Category: Attendance
-
Fairfax Schools Crack Down on Absences — Except When Suspending Politically Inconvenient Students
by Stephanie Lundquist-AroraRepublished with permission from IWFeatures There rightfully has been a lot of attention paid to radical Virginia Democrats’ day-one blitz as soon as they took back control of the state’s governorship this year. But those of us who live in the deep blue havens that control Virginia politics know that, for our part of…
-
Virginia’s New K-12 School Report Cards
by Todd Truitt In December 2025, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) issued new school report cards for the 2024-25 school year under the new school accountability system. The school report cards provide an overview of schools’ performance under the new system, as well as summarize such results into 1 of 4 summative ratings: Distinguished;…
-
Governor’s Chronic Absenteeism Task Force – Part Three – Vital New State Roles
By James C. Sherlock I have found in 18 years of reporting on education in the Commonwealth that each school, each school division and each region is to some degree its own ecosystem. Taking the example of chronic absenteeism, an individualized assessment of causes could be attempted: if a single school‘s chronic absenteeism can be…
-
Governor’s Chronic Absenteeism Task Force – Part Two – Restructure for Balanced Debates
By James C. Sherlock I have watched the public sessions of the Governor’s Chronic Absenteeism Task Force. The structure of the task force, and its proceedings, have been fatally flawed. That panel has been dominated by the progressive worldviews of Attendance Works and FutureEd. I offer as evidence the “resources” for the first meeting on…
-
The Governor’s Chronic Absenteeism Task Force – Part One – Failed Advice
by James C. Sherlock Governor Youngkin, in response to the real crisis in our schools, has established a Chronic Absenteeism Task Force led by the Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction. The Task Force is supported by the non-profit Attendance Works. Attendance Works so dominates VDOE’s Attendance & School Engagement page that it can be deemed…
-
Charlottesville, Its Public Schools and UVa – Part Four – Chronic Absenteeism, Social Promotion, VTSS and UVa’s Ed School
by James C. Sherlock There is a rule: nothing else schools do will matter much for kids who are chronically absent. In Charlottesville, it is the Black children who dominate the chronic absenteeism statistics. Their SOL performance validates the rule. The process for preventing and dealing with chronic absenteeism within the school system is so…
-
Charlottesville, Its Public Schools and UVa – Part Three – CCS Abandons Truancy Filings, Absenteeism Soars
by James C. Sherlock The effects of public policies can be murky. Not this one. The subject in this Part 3 is alarming chronic absenteeism of Charlottesville City Schools (CCS). At issue is the virtual abandonment by that division of the use truancy filings with the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, removing parental consequences. …
-
Charlottesville, Its Public Schools and UVa – Part Two – Black Students
by James C. Sherlock What drew me to this story is the fact that Black students in Charlottesville City Schools (CCS) have suffered to a degree unequaled elsewhere in the Commonwealth. Keeping in mind the domination of Charlottesville and its schools by the University of Virginia and its School of Education and Human Development discussed…
-
Charlottesville, Its Public Schools and UVa – Part One – Bad things Happen
by James C. Sherlock In the relationship between Charlottesville and the University of Virginia, very bad things have happened to Charlottesville and continue to do so. I have developed a working thesis on that relationship. The city is at the mercy of the University by virtue of the latter’s wealth, influence, and power in Charlottesville…
-
New Bad SOL Data Bring A New Youngkin Administration Plan for Mitigating Learning Losses in Virginia Public Schools
by James C. Sherlock The Governor announced today that he and the General Assembly came together on a bipartisan basis to invest $418 million to tackle student learning loss. The Virginia Department of Education recommends school divisions allocate the $418 million “to proven programs that will achieve the greatest student impact—approximately 70% for high-dose tutoring,…
-
Virginia Redefines Student Progress in Grades 3-8 for Distributing Federal School Improvement Funds
by James C. Sherlock The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) on June 16th notified the federal Department of Education (USDOE) of its updated State Plan. Such updates are required annually to allow the states to receive federal school improvement funds appropriated for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as updated by the Every Student Succeeds…
-
SCHEV on the Community College Guaranteed Admission and Credits Programs
by James C. Sherlock I received a note from Peter Blake, director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), in reference to my column on that program in early July. He thanked, as do I, readers for their interest and supportive comments. We agree with you that (Community College Guaranteed Admissions and…
-
Virginia’s New School Chief: Raise Standards, Fill Teacher Vacancies
by James A. Bacon Dr. Lisa Coons, Virginia’s new superintendent for public instruction, has been on the job for only two weeks, but she has clear priorities for reversing the slide in educational achievement in Virginia’s public schools: raise standards, get chronically absentee kids back into the classroom, and address teacher shortages. Recruited from her…
-
Virginia’s Best-Attended School Divisions 2021-22 – It’s Not About Money
by James C. Sherlock We often, because it is important, concentrate on what is not working in Virginia’s state and local governments. Occasionally it is equally important to congratulate the winners. In this report I will list Virginia’s best-attended school divisions in 2021-21, both by all students and by sub-groups. You will be surprised by some…