Responding to the shockingly-negative results of the National Assessment of Education Progress’ (NAEP) report children-students academic achievement levels, Virginia Governor Glenn Younkin called it “the proverbial final nail in the coffin” in the argument over whether shutting down schools was the right thing to do.
The NAEP report is dubbed “the nation’s report card.” It tracks 4th and 8th grade students in their abilities of reading and math. The report is heavily relied upon due to its uniform application, timeliness and the absence of funding being attached to test results.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin says the grim results for Virginia students on the Nation’s Report Card are due to past administrations’ lowering of academic standards and ignoring parents. @RTDNEWS pic.twitter.com/Qv5fVRcj5f
— Anna Bryson (@AnnaBryson18) October 24, 2022
Youngkin said during a press conference on Monday, “If this doesn’t wake you up, then you’re clearly trying to cover up your own bad decisions. In the business world, if this was your report card, there would be an immediate change in management. You would be fired. And I think that’s what voters did.”
Youngkin blamed leftist policies and teachers unions for keeping “schools shut for an unnecessary amount of time, forcing students to learn through a screen and telling them that’s a meaningful education.” However, Youngkin wasted not time to point out how the lowering of academic standards in the state exacerbated Virginia’s problem. “The underpinnings to this catastrophic performance were decisions made long before we ever heard of COVID-19,” Youngkin said.
While there is no state or region in the United States that did not show a decrease in academic achievement, the states with the longest periods of school shutdowns (New York, Nevada, D.C., Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon and Virginia) show the most significant declines in reading and math.
Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera said, “These scores should be a shocking wakeup call for every Virginian.” She also said, “Today’s data release is a clear and heart-wrenching statement that Virginia is failing our students.”
