When the Washington Postasked several historians to examine a textbook widely used in Virginia public schools, including Fairfax and Loudoun counties, they found it contained dozens of historical errors, including the wrong date for when the United States entered World War I. Other texts got Mount Vernon and Monticello mixed up and stated that the colonists were the ones wearing the red coats during the Revolutionary War. In response, the Virginia Department of Education announced a “new” textbook review process that will require publishers to certify that their instructional material has been vetted by “competent authorities who vouch for their accuracy.”

Apparently the old textbook review process did not include competent authorities who could vouch for the accuracy of the historical information taught to Virginia youngsters. This is noteworthy because the state’s textbook review committees are made up of classroom teachers and curriculum specialists who are nominated by their local school districts precisely because they are considered experts in the subject matter under review. Yet the review committee that recommended “Our Virginia: Past and Present,” published by Connecticut-based Five Ponds Press, to local school districts failed to catch dozens of factual errors and apparently never questioned the competency of author Joy Masoff, whose past titles include such academic classics as “Oh, Yuck! The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty.”