Tag: Todd Truitt
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Oops! VEA Owns Itself
by Todd Truitt In its lobbying efforts to try to kill the new school accountability system, the Virginia Education Association (the state-level “teachers union” organization, or VEA) has produced a report that strongly supports the new system. In what would be described as an “own goal” by soccer parents, the key findings from the VEA’s…
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Cut Scores and Lies of Omission
by Todd Truitt Virginia is in the process of raising the minimum cut scores for passing English and math Standards of Learning (SOL) exams — scores that the U.S. Department of Education (USED) declared in 2021 were the lowest in the nation. A USED official publicly testified in 2022 that Virginia’s cut scores were not…
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Virginia Education Press Needs Intensive Support
by Todd Truitt If you were expecting any humility after the Virginia education press ran with the false claim for months that 70%+ of Virginia schools would be in the bottom two of four summative categories (Off Track, Needs Intensive Support) of the new accountability system–-when it was actually in the 30s—think again. The Washington Post is…
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New Accountability System Supports Advanced Math Learners
by Todd Truitt Virginia’s new accountability system incentivizes schools to provide valuable middle-school math pathways, resulting in more opportunities for Virginia students, especially the most underprivileged. It will also counter the non-evidence-based, anti-acceleration ideology of certain discredited thought leaders in K-12 math education who have had a corrosive effect on Virginia K-12 math education. Why…
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NOVA School Districts Attack English Learner Civil Rights
by Todd Truitt The eight large Northern Virginia school board chairs have released a joint letter asking for a “delay of at least one year” on the new accountability system until a new governor is in office, claiming that a three-year development and implementation period is “rushed” (i.e., they may need five years or more).…
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NOVA Schools Seek to Delay Accountability
by Todd Truitt Northern Virginia school districts have settled on their latest attempt to avoid greater transparency: asking the Virginia legislature to “delay” the implementation of the new school accountability system by an additional year, claiming the new system’s 3-year development and implementation period is “rushed.” The effect of this request would be to push…
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When 70%+ Is Actually 37%
by Todd Truitt The claim that 70%+ of Virginia schools would be in the bottom two of four summative categories of the new accountability system has spread in the press and on social medial for almost two months. One activist group claimed it “makes schools all over Virginia ripe for takeover, reputational damage, and privatization”…
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The Misguided Controversy over English Language Learners
by Todd Truitt Many Virginia school administrators, public officials and activists have been up in arms about the fact that the new Virginia school accountability system will include the academic achievement scores of English Language Learners (ELs) after one year of entering school in the United States. One activist group called it a “radical expectation.”…
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Hey, What Happened to Times Tables?
by Todd Truitt Virginia’s new Mathematics Standards of Learning (SOL) includes a return to memorizing the times tables this school year, like 44 other states and the District of Columbia, following a 6-year absence on ideological grounds. The prior SOLs’ end goal for basic number facts was Virginia students using cognitively taxing computation strategies (e.g.,…
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Why Virginia Democrats Should Support the New School Accountability System
by Todd Truitt In 2021, Republican Glenn Youngkin was able to flip the education issue on Democrats to pull off a victory. In 2025, Democrats need to reclaim the education issue to flip the Governor’s mansion back. One way of doing that is by supporting the new statewide public school accountability system, which furthers core…
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San Francisco’s “Algebra for None” Policy and How Virginia Avoided a Similar Fate
by Todd Truitt On March 5, 84% of San Francisco voters voted in favor of a referendum for San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to bring back Algebra for 8th graders, overturning their prior ill-fated math reform (a “no middle schooler let ahead” math policy). What does this vote have to do with Virginia? The Virginia Department…