Teachers across Virginia are waiting for instructional guides on history. But a review of history standards has been delayed for years.
An ongoing review of Virginia's public school history standards has been delayed several times as the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has become a revolving door of administrators. Former Education Secretary Atif Qarni says the turnover does not help.
"Because there's a lot of turnaround at the leadership position – that can create instability in any organization," Qarni says. "So, it's probably one of the reasons why it's causing a delay because the teams that develop the standards, they have to pass it up the chain and eventually the state Superintendent of Public Instruction has to approve them and then take them to the Board of Education."
Former Education Secretary Anne Holton says the delay hurts students, and she worries that the failure of Youngkin administration officials to present new history standards might be a sign that they’re being sidetracked by executive orders from Washington.
"Our teachers and or local curriculum developers need these guides. The guides have been written. It's my understanding they’re done – in fact, I’ve been sent a draft of them – and the administration is holding them up, and I don't know why," Holton says. "I'm concerned that it's for ideological reasons."
She says that for too long the standards have had too much Marcus Aurelius and not enough Martin Luther King.
In a statement, a spokesman for Governor Glenn Youngkin says the state’s Department of Education is continuing to review the instructional guides to “ensure compliance with recent federal actions and will release them at the completion of that review.”
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
