Yesterday, Jim Bacon at Bacon’s Rebellion had a post about the Virginia’s education system ranking towards the bottom in overall standings (which include learning achievement, efficiency, and standards).
This came from a report that The Heartland Institute released in October 2010. The report showed Virginia ranking dead last with Arkansas in the overall rankings (43rd in the learning category, which assessed the amount of learning taking place in the classrooms; 48th in terms of producing the learning outcomes; and 32nd in the quality of their academic standards).
Additionally, the Commonwealth of Virginia released their own report card showing students not meeting the Adequate Yearly Progress, based on the performance of students in writing, science, history, attendance and graduation rates.
While these two reports are alarming, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released a study last year showing Virginia at #12 in the nation for education performance. The results showed Virginia receiving a C- for education reform. This sounds a lot better than last in the nation.
Another thing to consider is the fact that Florida recently hired Gerard Robinson (Virginia’s current Secretary of Education) to be the next Commissioner of Education. Virginia must not be too bad, if Florida hired Robinson to the same position.
The education system is in need of reform. Both teachers and parents alike need to ensure that students are meeting or exceeding the educational standards. The Commonwealth is also at a disadvantage from the funding perspective as well. In order to reform education, the General Assembly should allocate more funding towards school choice initiatives and give clear directives on how each school system should be utilizing the current funds to maximize student learning.
In the end, Virginia (just like any state) should always strive to be the best education system by focusing on improving standards of learning, as well as looking at other methods to raise their rankings, like school choice incentives.
