Closing that gap has been a Youngkin priority. The state implemented more rigorous reading and math standards in 2023 and 2024. The current cut scores reflect outdated standards, says the board, and the new ones catch up to higher expectations. Honest scores keep adults accountable for how they’re teaching students, and show parents and teachers where children need help.
No surprise, the Virginia Education Association isn’t happy. Citing a union member who urged a “pause on drastic cut score changes,” the state teachers union posted last week on X.com that “we need stability, transparency, and trust in the system – not ‘moving the goalposts mid-game.’”
Teachers unions don’t like being held accountable for poor student performance, which is why they want easy test standards. They want to protect their worst teachers from scrutiny, even if it means dooming students to a lifetime of lost-learning harm.
“We hire promising young people who are motivated and hardworking, but they struggle with the math needed to do the job,” Phillip Abou-Zaki, a Virginian in the plumbing industry, told the board. Raising expectations shows “we believe in our kids and know they are capable of more.”
The board will vote on a final implementation plan this month. The Virginia example is worth emulating.