Va. education department plans to launch Office of Excellence and Best Practices
Students in a classroom. (Photo by Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images)
The Virginia Department of Education is preparing to launch a new Office of Excellence and Best Practices by hiring an executive director who will be responsible for fostering innovation, highlighting high-performing schools, and directing resources toward initiatives with a proven track record of improving student outcomes.
The agency posted an advertisement for the opening last week.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Emily Anne Gullickson, who began in March, said it has been challenging for the agency to track and share successful educational practices and resources across school divisions, despite significant funding. She believes the office will help.
'One of the things we're really working hard at in the department is breaking down silos, including on data sharing, real impact, proven resources that are quickly scalable and usable from the field,' said Gullickson. 'We have made progress, but we have a lot more to do to really better support our educators with this data.'
Some Democratic state legislators, including Senate Education and Health Committee Chair Ghazala Hashmi, D-Richmond, are concerned about the timing of the agency's decision to fill a senior position. Since Youngkin completes his term in January, the next governor's administration may have different ideas about the new office and its leadership.
'If this role is truly essential to the department's mission, the decision should be left to the next administration, which will be responsible for setting future education policy and direction,' Hashmi said. 'Rushing to fill it now appears to be more about entrenching a political agenda than serving Virginia's students.'
The governor's administration and Democrats have not seen eye-to-eye on many education priorities with few exceptions, including their work to improve assessment testing and increase teacher pay.
In 2022, Youngkin laid out his legislative priorities including his administration's efforts to'restore excellence in education,' after pointing to the state's 'low' proficiency standards and parents' battles with school divisions over their rights and concerns.
The governor also called for investing in charter schools and developing more lab schools.
Democrats have sparred with the administration over most of the governor's initiatives that involved public education funding and equity, curriculum changes and his scholarship program proposal. The administration, lawmakers and educators also disagreed over the administration's process for revising school history and social science standards, which determine what students need to know in those subjects before graduating.
The Office of Excellence and Best Practices director, once hired, will work in tandem with the Road to Readiness School Performance and Support Framework Resource Hub, which offers free educational resources to families and educators.
The application process closes on June 11.
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