Bacon's Rebellion

  • Standards of Learning, Educational Reform and the Blob

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Courtesy clipartix.com

    Readers opine that I am throwing ideas into institutional quicksand when advocating for education reforms. But I hope not.

    For example, in my most recent series I have suggested that Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) process needs fundamental reform with the integration of learning and teaching standards.

    Critics have written with varying levels of insistence that teachers do not like being told how to teach. That horse has been out of the barn for a very long time.

    That is perhaps one reason why so many of them are leaving.

    The system of which they are part does little else but tell them:

    • what to teach;
    • how to teach;
    • what they can and cannot say about what they teach; and
    • even how to feel about all of that.

    And God help parents or teachers that disapprove.

    VDOE claims, in the case of its new math SOL, to take input from:

    parents, teachers, the business community, school administrators, representatives from higher education and state mathematics education organizations.

    That is boilerplate.

    Does anybody know a parent or a business that made an input? Or whose input was accepted? The NEA itself complains that teachers have little voice.

    Education is a closed government-industry system that literally cannot imagine being better than it is. The words “closed” and “government” in that context are redundant.

    To understand how it is so closed we need to examine it. (more…)

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    James A. Bacon

  • How Unbiased Is UVa’s Religious-Diversity Task Force?

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    James A. Bacon

    Read the whole letter.

    by James A. Bacon

    The University of Virginia task forced assigned the job of ensuring that UVa is “welcoming” to all religions includes two faculty members who signed an open letter criticizing UVa President Jim Ryan for failing after the October 7 terrorist rampage afflicted upon Israel to acknowledge the suffering of the Palestinian people.

    Ryan denounced Hamas terrorism but declined to take sides in the ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Jews. The task force’s aim, according to the announcement in UVa Today, “will be to understand how Jewish and Muslim students, faculty and staff, as well as those of other religious backgrounds, experience life on Grounds.”

    “We want every student, faculty member and staff member to understand that they are a vital part of this place and how profoundly they enrich our common life as we take on that fundamental work of the University,” Ryan said.

    The task force is headed by College of Arts & Sciences Dean Christa Acampora. She will be supported by 10 faculty, staff, students, and other members of the UVa community. Christians, Muslims and Jews are all represented. A challenge will be keeping the focus on how Jewish and Muslim students are experiencing UVa without getting infected by the emotional debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that gave rise to the task force. (more…)

  • The Institute of Educational Sciences and its Missing Role in Virginia Standards of Learning

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    sherlockj

    By James C. Sherlock

    In investigative reporting on education in Virginia, I regularly refer to the federal Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences (IES) and its What Works Clearinghouse (WWC).

    The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA; amended in 2004) Part A established the Institute of Education Sciences.

    Section 111 establishes IES as a research institute within ED.

    The mission of IES is to provide national leadership in expanding fundamental knowledge and understanding of education from early childhood through postsecondary study, in order to provide parents, educators, students, researchers, policymakers, and the general public with reliable information.

    This information is to address (1) the condition and progress of education, (2) practices that improve academic achievement, and (3) the effectiveness of federal education and other education programs.

    IES must carry out its mission by compiling statistics, conducting research and evaluations, and disseminating information in a manner that conforms to high standards of quality and objectivity.

    The IES was established under the oversight of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to sort out the claims of sponsors of various educational interventions.  

    Professors and their PhD or EdD candidates in schools of education have tended to examine their own theories with studies as they can find grant money.  

    Those studies earned a very bad reputation for lack of scientific testing and proven efficacy.  Sometimes because the sponsor did not have enough money to do it right.  

    But they are published anyway.  It’s a free country.

    People with an agenda can and do cherry-pick evidence for articles and presentations supporting their favored policies.  They then tour education symposia.

    That was the problem that IES was created to solve.

    The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has long ignored the proven solutions IES has offered.  

    They often choose instead among educational intervention prescriptions favored by those schools of education and the less stringent standards bodies that support them.  And they document it.

    Doing so bucks the standards under which Virginia receives federal education funds.

    It is a mistake even if there were no dollars at risk.

    (more…)

  • Virginia’s a Frequent Battleground in the Expanding Culture War

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    Bob Rayner

    by Nelson Fegley

    To discuss this subject properly we first need to define the phrase “Culture War.” With the help of Wikipedia, it may be described as “a cultural conflict between different social groups to impose their own virtues, beliefs and practices over society. Culture wars often delve around wedge issues, often based on values, morality and lifestyle.” Other terms often used in discussing these values include: diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and in the corporate world: environmental, social, and governance (ESG). The social part of ESG is often taken to mean involvement of DEI. 

    Why is it important to consider this issue? The phrase “Culture Wars” was coined by James Davison Hunter, a prominent educator at the University of Virginia. In his book on this subject he describes a battle for control of American culture and social institutions pitting conservative religious groups against opposing politically progressive counterparts. The progressive movement has adopted far left concepts of identity politics which are changing our society in ways that are anathema to conservatives who are concerned about the future of our democracy. The conflict in values and practices between these two groups will be major issues in the 2024 presidential election. More about this below.

    Virginia has significant constituencies on both sides of this polarized political spectrum. Progressives are dominant in the highly populated northern counties. Critical Race Theory (systemic racism) became the recent hot button issue when parents discovered its use in the Loudoun County schools and confronted the school board. The issue received national exposure when the FBI was reportedly directed to monitor the parents’ activities. CRT is typically embedded in the normal activity of class instruction, and therefore difficult to recognize. In this regard, the Loudoun parents were exceptional. The publicity accorded this case alerted the residents of the state and likely contributed to Glenn Youngkin’s winning the gubernatorial election. While the citizens in Virginia’s northern suburbs tend to support progressive issues, much of the rural parts of the state tend to be politically more conservative. When my wife and I moved to Bumpass from New Hampshire in 2020, the many signs on front lawns and on the shores of Lake Anna clearly showed strong support for Trump (2020 election) and disdain for Biden. (more…)

  • Another Murderer Released On Parole!

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Elbert Smith, second from right, and family.

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    The Parole Board just released a convicted murderer. Yes, this Parole Board. The one that Glenn Youngkin appointed to crack down on the release of all those violent criminals. And not a peep out of Kerry Dougherty or Hans Bader, who ordinarily go on a rant when a convicted murderer is released on parole.

    The circumstances surrounding this offender, Elbert Smith, certainly justified his release on parole. He did not fire the fatal shots that resulted in a man’s death. The man who did fire the shots accepted a plea deal — voluntary manslaughter and a sentence of five years. Smith, acting on the advice of his court-appointed attorney, refused the deal. A jury convicted him of second- degree murder and imposed a sentence of 44 years. Convicted in 1996, he had served 27 years in prison. During that time, he had had only one serious infraction. During the last ten years, his record had been clean. The warden in the prison in which he was being held did not recognize his name when asked about him. (more…)

  • At Last, Something Bold from Youngkin

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Governor Glenn Youngkin has always fought for lower taxes, but his proposals — one-time rebates, tinkering with tax schedules — never captured the imagination. Speaking before the House and Senate Finance Committees today, he rolled out two initiatives that you don’t need a tax preparer to understand.

    Proposal #1: a 12% cut to state income taxes across all brackets;
    Proposal #2: eliminate the car tax.

    To offset the cuts, according to the Virginian-Pilot, Youngkin would close the “big tech tax loophole” on digital goods and include those products as part of the sales and use tax base.

    Chronic Amazon.com shoppers may take umbrage to that last idea — heck, I guess I’ll have to start paying sales tax on all my audiobook downloads — but it’s hard to argue that shoppers patronizing bricks-and-mortar merchants in Virginia should pay a sales tax while those purchasing digital goods online shouldn’t. It’ll be tough getting anything through the Democratic-dominated General Assembly, but this time Youngkin has a big advantage: Virginians can immediately see what’s in it for them.

  • Keep Carytown Safe for Cars

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    Bob Rayner

    by Jon Baliles

    The debate about making Richmond’s Carytown a car-free zone is edging closer to the forefront in recent months with strong opinions, interesting suggestions, some good ideas, and some bad ones.

    The Times-Dispatch Editorial Board weighed in with its opinion, and it was vocal. It’s worth the entire read and filled with stats you probably never heard of, such as that of the 250 or so pedestrian malls created in the U.S. since the 1960’s, only about 10 remain. The piece is filled with great information and two quotes worth noting:

    Making Richmond a walkable paradise is certainly a worthy goal. But turning Carytown into a pedestrian mall, and undercutting the businesses that have made it into a regional shopping destination — is not.

    The editorial points out that making Carytown car-free could lead many shoppers (who come from near and far) to go elsewhere, and worries that the owners of the unique mix of shops and merchants could be driven out of business, which is also a way of making it a car-free zone. It also points out that many in Carytown are open to new ideas, and certainly to making it safer, but skeptical of closing it to cars. (more…)

  • A Proposal for a Broad Trial of Single Sex and Co-ed Virginia Classrooms on the Woodbridge Middle School Model

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    This is an expanded version of an article originally published on Dec. 16 of this year.  To avoid confusion, the original has been removed.

    This update contains important information about the multi-year experience of Woodbridge Middle School in Prince William County with the approaches recommended here for broader testing in Virginia.

    See the video below.

    It also contains Australian results.  

    Both are based on reader tips. A tip of the hat to Abigail Norfleet James, Ph.D. for the Woodbridge Middle tip and the commenter with the pen name Nancy for the Australian information.

    This is part 2 of a series on the learning deficits in boys relative to girls in Virginia public schools that are measured by the SOLs every year.

    Part one, Boys Left Behind Academically – Yet Another Crisis in Virginia Schools, defined a problem. This essay offers a potential solution.

    Everyone talks about school choice. Everyone wants better schools.

    But as a nation we have gone into our two corners relative to public policy.

    • Parents — and conservatives — want choice;
    • Teachers unions — and thus progressives — do not want the type of choice most commonly offered, which is generally something other than the neighborhood school;
    • By school choice, both sides generally mean choice external to the neighborhood school — magnet schools, charters, single-sex academies, etc. And that’s the rub.

    I offer here a suggestion for a wide and deep trial in Virginia of parental choice of single-sex classrooms internal to the neighborhood school. Such an experiment is not unprecedented.

    It has been in place for more than a dozen years in Woodbridge Middle School in Prince William County, as featured in the attached video. Watch it for the observations of the teachers and the kids.

    A similar program has been tried in New York City.

    The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) of the Institute for Educational Sciences (IES) within the U.S. Department of Education is the gold standard for finding scientific evidence of the efficacy of educational interventions.

    There is no indication that such a school format has been subjected to a trial that meets WWC standards.

    I think that, with well-documented and increasing problems of learning, attendance and behavior in many Virginia public schools, the time is right to create a broad, scientifically designed trial of parental choice for single-sex classrooms here.

    The goals are to observe, improve and report on single sex classroom:

    • learning by boys;
    • learning by girls;
    • behavior of boys;
    • the learning environment;
    • attendance, with improved parental valuation of schools that give them choices for their kids; and
    • school order and safety.

    (more…)

  • Fairfax School Board Chair Takes Oath of Office on Stack of Porn

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    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Ah, December. That marvelous holiday month, when Jews and Christians celebrate joyous holidays.

    Of course it’s also the season when those who loathe religion spring into action. This is their moment too.

    This year’s crop of religion haters is especially ugly.

    According to the New York Post, Harvard University officials — who have done almost nothing to protect Jewish students who were threatened and harassed by pro-Hamas radicals — told a rabbi that he could light a menorah on campus but warned him to take it down and hide it at night, lest those who hate Jews vandalize it.

    On our campus in the shadow of Widener Library, we in the Jewish community are instructed, ‘We’ll let you have the menorah, you made your point, OK. Pack it up, don’t leave it out overnight because there will be criminal activity we fear and it won’t look good’, Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi said at a Hanukkah lighting Wednesday night.

    Zarchi, the founder and president of Harvard Chabad, said the university has asked the group to take in the menorah each night since the first Hanukkah lighting on campus.

    And in the Iowa State House last week, The Satanic Temple erected an altar to Satan alongside a nativity and menorah, claiming they had a right under the First Amendment to slap their hideous Satan-worshiping abomination alongside the religious ones.

    As if THAT was what the Founders had in mind when they penned the founding documents that established  America’s principle of freedom of worship.

    A Navy vet and devout Christian beheaded the statue of Satan and knocked down the altar before turning himself in to authorities. The man has been charged with a misdemeanor criminal mischief.

    In Hanover County, a parent has objected to the Bible being in the school library because of the stories contained therein.

    You couldn’t make this garbage up.

    More madness in Fairfax County — where else? — where several school board members, including the chair, mocked those who take the oath of office with their hand on a Bible, Koran or other holy book by pledging their oaths on stacks of secular books or porn. The Washington Post points out that all 12 of the new board members elected in November are Democrats. Color me unsurprised. (more…)

  • Let’s Make a Deal

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Sen. Louis Lucas (D-Portsmouth)

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Gov. Glenn Youngkin earned his spurs (and his money) making deals in the private sector. He came into the governorship with no political experience. During his first two years in office, he showed little inclination to compromise or make deals. He bet big this fall on coming out of the November elections with Republican majorities in both houses of the General Assembly. He lost, big time.

    Now there is something that he wants; something that would be a feather in his cap: engineering the move of two major-league sports teams, the NBA Washington Wizards and the NHL Washington Caps, to Virginia.

    His major obstacle is a General Assembly controlled by Democrats, whom he spent all fall trying to defeat. To get what he wants, he is going to have to be willing to make deals. How good a deal maker will he be in the political realm?

    At least one legislator has signaled her willingness to deal. Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), the incoming chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee recently observed, “While some people want sports stadiums … I want tolls to disappear from Hampton Roads and I want recreational sale of marijuana. Guess we will have to find compromises this session.” Want to make a deal, Governor?

  • The Mailman Did It

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    Bob Rayner

    by Jon Baliles

    They say bad news comes in threes, and this week is no exception for news from the City of Richmond’s Finance Department. This week wasn’t just raining; it has been a monsoon when it comes to sloppy administrative work, penalties, interest, and deflecting blame.

    Madison McNamee with NBC12 filed a story last night that says a number of residents in the West End, all in the same area/street, never received their real estate tax bills and were fined with penalties and interest by the city for untimely payment. The residents on a street just off of Grove Avenue never got their bills and never knew about it until they were sent a hefty late fee with interest, and the residents were told it was the fault of the Postal Service.

    Resident Ken Davis is a former Deputy Attorney General who said he always pays his city taxes and has lived in the neighborhood for decades, but got hit with $800 in fees and fines, which he paid immediately. He said under Section 58.1 3916 of Virginia Code that “penalty and interest for failure to file a return or to pay a tax shall not be imposed if such failure was not the fault of the taxpayer.” (more…)

  • Subsidizing a Billionaire

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals; Gov. Youngkin on left. Photo credit: Virginia Business

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    If approved by the General Assembly and the City of Alexandria, the deal reached between Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the owner of the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals for those teams to move from Washington, D.C. to the Potomac Yards site in Alexandria would constitute the largest public subsidy for a sports team in the nation’s history.  That is the conclusion of a report by JP Morgan commissioned by the state, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.

    The total estimated cost of the project is $2.2 billion.  The owner of the sports teams, Monumental Sports and Entertainment would contribute $403 million up front.  The City of Alexandria would be on the hook for $106 million.

    The state would create a sports and entertainment authority which would own the land and the buildings and lease them to Monumental. The company would sign a 40-year lease with rent beginning at $29.5 million annually and increasing to $34.5 million.  In addition to the arena for the two sports teams, the project would include a concert hall, underground parking, a conference center, a Wizards practice center, and Monumental’s  corporate offices and media station. (more…)

  • Jeanine’s Memes

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    James A. Bacon

    From The Bull Elephant

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    James A. Bacon

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
For sale on Amazon.com

The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….

This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.

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Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.

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