Dissatisfaction with Standards of Learning tests is one of the primary concerns that Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-10th, was hearing from Richmond-area parents as he prepared for this year’s General Assembly session.
When the tests were implemented in the 1990s, he says, the goal was to ensure a consistent level of learning. “That sounds nice, but the problem is, it’s resulted in teaching to the test,” says Sturtevant, a former Richmond School Board member. Because tests determine accreditation of schools, he says, “It’s taken a lot of the freedom out of teachers’ hands.” As a result, he co-patroned a bill to reduce the number of SOLs students take in Virginia from nearly 30 to the federally mandated 17. (Update: That measure, HB 1162, was tabled by a House Education subcommittee, as was a similar bill introduced by Del. Debra Rodman, D-73rd.)
Sturtevant and other legislators have been meeting with state and local Parent Teacher Association leaders to hear about their priorities for the legislative session that ends March 10. Besides SOLs, top issues include increased state funding for public education; more school support staff such as nurses and counselors; funding formulas that take into account high concentrations of poverty, English language learners and students with special needs; and accountability measures that don’t solely rely on test scores.
“The ultimate goal is to get us back to spending levels we were at pre-recession,” says Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-72nd, a government and history teacher at Glen Allen High School. According to a report released in November by the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities, most states cut education spending at the time of the recession, and by the 2014-2015 school year, 29 states — including Virginia — were still spending less per student than they were in 2007-2008. That left localities to pick up the slack — if they could afford to. In Henrico, for example, an analysis by the Commonwealth Institute shows that between the years of 2008-09 and 2015-16, the county’s share of its roughly $500 million in school operating funds rose from 40.6 percent to 51.2 percent, while the state’s share dropped from 52.7 percent to 43.1 percent.
On Jan. 2, VanValkenburg and Rodman organized an education forum for county residents, parents and teachers at the Tuckahoe Area Library to talk about education-related legislation and listen to concerns. Here are some of the views expressed.
Beth McKenzie-Mohr, former teacher at Goochland Middle School, currently a substitute teacher (left); Henrico County resident Laura Pho (right) says she and her daughter, Margot (center), are encouraged by Dels. Schuyler VanValkenburg and Debra Rodman’s emphasis on education. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Beth Mckenzie-Mohr
“What I have found [with SOL testing], the pace and schedule was discriminatory toward my kids. I could not be a good teacher. So that’s why I left. I work with disenfranchised kids, I work with trauma kids. We have to teach the kids, and they have to take the benchmark tests that the advanced kids take. If we have the time to work with them, we could get to them.”
Juanita Lewis, parent of a student at Brookland Middle School in Henrico County (Photo by Jay Paul)
Juanita Lewis
“My concern is with SOLs. With my son, he gets straight A’s, but he gets so upset and he gets so nervous about taking the SOLs. I think the teachers can’t teach the child because they have to go on this schedule about what they have to do — you have to be this far by this time and this far by that time. They can’t be creative with the children so they can learn. So are they going to do anything about the SOLs, or is there something we can do about the SOLs?”
Emma Clark, former teacher at Boushall Middle School in Richmond (Photo by Jay Paul)
Emma Clark
“Our leaders, our principals, are so undersupported right now that I feel like it’s very hard for them to be successful, and that’s the predominant reason that we’re losing quality teachers. If we focus on more counselors and assistant principals and support staff, principals could have some of these absurd numbers of responsibilities shifted off their plate and they could really focus on bringing the school together and creating a strong school climate. That would be a huge key to solving our retention problems.”
Rebecca Field, art and art history teacher at Freeman High School (Photo by Jay Paul)
Rebecca Field
“One of the things that’s really worrying us as a faculty is the attendance part of the accreditation. In my mind, it punishes schools with high poverty. It blew us away when we found out that we were going to be judged on our attendance policy. Speaking of high poverty versus low poverty, I’d love for the [Virginia Education Association] to push for school integration. My children go to school in the city of Richmond, and I work in the county. Our school system is not equal. It has to do with the fact that we are segregated, more segregated than we have been in decades.”
Don Blake, Henrico resident and former member of the Reynolds Community College board (Photo by Jay Paul)
Don Blake
“All of you are aware that there are issues before the General Assembly every year about school choice and vouchers. I’d like to know where you stand on this.” Then responding to VanValkenburg and Rodman saying they would oppose vouchers: “Why? What’s wrong with giving every child a choice of going to a school of their choice if their parents can’t pay for it, which people who are affluent will? People move from one jurisdiction to another because they don’t like a school. “
