BrownSchoolBoard

Secretary Devos wants the Federal Government to establish Charter Schools, which I think violates the 10th amendment US Constitution. The constitution of Virginia gives local school boards the authority to establish Charter schools. I think that authority should remain with a local body so that Charter schools can be customized to the localities they serve. In Newport News we have a great charter school because the school board worked with the community to establish a winning model. Devos is advocating an over reach by the Federal government. So I'm not excited about the new Devos administration.

Financial Literacy is actually an integral part of the curriculum in our schools. In fact, Menchville and Woodside high schools were named 2015-2016 W!SE blue Star Schools for their students' performance on the W!SE Financial Literacy Certification Test. The national certification test is given to high school students upon completion of the personal finance course. To earn the Blue Star designation, students attending the school must achieve a 75% pass rate on the test with either a majority of students at a given grade level taking the test or an average score of 80% or higher by students who take the test.

Scientific literacy in education focuses on a core set of competencies that students must master by the time they graduate from high school. For Virginia, science standards for learning mean that students must have the ability to:

1. Develop and use an experimental design in scientific inquiry.

2. Use the language of science to communicate understanding.

3. Investigate phenomena, using technology.

4. Apply scientific concepts, skills, and processes to everyday experiences.

5. Experience the richness and excitement of scientific discovery of the natural world through the collaborative quest for knowledge and understanding.

6. Make informed decisions regarding contemporary issues

7. Develop scientific dispositions and habits of mind

8. Explore science-related careers and interests.

In NNPS our curriculum works from K-12 to achieve these objectives. In addition to instruction, NNPS also provides several opportunities demonstrate scientific literacy. For example, every year the school division has an all-city science fair. The all-city science fair features students that have already competed with their classmates to emerge as the best science project for their school. The science projects cover a full range of social and scientific problems. Students that win at the all-city science fair have the opportunity to compete in the regional science fair which means that the students are competing against other localities. Another example are the Engineering Design Challenges we host annually for kids. NNPS is the only school division to offer this program for students as we designed it ourselves.

The Virginia Department of Education sets the Standards of Learning (SOL) for every public school in the state. The SOL establishes the educational requirements that every school has to meet. It is SOL testing that determines whether a school is deemed accredited by the state of Virginia. However, the school board decides how to interpret the SOL and how to meet the standards. Therefore, ultimately the local school board is in charge of the curriculum. The school board hires the teachers, principals, etc. The school board buys all of the textbooks, votes on the curriculum, sets the division policies, etc.

Standards of Learning (SOL) exams are a snapshot in time of how well the student has mastered the subject. If the student is nervous, sick, or in some other negative cognitive state then his or her test score would reflect that impact. I don't think it is fair to judge competency from a single test taken on a single day. However, I am not anti-testing. I do think that testing has brought needed accountability to the education system. In my opinion, the body of tests that a student takes should be the marker of competency. More importantly, improvement should be the goal. I think schools should be judged on how much a child grows in mastery from year to year rather than this arbitrary standard that continues to change every time the General Assembly gets a whim.