quote:

Some school systems are already saying they will defy his order and stick with their rules.

I hope my system does that.

He also referred to the "soft bigotry of low expectations" in Virginia schools.

A. We have one of the better systems in the nation. Like all systems, we can improve.

But then there is ...

B. Who gave us the SOLs? The low level but high stakes tests used to judge teachers and schools?

Republican governors and their compliant legislators, of course. I can't think of a situation that better exemplifies that kind of "bigotry." My kids could pass their grade level SOLs a year ... or often two ... before they got to that grade. Yet the entire curriculum was twisted around those "standards." All lessons had to contribute to raising the pass rate of those dumbed down standards. So naturally, teachers largely concentrated on working with students whose past abilities forecast that they would be just above or just below the magical pass threshold. To hell with the rest.