VDOE Regulation Officially Nonsensical

Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane

by James C. Sherlock

I am a reasonably experienced and educated man, but sometimes I need help.

I just read the Virginia regulation 8VAC20-23-190. Professional studies requirements for PreK-12, special education, secondary grades 6-12, and adult education endorsements.  

I know, you don’t have to say it.

But anyway, I read it. The full regulation directs how Virginia teacher candidates must be educated. It directs a formal syllabus of 18 or 21 semester hours. VDOE swears that VDOE and the Board of Education wrote it, not the University of Virginia education school, and I take them at their word.

When I was done, I had to go back to Part 5. Classroom and behavior management: 3 semester hours. A key element:

“This area shall address diverse approaches based upon culturally responsive behavioral, cognitive, affective, social and ecological theory and practice.”

Seriously, that is how it reads. That is where I needed the help. I wrote Charles Pyle, the truly excellent and responsive press relations person at VDOE. My query:

“While I understand each word, I don’t understand their use in this context. Is there a reference that breaks this out more completely with examples?”

Charles, of course, doesn’t write these regulations, and when he got my query, he asked the appropriate desk how to answer my question. Here is what he got back and passed on to me.

“VDOE ensures that all competencies are met through an intensive and thorough review of course syllabi, including course outline, assignments and assessment of content  If revisions are needed, VDOE works with the institution’s dean and/or director of teacher education to provide guidance on items that may need revisions or if there are general questions about specific competencies.

OK. That means that VDOE doesn’t understand it either, or perhaps couldn’t come up with anything on a Friday.

So now I want to hold a contest. Answer this question for a gold star. In the context of classroom discipline, what is the meaning of:

“This area shall address diverse approaches based upon culturally responsive behavioral, cognitive, affective, social and ecological theory and practice.”

Tie breaker is your answer to “ecological” theory and practice in classroom discipline. Remember, the full power of the Commonwealth stands behind the answer.

Or not.