Virginia To Keep 3rd-Grade History Assessment
AP
Published: June 19, 2009
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The state Department of Education is withdrawing a proposal to discontinue third-grade history and social-science accountability tests, after vocal protests from history advocates.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Patricia Wright said Friday she has informed the Board of Education that she is withdrawing the plan to eliminate the third-grade history Standards of Learning tests. The board was to vote next week on the measure, which caused a furor among those who said cutting the third-grade test would signal the devaluing of history education in early elementary school.
The proposal came in response to a request from school superintendents for the state to identify ways to reduce their testing load - particularly in subject exams not required by the federal government.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Reader Reactions
This was a smart move. Today you can go on the street and ask 10 High School Graduates that have been out of school no more than 10 years and I would bet you that half of them could not answer a simple U.S. History question. My K-2nd grade grand kids think Pocahontas married John Smith and lived happily ever after and that their their whole reason for being was just for that romance to occur. We need Standards Of Learning testing for these subjects as well as the others that SOL’s cover. The basic’s of U.S. History and our very beginning as a free country is involved in third grade students requirements. It may be tough on the teachers but it is important to know that our kids are getting the education they NEED not what the world thinks they should have.
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