On January 5, Superintendent Balow released a third version of the History and Social Science Standards of Learning (SOL) revisions. This third set of standards, which merges the Department of Education (DOE)’s original SOLs draft from August and the disastrous Youngkin SOLs from November, will be presented to the Virginia Board of Education (VBOE) for review on February 2.

Even after three rounds of SOL revisions, the same three areas of concern continue to render them unacceptable:

Consequently, the Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium (VSSLC), Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (VASCD), and American Historical Association (AHA) created their own Collaborative Standards. The Collaborative Standards have been reviewed and endorsed by the Virginia Commission of Civic Education, NAACP, Hamkae Center, Virginia Educators Association, and other groups.

• The Collaborative Standards faithfully merge the August and November documents and have publicly outlined their process used to create the document.
• The Collaborate Standards include competent learning skills for students and teachers.

Given the alarming concerns about the January SOLs, the Virginia Board of Education should proceed with review and public comment using the Collaborative Standards made by VSSLC, VASCD, and AHA.

Due to overwhelming public pressure, Superintendent Jillian Balow released the names of groups and individuals she worked with to create the Youngkin standards and it’s clear that she prioritizes non-Virginians with conservative political agendas. It’s no wonder those standards are whitewashed, factually-inaccurate, and age-inappropriate.

Thousands of Virginians already weighed in on the original draft of the history SOLs from August in an open and democratic process. The Superintendent ignored them all in favor of these groups. She steamrolled Department of Education staff and ignored the existing feedback from hundreds of Virginia educators, parents, students, historians, professors, museums, and over 5,000 public comments.

Supt. Balow is knowingly working with groups with partisan politics that are wreaking havoc across the country to rewrite American history curricula. Groups such as Hillsdale College and the Civics Alliance have been seen in states (including, but not limited to, Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, California, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee) currently battling to protect their state history standards from being whitewashed and altered.

The Youngkin SOLs preface and standards should not inform our state’s K-12 history classes because:

• They purposefully and explicitly exclude communities to teach a limited perspective. LGBTQIA+ communities were removed and most of the new and existing AAPI history is missing.  Despite including a heading called “Expansion, Civil War, and Reconstruction,” Youngkin’s standards hardly address Reconstruction at all and either emphasize White political leaders or passive voice with no actors. Content that was taught in Virginia for decades was also taken out, such as India and China in 3rd grade, and Indigenous leaders like Chief Powhatan and Pocahontas. These events, places, and people are too significant to be “accidentally” left out. 
• They are not age-appropriate. K-3 standards focus on concepts and topics that are not developmentally appropriate for the students, such as the Code of Hammurabi, Sic semper tyrannis, and voter registration requirements.
• They are written by divisive groups that are clearly pushing a far-right political agenda.

Students and teachers in Virginia public schools are in danger of having to use a history and social science curriculum (SOL) that is racist, factually inaccurate, and developmentally age-inappropriate. This is especially alarming because the originally-proposed SOLs took steps in the right direction to teach about U.S. and Virginia history from diverse perspectives from a wide range of communities.

This “original” draft never received serious consideration by the Board because Superintendent Jillian Balow kept making excuses for delays after delays. It is now evident that she used that time to convene her own experts, including far-right, conservative institutions, like Hillsdale College and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, to completely rewrite the proposed standards.

The Youngkin standards are a disaster, failing to provide a quality K-12 public education for Virginia students.

On top of the obviously alarming problems with the content, Virginians should also be disturbed that the Youngkin standards were developed with no public input. In contrast, the original version was created in partnership by hundreds of educators, parents, students, historians, professors, museums, and state department of education staff considering over 6,000 public comments. Comments came from Virginians, not out-of-state actors with known political agendas, like Hillsdale College.

The blatant disregard for the integrity of the SOL process already in place tells us whose voices the Superintendent and the Youngkin administration really value.

Virginia is home to many communities with differing backgrounds and histories. Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) have been critical to the story of Virginia and the United States for several generations. Yet these stories (like many) remain limited, incomplete, or inaccurately told. It is important that these narratives are included in our state’s K-12 education because people develop personal and community values through understanding historical events and impacts in context, and exploring perspectives through reading, writing, and sharing ideas during these years.

This year, the state is updating the Standards of Learning (SOLs) for History and Social Science. This process happens once every 7 years and the final SOLs are decided by the Virginia Board of Education (VBOE).  SOLs are the state-mandated standard for student assessment and teacher curricula across the Commonwealth. Hamkae Center wants AAPI experiences included alongside our fellow Virginians because learning about different community struggles, contributions, and experiences can:

• help community members feel accepted, understood, and confident to make positive impacts
• promote empathy towards difference and new ideas
• strengthen critical thinking skills and develop well-rounded perspectives
• combat harmful narratives that inspire violence or disrespect to people and communities

Add your name to our petition to let the VBOE know you support the inclusion of AAPI experiences in the revised History and Social Sciences SOLs. Learning about these and other historically excluded communities are important to understanding Virginia’s past, navigating the present day, and shaping everyone’s future!