RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Virginia education officials say new, more rigorous assessment tests drove down the number of schools meeting state standards.
The Virginia Department of Education says 77 percent of Virginia’s public schools are fully accredited after meeting state benchmarks. That’s down from 93 percent last year.
Officials say 1,413 of the state’s 1,828 schools met objectives on 2012-13 Standards of Learning tests and other assessments in English, mathematics, science and history – and, for high schools, graduation.
The number of schools accredited with warning nearly quadrupled to 395, and six schools have been denied state accreditation because of chronically low achievement.
Over the last two years, the state has implemented new math, English and science tests aimed at better preparing students for college or post-graduation employment.
Is it time for hysterics? Are Virginia schools going to hell in a hand basket? No. New tests have been implemented over the past two years. Make no mistake. It is all political.
Most of the states in the nation have signed on with Common Core Standards. Virginia did not (losing some education bucks for not doing so) but has tried to align the state curriculum to the national Common Core Standards. It’s all tinkering with existing curriculum and thus the criterion referenced tests of state objectives, better known as the SOL tests.
However, to the average reader, headlines like the ones above look like Virginia students have gone into an educational free-fall. Remember also, that students never have to assume responsibility for poor test scores. It’s always the school they go to and their teachers who must be sorry-assed.
Teachers, meanwhile, will be evaluated on how well their students perform on standardized tests. Does anyone else see a lose/lose situation developing? The General Assembly will come bumbling in and shriek hysterically about failing schools. The Governor will try to pull a state take-over of these schools and we can go on for a few more sessions about why Johnny Can’t Read. The GA will find yet a few more reasons not to fund higher teacher pay and will find even more reasons why THEY are the ones who are improving education.
What a crock!
