti-public school and anti-LGBTQIA agenda. For example in January 2024, General Miyares’ special counsel Maggie Cleary  joined Project 2025’s Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) as a “visiting fellow.” IWF is an anti-feminist non-profit  with over  $7 million 2023 revenue  (tax free), and it focuses an unreasonable amount of attention on and lawsuits against Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). Many of Miyares’ legal actions seem to be in lock step with America First Legal , a far right group begun by Stephen Miller to sue the Biden Administration, but which has morphed into a group that focuses on burying school districts and companies in civil rights suits that benefit white, cisgender, heterosexual, and Christian men and women.  America First Legal is one of the authors of Project 2025 . If you are a history buff, you may notice that “America First” was also the name of the Nazi-associated, isolationist and antisemitic movement exemplified by the  America First Committee , that existed in the US before the Axis Power attacks on our country at the start of World War II. A small group of congressmen associated with this influential committee were found to have  colluded with Germany prior to the war  and were involved in plots to overthrow the government. Equally concerning is that Miyares attends events sponsored by anti-public school groups like: the Family Foundation of Virginia  which has rallied against FCPS students and civil rights, and Turning Point USA  which put a target on multiple northern Virginia school districts due to their curricula, policies, and regulations that support student education, diversity, equity, equality, and inclusion. Many of Miyares’ actions and investigations were driven by reports from various right-wing media sources, such as the Fairfax Times, which has employed and/or highlighted IWF “fellows” (e.g., Asra Nomani, Harry Jackson, and Stephanie Lundquist-Arora). In other cases, he has repeatedly sided with Project 2025 groups like America First Legal. For example: In April 2022 , AG Miyares filed an Amicus Brief  with the Supreme Court to vacate a stay  and support the Coalition for TJ ’s claims against FCPS. Interestingly, nearly a half dozen of the Coalition for TJ’s leaders are known to be members and/or employed by IWF and/or Parents Defending Education , a known SPLC-defined hate group, including: Nomani , Jackson , Lundquist Arora, Marisa Fallon, and Suparna Dutta, most of whom have been regularly featured or employed by the Fairfax Times. Read more here . In January 2023 , based on exaggerated reporting in the Fairfax Times and the complaint of one non-Asian parent, Miyares leveraged the civil rights division of the Commonwealth of Virginia to pursue an investigation of alleged anti-Asian discrimination due to delayed distribution of National Merit Commended Certificates, despite no Asian-American students  or families raising an alarm. Miyares’ investigation resulted in two failed lawsuits costing over $1.6 million in outside legal fees for FCPS, threats against FCPS staff, taxpayer dollars wasted by Miyares’ office, and unknown impacts on FCPS and student education due to the manufactured crisis. Read the full story here . In March 2023 , AG Miyares said in a press release that he found “blatant examples of racial and ethnic discrimination” in FCPS. Seemingly inspired by reporting by Asra Nomani , AG Miyares alleged that a FCPS middle school (Cooper) discriminated against students based on race, color, and national origin in an email sent to families regarding a college preparatory program offered by the county. In response, FCPS called AG Miyares’ claims “ false ” and that they resulted in distractions from education and threats to school principals. In June 2024 , Miyares   filed an Amicus Brief  in support of America First Legal’s case Jane Doe v. Fairfax County School Board  (case: 2024-03171) which contended that FCPS policies  regarding harassment of transgender students and their access to bathrooms violated the religious liberty rights of a high school student, Jane Doe.  In July 2024 , AG Miyares “spearheaded” an Amicus Brief  on behalf of Wisconsin  parents regarding transgender students’ pronoun rights .  In May 2025 , Attorney General Jason Miyares finalized the investigation into TJ admissions that began in January 2023, which was also spurred by Coalition for TJ and Fairfax Times reporting. Using Coalition for TJ statistics, his Office of Civil Rights allegedly “found reasonable cause” that FCPS was in violation of the Virginia Human Rights Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for discriminating against Asian American students in its admissions process. Miyares referred FCPS to US ED and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Pacific Legal Foundation , Coalition for TJ’s pro bono lawyer and known Koch-funded  dark money group, indicated that Miyares enabled the US ED Office for Civil Rights to open its own investigation into the 5-year old TJ admissions question. On September 25, 2025 , Miyares filed amicus briefs  to deny emergency requests for injunctions by FCPS and APS. Miyares demonstrated his support for the federal overreach by the US ED and violation of student civil rights by this statement, “The policies in Fairfax and Arlington allowing students to use restrooms and locker rooms based on subjective gender identity instead of biological sex are unlawful, unsafe, and indefensible. The Fourth Circuit should deny the schools’ attempt to rewrite the law through litigation.” On October 1, 2025 , Miyares filed an Amicus Brief  in support of the students whose harassment of a transgender student in a LCPS locker room resulted in their suspension, thereby supporting the Founding Freedoms Law Center  representing the Loudoun County boys over supporting the civil rights of all students. Founding Freedoms is the legal arm of the Richmond-based Family Foundation of Virginia, a known anti-LGBTQIA extremist group . Unfortunately, AG Miyares has also failed to protect Virginians’ health care, cancer research grants, safety, charitable funding, and university funding . He did this by sitting back rather than standing up to fight for Virginians’ rights:  AG Miyares declined to join 22 other state AGs who sued to block cuts to NIH. Those AGs won in federal court so the grant funding would continue, but only in those 22 states which means the loss of already appropriated NIH grant funding for cancer research at Virginia institutions like UVA and Virginia Tech.  AG Miyares declined to protest Trump’s attempts to overturn birthright citizenship. AG Miyares declined to join 23 Democratic attorneys general who sued and won to halt freezes of charitable funding for adoption assistance and food kitchens. AG Miyares was silent regarding pardons for violent January 6th insurrectionists. AG Miyares did nothing when 11 of Virginia’s 31 qualified health centers had their funding disrupted by the Trump Administration. Three health centers in Richmond had to close their doors . AG Miyares’ actions over the last four years have been steeped in culture war battles over transgender civil rights and manufactured crises. His efforts to roll back the rights of transgender students includes his misinterpretation of the law to support Governor Youngkin’s “Model Policies” which the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)  described as: P art of a coordinated, national effort to erase transgender and nonbinary students from the classroom. At best, they invite discrimination; at worst, they require it. Attorney General Jason Miyares’ opinion defending the policies is every bit as cruel and misguided as the policies themselves. As Marianne Burke stated , as AG, Miyares should “represent and protect the public interest, and make the welfare of Virginians the highest priority.” Instead, Miyares has shown loyalty to President Trump and an extreme right-wing agenda over the people of Virginia. His actions and decisions fly in the face of school districts’ rights, public education funding, and civil rights of Virginia’s students. However, it is clear that his decisions have a profound effect on all Virginians when they affect civil rights, funding, cancer research, and women’s health care. The Democratic Attorney’s General Association  statement rings true that Miyares “doesn’t have his priorities straight” because of his constant attacks on transgender youth and utter silence on Trump funding freezes, which affect every Virginian. Instead of working to protect families, kids, and vital federal grants and loans that are essential to the livelihood of millions of Virginians, [MIyares is] proving once again he’s incapable of putting Virginians first and keeping them safe.

State Campaigns Focus on Local Policies in the 2025 Election An important part of voting is determining who is the best candidate. This has become even more difficult in recent years as news reports have become increasingly one-sided and often distorted for political advantage. This year’s election in Virginia seems particularly focused on cultural issues , most notably the rights and protections of transgender students.  With just weeks until the election, Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears, who is the GOP candidate for Governor, John Reid who is candidate for Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General Miyares, who is running for reelection, speak passionately about their objection to policies that protect and provide rights to transgender students. They use two recent alleged incidents between students as justification for rolling back the rights and protections currently provided to trans students in some Virginia school districts.  It is disturbing that those candidates don’t provide a balanced accounting of the incidents but instead present only the parts of the stories that support their political agenda and vilify the transgender students allegedly involved. For example, in a recent Fairfax case, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl-Sears claimed  a “boy” was watching girls undress in the girls locker room; however, she implied that this student was transgender without evidence. In the Loudoun case, Attorney General Jason Miyares claimed  that a “girl” recorded boys in the boys’ locker room but Miyares did not reveal that it was a transgender boy who recorded the students sexually harassing him to provide to school administrators as evidence of the harassment. Nor did he reveal that all three boys were suspended, because the recording documented sexual harassment by the two boys and the transgender boy had violated the rules by recording in the locker room . Instead, Miyares focused on the trans student who was violating school policy, and ignored the sexual harassment by the other two boys. Alarmingly, he referred to the harassers as the “victims .” In both the recent Fairfax and Loudoun incidents, the cisgender students accused of sexual harassment and favored by Sears and Miyares, already have free lawyers from extremist groups: Founding Freedoms Law Center  is representing the Loudoun County boys, who are trying to overturn their suspension, in the Loudoun incident. Founding Freedoms is the legal arm of the Richmond-based Family Foundation of Virginia, a known anti-LGBTQIA extremist group . Defense of Freedom Institute  (DFI) is the far right group  representing the Fairfax girls, and is trying to use the incident to overturn the civil rights of transgender students, as supported by FCPS. DFI, a tax-exempt organization,  was founded by two former Trump US Department of Education (US ED) officials in 2021. Incidentally, DFI contributed to Project 2025 on education issues . Over the last decade there have been many debates over the rights and protections that should be provided to transgender students. Some politicians are so desperate to be elected that they provide biased information to gain a political edge. In addition, changes in administrations can result in changes in transgender youth rights and protections as  with Miyares' and Youngkin's focus on transgender youth and public education access.  Below is a description of how transgender rights and protections have evolved in Virginia over the last decade.  Ebb and flow of transgender student rights in Virginia  Gavin Grimm came out as a transgender boy in 2016 during his sophomore year at Gloucester High School in Virginia. Because that school’s policies restricted him from using the facilities used by other boys, he sued his school board. Grimm’s case was dismissed  by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia  even though the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had backed Grimm in his lawsuit . Subsequently the DOJ stated that the district judge's reasoning was “faulty and should not be followed.”  Grimm appealed his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which ruled that the Gloucester County School Board violated both Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. ” In 2017, after President Donald Trump took office and his administration rolled back protections for transgender students under Title IX, the school board appealed the case to the Supreme Court. That court sent the case back to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to be reconsidered in light of the Trump revised Title IX guidance that “clarified” protections for transgender students under the first Trump administration.  In 2020 Grimm won that appeal and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals again determined that the school board violated the law . That same year then Governor Northam developed Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students  which enabled transgender students in Virginia to use names, pronouns, and facilities that aligned with their gender identity. Also, the model policy provided new guidance for creating safe and supportive environments for transgender students, just as were already available for cisgender students. This policy was consistent with the federal law because it prohibited bullying, harassment or discrimination. Transgender students were to be treated in accordance with their gender identity under Title IX. In 2022, Governor Glenn Youngkin's administration revised Virginia’s model policies  for transgender students in Virginia, and to a large degree ended their rights and protections. The new model policy stated that students should use bathrooms and locker rooms based on the gender they were assigned at birth. In addition, it offered an “ opt out” option  for parents to request a sex-separated facility where the federal law requires schools to permit transgender students to share otherwise sex-segregated facilities with students of the opposite gender. Five school districts in Virginia refused to comply  with the revised policies, and were legally able to do so as model policies are more suggestions than a law.  In June 2024, AG Miyares   filed an Amicus Brief  in support of a  case against FCPS  which contended that FCPS policies  regarding harassment of transgender students and their access to bathrooms violated the religious liberty rights of a high school student, Jane Doe.  Also in 2024, President Joe Biden’s administration  formalized  the long-standing view that under Title IX sex discrimination includes discrimination based on gender identity as well as sexual orientation. Immediately following inauguration in 2025, President Trump initiated a series of Executive Orders intended to roll back the protections and rights of transgender students, but even then not all school districts complied. To date the districts that have refused to comply with both Governor Youngkin’s and President Trump’s transgender policies include Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William Counties; and the cities of Arlington and Alexandria. These districts maintain that their trans policies are protected  by the Fourth Circuit decision on Gavin v. Gloucester County School Board.  After the U.S. Department of Education (US ED) announced they were withholding federal funds for lack of compliance, the FCPS board sued the US ED, but the suit was dismissed . The school board appealed the decision to a higher court and asked for an emergency injunction. In response, Attorney General (and candidate) Jason Miyares filed an amicus brief  to deny the emergency request for an injunction by FCPS and APS. On October 1, 2025, Miyares filed another amicus brief  in support of the students whose alleged sexual harassment of a transgender student in a LCPS locker room resulted in their suspension, thereby supporting the accused over supporting the civil rights of all students. To date the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has not announced if they will hear the appeal.  Virginia 2025 Candidates’ stances on transgender rights in schools On the campaign trail, democratic candidates are focusing on the economy, federal overreach, and civil rights of Virginians. On the other hand, republican candidates seem to be hyperfocused on transgender students and their access to bathrooms and locker rooms .  Gubernatorial candidate and Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears supports policies that separate facilities by “biological sex,” a term that, outside of policymaking , is considered to be inaccurate by the medical profession  and anti-LGBTQIA hate speech by others . She appears happy to discount some of the most vulnerable students in Virginia in order to prevent a minority of students from feeling uncomfortable. Recently, at a rally at a Fairfax County middle school  she stated  “How about let’s just have fairness. Let’s have girls have their private spaces and boys have their private spaces. It has worked for how many millennia, and certainly it can work now.” The democratic candidate for Governor in Virginia, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger   stated that she believes “...we need to get politics out of our schools and trust parents and local communities,” and that her “priority is making sure Virginia’s kids are safe and supported.” A statement made in 2022 provides  more specifics on her opinion of the Youngkin administration’s revised policy: “Gov. Youngkin’s [transgender] mandate targets vulnerable children, and it’s downright shameful to think that an elected leader would punch down at kids to score political points. This mandate rolls back the rights of kids to be themselves in schools.” The Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, John Reid said  that transgender students were “delusional,” “trans ideology is not normal,” and “... for us to engage and indulge sexual delusion, and that’s what this is. ... No one is changing their sex by declaring themselves to be something other than they are.”  The Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor Senator Ghazala Hashmi criticized her Republican colleagues for discriminating against transgender students and  said  “Far too often, society’s message to transgender children and youth is that they don’t belong and that they should not be seen for who they are… We need to focus on funding our schools, providing mental health services, supporting our teachers and ensuring safe learning environments. It’s time to stop these culture wars that target trans kids.”“ Jason Miyares , who is running for reelection as Attorney General, stated in an amicus brief  against the five Northern Virginia school districts this summer, "The policies in Fairfax and Arlington allowing students to use restrooms and locker rooms based on subjective gender identity instead of biological sex are unlawful, unsafe, and indefensible.” Vanessa Hall noted that Miyares consistently supports federal overreach by the US ED and violations of student civil rights. The democratic challenger for Attorney General, Jay Jones ,   replied when asked about his opinion on trans policies in public schools “ I believe these are decisions that should be decided locally, and that neither politicians in Richmond nor Washington should be telling local communities and parents what to do.” Impacts on transgender students  The Fairfax County Public School System and other school systems that refuse to adopt the transgender policies of Youngkin and Trump, believe their policies are protected  by the Fourth Circuit decision on Gavin v. Gloucester County School Board. Until the courts rule differently, these schools intend to provide the rights and protections for transgender students as outlined in that decision.  Nevertheless Trump’s Executive Order Imposing Restrictions on Transgender Students in K-12 Schools has led to his withholding federal funds from schools that are in what he calls “non-compliance”. His mandated policy and withholding of funds can have major impacts  on the approximately 300,000 trans students in our schools. These impacts include: a general impact on the health and well-being of transgender students and negative physical and mental outcomes of the students associated with schools that do not recognize student’s gender identity. These outcomes are specifically associated with restrictions on access to bathrooms and other gender segregated facilities. In addition any forced outing of trans students to their families can result in abuse, rejection, homelessness drug addiction, declining mental health and suicide.

Executive Orders Harming Public Education If you’ve been hiding under a rock (or your bed), you may have missed the news of the myriad of Executive Orders (EOs) coming out of the White House in President Trump’s first couple of weeks in office. Trump has signed more EOs in his first 10 days  than any President in their first 100 days.  These EOs are Project 2025 incarnate , each worse than the one before it: pardoning violent criminals, removing critical environmental protections, initiating a hiring freeze affecting all levels of government including health care for veterans, and so much more.  Primarily, states and local governments control curricula, classrooms, and operations; however, sweeping orders intended to make broad social agenda changes will impact public education, including aggressive anti-immigrant actions, redefining gender, targeting civil rights protections, and sweeping broader social agenda changes.  Before you close the browser and hide under your bed again because “it is all just too much ,” check out alternative analyses of some the Trump EOs here: The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng covers the first EOs in 30 seconds here . Seth Meyers covers the grant freeze EO, which was quickly rescinded here . The Daily Show’s John Stewart covers the impact of the DEI EO here . The Daily Show’s Joshua Johnson recaps the first week of EOs here . If you are still here and not under your bed, you can read a rundown of the EOs that will negatively impact on students, public schools, and families at the end of this blog. But before you do, please consider the current effort by Trump to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education  (Dept of Ed) which has both a: 1) financial role distributing billions to colleges and K-12 schools; and 2) regulatory role including providing services to disabled, lower income, and homeless children. Interrupting these roles will have devastating effects for families, students, and school districts across the country. Additionally, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) points out that the three EOs  targeting DEI are attempting to turn back the clock on civil rights and upend “longstanding, bipartisan federal policy meant to open doors that had been unfairly closed. In his first few days, President Donald Trump is undertaking a deliberate effort to obfuscate and weaponize civil rights laws that address discrimination and ensure everyone has a fair chance to compete, whether it’s for a job, a promotion, or an education.” Specifically, via these three EOs, Trump is “aiming to chill  efforts to promote equal access in education.” A number of the EOs threaten civil rights of the transgender community  including access to healthcare, sports, bathrooms, military service, and the right to exist.  As a result, multiple groups are suing the Trump administration for their attacks on these civil rights, including: Families and PFLAG, supported by Lamda Legal   and the ACLU , have filed a complaint  against Trump’s order to end all federal funding or support for healthcare for children under the age of 19. Trump’s order resulted in healthcare facilities across the country ending critical healthcare and support for transgender children and their families. Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign  who are suing to ensure that brave men and women are not banned from military service. Of course, threats to public education come from multiple EOs as evidenced by the January 29th memo to freeze thousands of public programs and grants, including Title 1 funding, meals on wheels, and homelessness programs. Pressure from advocates, congress people, and 22 Attorneys General ensured a temporary restraining order  was put in place. So these school community grants are safe…for now. Obviously, this is devastating news; however, dozens of lawsuits  have already been filed to combat the federal overreach and possible illegal actions by the Trump administration. Some of these have already resulted in temporary restraining orders. Nevertheless, keep vigilant, take care of yourself and your loved ones, keep on doing the work , and demand accountability  from this administration and your elected officials, in particular U.S. Senators  and Representatives  who are responsible to hold the Executive Branch in check. If you care about public schools, teachers, and students, pick something you are passionate about and advocate for it. Find groups that are like-minded and join them. Give funds to group suing for funding, civil rights, and freedom that is being taken away by these EOs. RESIST. Trump EOs that Will Affect Public Schools The President also rescinded close to 80 executive orders of preceding Presidents, including those that protect  LGBTQIA people, offer asylum to refugees, efforts to reunite migrant families, and more. Education Week examines  Trump’s first week of education-related EOs, but here are links an further information about education-related EOs to date:  Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government  – This EO redefined “men” and “women” to a restrictive conception-based, non-scientific, incorrect, and likely illegal definition that effectively defined all Americans as women . In addition, Trump removed transgender protections, rights, and government publications. Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing  – Ends all federal government programs related to diversity, equity, inclusion, (DEI) and accessibility, and terminates federal positions related to DEI. Immediately, accessibility on many federal websites was disabled. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) removed guidance and training documents and canceled DEI training. The Army removed sexual assault guidelines , but reinstated them after outcry; however, this action begs the question of how will sexual assault and harassment be treated in public schools. Additionally, the EO as it intends to “encourage”  ending DEI in private business and elsewhere. See Anjy Cramer’s blog on how DEI is civil rights . Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling  – This EO seeks to push federal policies on states and school districts as to what can be taught, where kids can go to the bathroom, and the level of patriotism in teachers’ civics lessons. It is unknown how this will affect public schools, particularly since typically states and localities have the authority over curricula and school policies. Nevertheless, it is chilling and threatening  using words such as “indoctrination,” “radical,” and “anti-American.” Additionally, some far right groups like America First Legal are targeting Virginia school districts with lawfare  by demanding federal investigations of Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William school districts. Establishing And Implementing The President’s “Department Of Government Efficiency  (DOGE) – This unleashed DOGE on the federal government where Elon Musk’s agents  have gained access to sensitive (e.g., private, financial, or protected) data in multiple agencies and are attempting to dismantle multiple federal agencies. The impact of this likely illegal effort  will be felt in every sphere of American life.  Expanding Educational Freedom And Opportunity For Families  – Prioritizes school choice in the ED via discretionary grants, which will pull more taxpayer money from public schools. Protecting The American People Against Invasion  – This is the primary mass deportation EO which is wreaking havoc in communities across the U.S. It permits Immigration, and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct arrests in schools, churches, hospitals, and courthouses–all places that used to be sacrosanct, but now are targets of deportation terror and chaos. This is one of several EOs  targeting immigrants, refugees, and schools. See 4 Public Education’s blogs on how departion cruelly affects public school communities  and Fairfax County Public Schools response to deportation . Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation  – This EO specifically targets transgender children’s healthcare. The ACLU identifies that the EO “directs federal agencies to withhold funds from medical providers and institutions that offer gender-affirming medical treatments such as puberty suppressants and hormone therapies to anyone under 19, threatening to shut down access to essential health care that is already out of reach for many.” Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within The Federal Workforce  – This is an effort to convert federal civil servants, most of whom are experts in their field and serve the American people, to political appointees loyal to the Trump Administration. Thus, merit ends in the federal government.

Speech given to Arlington Public Schools (APS) School Board Meeting Public Comment Period, Thursday, August 21, 2025 (51:41). Note: it has been edited for clarity. In the 1950s, APS found itself mired in a constitutional crisis. They had to navigate divergent Federal ( Brown v Board of Education ) and State Laws (Virginia's " Massive Resistance ") regarding segregation in schools. In Virginia, any division that enacted school desegregation would lose local control of their education system; their public schools defunded and officially closed (1). Vouchers  would then be given to attend private schools. With the backdrop of McCarthyism  and a rising segregationist movement, those who spoke out were harassed via phone (2), mail (3), and the occasional cross burning in their yards . According to oral histories from the 1980s, in the 1950s school board members faced recrimination, accused of being Communists, and one almost lost his Federal Government day job due to these accusations. Outside actors regularly disrupted school meetings (4). Some board members brought in the culture wars. Helen Lane   loved pulling books off of APS shelves . Ms. Lane even forced the board to vote on eliminating the school lunch program (5) from the budget. Robert Peck, dismayed at APS' sex ed program (6), bypassed the school board and took the matter to the state. The Sex Ed program, developed by experts, vetted through a citizen's advisory committee and approved by the Board... was gutted and suspended.  The Arlington County School Board did eventually approve a very gradual desegregation plan (7). The Virginia legislature almost immediately voted to disband their elected public school board  (a right that no one got back until 1993 ).  But let's be clear: despite Lane and Peck, APS didn't desegregate due to benevolence. They did it due to bond obligations (8) and building capacity concerns (9). Black parents' advocacy (and lawsuits ) brought us to 1959. Despite some people in the room, APS is on the right side of history today. Stay here. A social studies teacher in another state sent me this quote today: "You don't have the right to feel safe–you have a right to BE safe, which is not the same. Fascism is obsessed with perceived danger coming from every vulnerable/marginalized population and its only answer is to eradicate them. If you feel unsafe when you are not, you should ask why."  They/Them Might Be Giants   The last time I stood at this podium, I said I would stand behind you until it was necessary to stand in front. I stand by my words. Leave them kids alone! References: Thank you to John Stanton and Heather Crocetto for assistance in locating the source documents linked herein. See links below to view the sources. 1955 Fact Sheet for Voters Supporting Segregation 1956 Media Coverage of Harassment of NAACP Lawsuit Plaintiffs 1958 Threatening Letter from Irene Compton Comparing Desegregation to Communism 1957 Article Segregationists Disrupt School-Based Meeting 1957 APS Public Input demanding Elimination of Public School Lunches 1954 Newspaper Articles covering New Censorship Committee to Review Library Books 1956 APS Desegregation Policy, Including Caveats for Parents who Object to Desegregation 1956 Coverage of APS School Board Member, James Stockard, Statement on Desegregation and Bond Obligations 1961 Article Covering James Stockard’s Efforts to Integrate APS All of the Arlington County Library's Oral History Programs used in this speech can be found at the Charlie Clark Center for Local History, Central Library, including the following that were used to develop this public input: Oral History transcript, James Stockard, April 23, 1984, pg 28-30. Oral History transcript, Bernard Joy, December 6, 1983, pg 29-30 Oral History transcript, James Stockard, April 23, 1984, pg 15-16. Oral History transcript, Elizabeth Campbell, September 3, 1984, pg 28-29. Oral History, Robert Peck, September 3, 1984, pg 29-31.

If you Google “Fairfax County School Board Meeting’ and select “Images”, you will find the FCPS School Board seal along with professional images of School Board members at the dais. You will also find no shortage of images like these: Angry parents. Screaming parents. Obscene parents. Headlines across the country decry the behavior at school board meetings, including this opinion piece , “When parents scream at school board meetings, how can I teach their children?” by New York State Teacher of the Year. Who are these parents that have claimed the podium, microphones and sidewalks? We are not these parents. They are not the voice of all parents . Hate sells headlines, so media follows and these sensational but misleading images fill up those Google search results. Respect, civility, truth, even common decency have left the building. Intimidation rules the day. What can be done? 4 Public Education was born from this cry. We can reclaim the podium with meaningful conversations that can challenge and question while honoring differences and ensuring equity. We can show up with truth and not get shouted down. We can engage parents who champion public education as the core of democracy. We can uphold free speech. We can replace fables with fact. We can combat fear and chaos with information and empowerment. To do this, we will stand together. We start by uniting, empowering with information and engaging. We show up at the podium, in the room, on the sidewalks, at the bus stop, in living rooms and in all our digital communities. Every call to action- from postcard writing to calling an elected official is another brick in the foundation in the path to restoring civility and decency. We will listen, we will speak up, we will welcome voices and engage in thoughtful, fact filled discourse to work for an inclusive, safe, uncensored, and welcoming environment. Our result? A sustainable and fully supported 21st century system of education that cultivates thriving individuals and communities in our society. Democracy demands nothing less. That’s what parents want. Unite with us to take action. Together we will champion public schools: Sign up for Connecting 4PE Champions emails Sign our first petition Facebook Twitter

Please Note: This is an opinion piece. It is not filled with links to authoritative studies, or data analysis.  I’m simply going to tell you what I know, from many years of designing curriculum, teaching students, teaching teachers, and studying tests and test scores our entire system has become dependent on. We are not measuring what: Initiates student engagement  Promotes long-term, sustained engagement Critical thinking and action tools are necessary to problem solving Leads to task completion Makes enthusiastic and accomplished learners All of these are much needed understandings for both our most and least effective learners and for those who educate them. We are not measuring: How to expand perspective.  How to identify key prerequisites to understanding (e.g., what comes before and between memorization and automatic implementation). Which areas and kinds of understanding are most important to this historic time period, this environment which is so different in speed and variation from the past. We learn nothing about these critical components of learning no matter how many tests are purchased, the vast resources spent on tracking the tests, or how many measures are developed from them to quantify school effectiveness. Current testing calendars in almost all states also do not tell us whether students are even making progress within the test parameters because the tests are not well matched from beginning to end of year and from year to year for relevant, actionable use.  For at least 26 years our policy makers have insisted we continue to spend increasingly more time and more money on a single type of data collection: multiple choice standardized tests. Not only do we have numerical evidence for the monetary cost, but anecdotally we know testing now takes roughly one fifth of a school’s instructional year.  During the remaining instructional time, students learn for the test, not for life.  According to eVA, Virginia’s procurement system, this year Virginia spent $217 million of taxpayer money with NCSPearson. Pearson is a testing company that provides SOL tests and various other tests and testing materials. According to Brookings, other states spend similar amounts on other tests like the PARCC, SBAC, and MCAS to the tune of $1.7 billion a year nationwide. The College Board (the PSAT, SAT and AP testing service) makes over $1 billion a year. None of the policies or regulations and none of the tests have significantly moved the needle on learning.   Not No Child Left Behind Not Common Core and Standards based Learning Not the NAEP Not State Exams Not ESEA accountability reporting Not the College Board tests None of these have told us what we need to know to help our kids learn and thrive.  None of them have given reasonable predictability of positive long-term outcomes for our children. Yet, our experts scramble and develop new formulas, new cut-scores, new technology tools, new standards, and new accountability regulations–year after year wasting yet more time on the databases that do no more than prove the ineffectiveness of our measuring systems. It is time we reframed why, what, and how we are measuring, and the answers to those questions must come from the classroom, not from the board room. Finally, do we even know how to assess whether we can teach our children how to live healthy, happy, knowledgeable, well adjusted lives?  Nobody in the Edusphere is asking.

Community members gathered in person and online to hear from Indivisible Co Founder and Executive Director Ezra Levin, on Friday, January 10th. The event, titled " Celebrating Community in Uncertain Times ", was co-hosted by Fairfax Indivisible and 4 Public Education. Watch the full program here: Click image to open video link Fairfax Indivisible Lead and 4 Public Education Board Member Marianne Burke introduced Ezra and invited attendees to meet fellow activists and members of grassroots groups after the presentation. Thank you for watching! Find an Indivisible group here . In person attendees with Ezra Levin