The Virginia Department of Education is announcing six public engagement sessions in May and June as it restarts its review of the Mathematics Standards of Learning.
Virginia is required to update the standards every seven years, with the next review due to be completed in 2023. But Governor Glenn Youngkin aborted the effort begun in 2020 after the Mathematic Pathways proposal was widely criticized by Republicans, who said it would gut advanced math programs.
“Parents care about what their children learn in school, and have a right to be engaged at the beginning of the standards review process, as opposed to being presented with draft standards aligned with a predetermined outcome,” Superintendent of Public Education Jillian Balow said in a Monday announcement.
Amid outcry over the program, in 2021 then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. James Lane said the program would still allow accelerated courses, and that the proposal was meant to better prepare students for opportunities after high school. But Loudoun County School Board Member Ian Serotkin said the program was “Critical Race Theory in action,” and GOP gubernatorial candidates said that then-Governor Ralph Northam’s administration was just trying to cover efforts to lower standards.
Youngkin won election in 2021 on a number of education-related issues, including a promise to fire Lane, and a promise to “reject the policies of low expectations.”
The day he was inaugurated, Youngkin signed Executive Order One, banning “inherently divisive concepts, including Critical Race Theory.”
That order also required Balow to end the Math Pathways Initiative. Now, Balow is restarting the effort to review the Math Standards of Learning.
Balow’s office is encouraging registration for the five in-person public engagement sessions, and requiring advance registration for the virtual session. Sessions will be held May 18 at John Tyler Community College, May 19 at Tidewater Community College, May 23 at Northern Virginia College, June 8 at New River Community College, and June 13 virtually.
Balow said, “We will have an open process for updating Virginia’s math standards and ensure that all of our students are able to pursue the highest level of academic rigor they are capable of achieving.”
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Glenn Youngkin” by Glenn Youngkin. Background Photo “Classroom” by Wokandapix.
