CHEERS
Cheers to the bipartisan Virginia Board of Education, including Fordham’s Amber Northern, which last week rejected Governor Abigail Spanberger’s effort to delay implementation of higher standards for the commonwealth’s Standards of Learning (SOL) exams. Anna Bryson reports on the vote, noting Virginia’s severe “honesty gap”: dramatically lower NAEP proficiency scores compared to pass rates on the state tests across grades and subject areas.
JEERS
“Just one in ten kindergartners who start school at the bottom of their class in reading and math skills is proficient by third grade,” writes Erica Meltzer, sharing findings from a new NWEA analysis that underscores the need to assess young students to better understand where gaps exist and what interventions may help.
Editor's note: This was first published on Mike Petrilli's Substack, SCHOOLED, a twice-weekly free Substack and email newsletter restarting the education-reform conversation.
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Sharp analysis of the week’s biggest K–12 debates
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Curated commentary from across the ed-policy world
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Lively discussion—including reader reactions and pushback
