Virginia school officials voted to overhaul its textbook review and selection process as they withdrew approval for two textbooks containing major errors. The Virginia Department of Education also approved guidelines to prevent sexual misconduct between school staff and students, allowing for significant interpretation at the local level.
The revised process for textbook review, submitted last month by State Superintendent Patricia Wright, requires publishers to provide a list of authors and their credentials with each textbook. Additionally, at least three experts in the subject must vouch that the textbook is accurate.
The vote shifts the burden of proof to publishers from classroom teachers and school administrators, who previously checked the material, spokesman Charles Pyle said.
“A fourth-grade teacher is not a Civil War scholar. A fifth-grade teacher isn’t necessarily a historian,” he said.
The overhaul was spurred by dubious statements discovered in two textbooks, first reported by the Washington Post. Fourth-graders using “Our Virginia: Past and Present” read that thousands of blacks fought for the South during the Civil War, a claim disputed by most historians. More errors were found in that textbook and the fifth-grade “Our America to 1865,” both from small Connecticut publishing house Five Ponds Press.
The state board withdrew approval of both texts and directed Five Ponds Press to submit corrected second editions of the two textbooks, to be reviewed under these new standards. The board also created a 30-day corrective action plan for when future errors are found.
Mark Johnston, assistant superintendent of instruction for Arlington County Public Schools, called the outcome “a welcome relief.”
The state board also voted to approve guidelines for the prevention of sexual misconduct and abuse in schools, following the realization that few school divisions had updated their policies as required by a 2008 law.
Although the original text called for schools to ban texting and Facebook messaging between students and staff, the final version asks local boards to set their own policies on new-media communications.
“We have Fairfax County; we also have Highland County with fewer than 300 students,” Pyle said. “You’re going to have all kinds of relations between teachers and students not involving school because the community is so small.”
