Virginia election day is coming up fast, and the Shore’s Democrat gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam has been struggling of late to gain traction with Northern Virginia policies in most other parts of the state. Most recently, the Washington Post editorial board took him to task on the topic of education, critiquing his “astonishing” lack of answers on minimum expectations at a recent event and calling his comments “part of an unfortunate trend in Virginia to pull back from rigor in assessments and accountability.”
While Republican Ed Gillespie has laid out proposals to reinvigorate Virginia’s education system, which also seem vague, the Post focused on hammering Northam.
“We recently revisited this history with Virginia Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) during a discussion of what he would do with public education if he were elected governor next month. Mr. Northam claimed to believe in accountability but was utterly unable to explain what he means by the word. The state’s Standards of Learning (SOL), which establish minimum expectations for what students should know and be able to do, aren’t working, he said, and should be tossed out. What would replace them? Astonishingly, after almost four years as lieutenant governor and a month away from the election, Mr. Northam had no answer. [Read more…]