The next steps for the board include approving textbooks and creating curriculum frameworks, which detail the specific knowledge and skills necessary for students to meet the state’s educational standards in various subjects.
“The hard part actually starts now,” said board member Andy Rotherham, an appointee of Gov. Glenn Youngkin. “This is a big shift, and we’re going to really have to support our teachers — the amount of content knowledge here, the number of things we have put in that, frankly, people didn’t necessarily encounter in school themselves and they’re going to have to learn.”
The adoption of the standards, which set Virginia’s expectations for student learning in history and social science, as assessed through the Standards of Learning tests, conclude two years of recommendations and debate over what the standards should contain and what they should or should not omit.
The newest version includes changes from a November draft that will require sixth graders to describe the major features of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Juniors will be required to evaluate and explain the Progressive Movement and how the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 caused harm to immigrants. The amount of content covered in second grade is also reduced.
“This will remain an unpleasant memory for all of us, but we’re all resilient and we will get through,” said James Fedderman, president of the Virginia Education Association, before urging the department to complete the revision process “so that educators can properly prepare to teach and that our students can properly prepare to learn.”
READ MORE: This story is written and reported by our media partner The Virginia Mercury
