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We must address Covid-related grief and other pandemic impacts on children
Students are still hurting, and need counseling, safe buildings and further interventions.
To the Editor: On Unleveling
Research is clear that when children are placed in a “low” performing class, they begin to believe their teachers don’t trust them to succeed in school. This lack of trust becomes internalized over time, and their academic performance and their behavior are negatively impacted. In a differentiated classroom, kids will see the gifts they and others bring to the classroom that are not identified through a standardized test, such as creativity, communication, and collaboration.
How a Princeton scholar used FOIA to poke holes in a controversial Virginia program
Thornton comes by her curiosity naturally – a former high school teacher, she said her father is a journalist who has worked throughout Virginia. She said she’s continuing to pursue tip line responses and advised journalists to be bold
Glenn Youngkin Set Up a Tip Line to Snitch on Teachers. It’s Only Gotten Weirder Since.
As a native Virginian, Thornton wanted to see what parents were saying and it how it could affect Virginia’s teachers and students. “I was a high school teacher in Virginia for many years. I graduated here in Virginia,” Thornton told me. “I care so much about education in our commonwealth. And I’m concerned that this tip line is going to have a chilling affect on teachers and teaching. I’m an educational researcher, so of course I support teacher accountability, but I don’t think an anonymous tip line is the way to go about it.”
Youngkin refuses to disclose teacher tip line submissions
“I am really concerned that this administration came in and said that they wanted to be transparent, they want transparency in schools,” Thornton said. “They want teachers to be posting their lesson plans and curriculum lists, but they won't in turn be transparent with their constituents. I find that very hypocritical.”
She says she’s also concerned about the chilling effect the tip line could have on educators currently working in Virginia.
Youngkin’s office refuses to make emails sent to tip line public
When Margaret Thornton heard about the tip line, she worried it would roll back the progress made in public education over the past few years. But to her dismay, the governor cited a public records exemption Wednesday saying the emails she sought were considered “working papers and correspondence of the Office of the Governor.”
“I wanted to see what folks were saying and if that was matching up with the governor’s rhetoric,” said Thornton.
CASEY: Readers react to Youngkin's tattle-on-teachers tip line
It also appears that the governor's office is refusing to release the incoming "tips," under an exception in Virginia's Freedom of Information Act. So much for transparency, eh?
Opinion/Letter: Gifted education ought not be exclusionary
While Charlottesville’s policy on gifted education might be distressing to some who have made a career out of promoting exclusionary gifted education, the expansion of understanding that all children have gifts to nurture and share is more in line both with current research and an emerging historical understanding of the beginning of gifted education for a privileged few.
Uncovering the Legacy of UVA’s First Black Woman Graduate
Margaret Thornton is leading a push to recognize the life and accomplishments of E. Louise Stokes Hunter, who earned her doctorate in education from UVA in 1953.
Hunter completed her doctorate in education from the School of Education and Human Development in 1953, just a few months after the University’s first Black graduate, Walter N. Ridley. She then spent a long career as a professor at Virginia State College (now Virginia State University), where she was known for her mentorship of Black students, particularly Black women studying math.
Every State & District Needs to Create a Learning Recovery Task Force — Now. Here Are Some Reasons Why
The damage wrought to American education by the COVID-19 pandemic beggars description, and so we are reduced to metaphor: Schools have been hit by an earthquake, a hurricane, a war. There is a need for disaster relief for children who have lost precious time in school and are traumatized by the effects of COVID-19 on their families and society as a whole.
Virginia’s Running Out of Teachers. It’s Not Just Because of the Pandemic.
“Margaret Thornton, who taught English in Charlottesville City Schools prior to becoming a PhD student in educational leadership at the University of Virginia, said teacher shortages limit schools’ capacity to improve and can exacerbate inequality.”
Class Dismissed: School Closings Intensify Equity Issues
“To former CHS teacher Margaret Thornton, now a Ph.D. candidate in educational leadership at UVA, this is an opportunity for local schools to explore different types of evaluation systems.”
If the College Board Is Going to Withhold Student SAT Scores, They Need to Hand Over Some Receipts
Exploring a troubling pattern of the College Board withholding the test scores of young women of color, I suggest a more transparent process for score reviews.
Charlottesville superintendent to recommend changes to gifted program
“I would love to see a program of enrichment that’s centered around the idea that every child has gifts,” [Thornton] said in an interview with Charlottesville Tomorrow. “The job of the school is to help children uncover and refine those gifts, and we should be using research-based instruction.”
Atkins pledges 'very different' Quest after 'incredibly upsetting' letter presented
“When I read the letter,” Atkins said after Thornton’s presentation, pausing to speak carefully. “… It’s incredibly upsetting. My first thought was, for such a long time, we’ve been knocking on the door to get our children in the gifted program. We should have been knocking the door down and the structures that held up that door to get them in.”
Photo Credit: Rachel Savoy Caldwell
Quest in context: Troubled roots of city school’s gifted program
“At tonight’s School Board meeting, former Charlottesville High School teacher and Ph.D. student Margaret Thornton will present new research that suggests the elite program, called Quest, was formed as a way to keep white students separate from the black students who had recently integrated into the city’s public schools after a time of resistance to desegregation.”
Photo Credit: Alexa Miller Quinn
High school reforms may miss the mark
“Unless we believe that people from lower-income households are somehow less capable of college completion than the people who wrote and passed this law, and I certainly do not, we must make sure that every student has the skills to succeed on any path. The Virginia Board of Education should tread carefully to make sure that the regulations it crafts do not exacerbate this structural inequality.”
Charlottesville Tomorrow Teacher Profile
“ I’m excited about the work being done by the SOL Innovation Committee to improve assessments that encourage project-based learning and provide on-going assessment throughout the year instead of what we do now: measuring students on one day when it’s too late in the year to adjust instruction and spending too much time on test prep rather than teaching critical thinking skills. Comprehensive, research-based tests crafted with teacher input will be key in helping all students prepare for the complex civic and economic challenges of the future”