VIRGINIA STEPS INTO THE FUTURE

June 15, 2016

Finally!  —-  Somebody gets it!

“Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed legislation Thursday that will lead to an overhaul of the state’s high school graduation requirements, aiming to make high school more relevant to the working world and giving students who want to start a career after high school more alternatives to fulfill requirements.   .  .  .

 McAuliffe said that the state’s schools generally have been too fixated on preparing students for standardized exams, and he has advocated reducing the number of state standardized tests.  .  .  .

 Virginia’s high school graduation requirements — which require students to take certain courses and pass state Standards of Learning (SOL) exams — can make it difficult for some to fit career and technical education courses into their schedules. Those courses do not always count toward graduation requirements, even though they might be better suited for students who want to enter the workforce right after high school.  .  .  .

Sen. John C. Miller (D-Newport News), one of the bill’s sponsors who is now deceased, had advocated for students to be able to focus on core academic courses for the first two years of high school and then tailor their course work to plans after graduation.

 Students would be “free to decide whether they would like to go to college and continue on with education courses or if they would prefer the flexibility to try and come up with the skills needed for a career,” Miller said in February.  .  .  .”  (The Washington Post, May 12, 2016)

We’ve been waiting a long time for this.  As I first expressed during a SALT Keynote almost thirty years ago, “What these other nations (European countries, primarily) have learned about education and the workforce has been translated into comprehensive public education programs for the non-college-bound student.  These programs all but obliterate the conventional lines between education and training.”

I earnestly hope that other States will soon follow suit.  The nation will prosper and, more importantly, so will many of our young people.

And oh, by the way, while I’m on the subject, let me quote from a recent ATD communication:  “Visuals Improve Learning by 400% – A fact you just can’t overlook when designing your training.  .  .  . It’s not surprising then that 65 percent of us are also visual learners. It’s now more important than ever that our training courses be favorable to this type of learning style.”

Combine visual learning with the Virginia Governor’s high school overhaul and you’ll get the best of both worlds!

More on Monday –  –  –

     — Bill Walton, co-Founder, ITC Learning

      www.itclearning.com/blog/  (Mondays & Wednesdays)

  “THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

 (This is a personal blog.  Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the blog owner, jhbillwalton@gmail.com, an independent consultant.  They do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated with in a professional or personal capacity.)