New “Equity” Plan Would Scrap Advanced Diplomas
Tyler Arnold | The Center Square
4/29/2021
Republicans have criticized the Virginia Department of Education for considering a plan to end advanced high school diplomas because of the lack of racial equity in students receiving the higher tiered diploma.
Current policy allows a Virginia student to earn an advanced degree by earning 26 standard units of credit and five verified units of credit. Standard credits are earned by completing required and elective courses. Verified credits are earned by completing required courses and passing end-of-course Standards of Learning tests or other Board-approved assessments.
The state has three classifications for diplomas: an advanced diploma, a standard diploma and an applied diploma. The advanced diploma has the toughest requirements, followed by standard and then applied. Receiving a higher tier diploma gives students an edge over lower tiered diplomas when applying to colleges because it demonstrates a higher level of competency in the subjects.
However the Virginia Department of Education is considering a plan to consolidate the standard and the advanced diplomas, but leave the applied diplomas the same. The motivation for this potential change is because of racial disparity among those who earn those degrees: Asian and white students earn these diplomas at much higher rates than Hispanic and black students.
“This is about connecting some of our previous discussions and really finding [opportunities] that exist at our key point of intersection, …which is how and where graduation requirements can operate as a lever for equity,” Leslie Sale, the director of the policy at the Virginia Education Department, said in the Special Committee to Review the Standards of Accreditation.
“So, first, we’re going to start with one of our conceptual discussions, which is the possibility of consolidating the standard and advanced studies diploma,” Sale said. “And hopefully this discussion will allow us to think through how we maintain a rigorous academic foundation in a way that’s really equitably serving the needs and aspirations of all of Virginia learners.”
If the two diplomas were consolidated, Sale said students would complete more generalized courses in their first two years and then focused on more specified classes. The proposal has received opposition from some Republicans, who argue that this would simply lower the commonwealth’s education standards, rather than boost equality.
“Virginians have had enough of the insatiable agenda to eliminate opportunities for students to excel in the quest to achieve mediocrity for all,” House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, said in a statement. “Equity appears more and more to mean that everyone needs to be equally ill-prepared, rather than have the equality of opportunity for which we should all strive as a society. Lowering standards and expectations is never the right choice when it comes to our children’s future. Lowering the bar isn’t equity, it’s failure.”
The idea is still in its early stages and has not been voted on by the board or within a committee. There is also no timetable for a vote at this time.
Tyler Arnold reports on Virginia and West Virginia for The Center Square.
Virginia to drop advanced math courses before 11th grade, citing ‘equity’
By Mica Soellner
4/23/2021
The Virginia Department of Education is seeking to eliminate its accelerated math programs below 11th grade, citing “equity” as one of the catalysts for its changes to the mathematics curriculum.
The change was presented in a Monday meeting and brought forth by Loudoun County School Board member Ian Serotkin.
“As currently planned, this initiative will eliminate ALL math acceleration prior to 11th grade,” Serotkin wrote Tuesday on Facebook. “That is not an exaggeration, nor does there appear to be any discretion in how local districts implement this.”
As it stands now, Charles Pyle, a spokesman for VDOE, said: “We have students who take Algebra I in middle school and then move through Geometry, Algebra II, and advanced math courses in high school.”
Staff on the Virginia Mathematics Pathway Initiative listed equity in math education as one of the reasons they are initiating changes.
“Many children can and are finding success in the structures that exist in our schools. However, we must consider changes to support improving the learning opportunities for all students,” said Jennifer Allard, a high school mathematics specialist at Fairfax County Public Schools. “Many of our students do not have access to the mathematics that they will need either in their personal or professional adult lives. The issue of inequity in mathematics education makes it essential for us to initiate serious discussions among a variety of stakeholders to achieve the critical mass necessary to catalyze change in school mathematics.”
Pyle said the new initiatives would take place during the 2025-2026 school year, after the next revision of mathematics standards of learning by the state Board of Education.
“The initiative as currently proposed allows for student acceleration before the 11th grade and for the traditional sequence of courses leading to calculus and other advanced courses,” Pyle told the Washington Examiner. “The content of Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II would not be eliminated by VMPI. Rather, the content of these courses would be blended into a seamless progression of connected learning. This would encourage students to connect mathematical concepts and develop a deeper understanding of each concept within its context and relevance. And again, students would still be able to accelerate through the content based on their ability and achievement.”
A Loudoun parent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Fox News, said they worried the changes would “lower standards for all students in the name of equity.”
“These changes will have a profound impact on students who excel in STEM-related curriculum, weakening our country’s ability to compete in a global marketplace for years to come,” the parent said.
Serotkin said he plans to request more information about the plan and discuss the matter with board and community members.
Source: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/virginia-drop-advanced-math-courses-before-11th-grade-equity
COMMUNITYEDUCATIONFORUMSNEWSPOLITICS
Fairfax County Is Running Empty School Buses
By KYLE SMITH
9/13/2020
A worker takes a break while cleaning up a basketball court at Glasgow Middle School, a Fairfax County Public School, during deadline day for families and teachers countywide to decide between teaching/learning from home or in the classroom due to the coronavirus, in Falls Church, Va., July 15, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
This is like something out of some kind of Soviet central-planning misadventure: Fairfax County, Va., wants to keep paying its school-bus drivers even though its schools are operating online. The solution? Send the drivers out to drive anyway. Not only the drivers, but the attendants on the buses, will be required to go on these ghost trips. “All drivers and attendant[s] will be required to run their routes twice a week to sharpen your driving skills,” reads an email Wednesday, obtained by the Washington Post. “If you are unable to perform this task . . . you must put in for leave.”
So school buses will be adding to traffic, pollution, and carbon emissions, all in the name of avoiding cutbacks in public spending that are of dire importance when tax revenues have wilted. What happens if one of these buses crashes on one of its phantom routes? What happens if people are killed or injured for no reason? I suppose the county will simply pay the resulting legal damages, again out of the public purse.
Food-service workers in schools are also not needed as long as the online-only schooling model continues. So what has happened to them? Zero layoffs. Not even any furloughs. Everybody is still getting their regular paycheck. In August, Fairfax superintendent Scott Brarand boasted in a message to staff that no drivers or food-service employees would be furloughed for the entire 2020–21 school year. Taxpayers will just have to go along with the idea that the purpose of their “public servants” is to keep serving themselves.
The way states, municipalities, and other public authorities are putting off the day of tightening up their budgets is a marvel. It seems as though every government agency in America is simply waiting for a free-spending Democratic administration to sweep in and bail them out. Is anybody seizing the opportunity to reduce future structural costs? Not that I can see.
Source: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/fairfax-county-is-running-empty-school-buses/
