The results are out for the 16th edition of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Report Card on American Education. Virginia fares reasonably well on academic achievement — 12th best in the nation. (Just remember that 12th best in the United States isn’t very high compared to international norms.) And that’s the highlight. Alas, the Old Dominion earns no more than a C- for its reform efforts.
Among the very few pieces of good news, Virginia showed gains for low-income children in the federal National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test between 2003 and 2009. On the negative side, only 38% of all 4th graders met NAEP’s “proficiency” standards for reading.
ALEC’s grade for reform reflects the organization’s policy priorities: enacting higher academic and proficiency standards, promoting charter schools and school choice, not over-regulating home schooling, encouraging online earning, and devising policies for retaining good teachers and removing bad ones.
Why the low public policy score? Virginia’s academic standards rate a D+, there is very little school choice, and policies for improving the overall caliber of teachers is weak. About the best that could be said about educational reform in Virginia is that it rates a “c” for moderate levels of home school regulation and for retaining effective teachers.
See Virginia’s profile here. — JAB
