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For immediate release:
September 20, 2022

Contact: [1] [email protected]
“Making Our Schools
Best in Class”

Secretary
Aimee Rogstad Guidera lays out the plan to improve education in Virginia in the
latest Ripon Forum

Plus,
a special preview of the GOP’s “Commitment to America” and a profile of Georgia
Governor Brian Kemp
[2]

WASHINGTON,
DC -- With students returning to school this month, the latest edition of [3] The
Ripon Forumfocuses on the effort to improve education in America
and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted learning -- and youth mental health
-- over the past two years.
Leading the Forum’scoverage of
this critical issue is [4] Aimee
Rogstad Guidera. Guidera serves as Secretary of Education for the
Commonwealth of Virginia. In the journal’s lead essay, she writes about
how student performance in the Commonwealth had begun to decline even before
the pandemic, and the plan being put in place under the leadership of Governor
Glenn Youngkin to improve education in Virginia schools in the years ahead.
“Recently released annual (Spring ‘22)
test scores underscore the urgency of the crisis,” Guidera writes. “In
math, for example, only 66% of our students are passing the test of their grade
level standards, and it is shockingly worse for our economically disadvantaged
(52%), Black (42%), Hispanic (53%), and students with disabilities (39%). The
results are similar for our science scores. When society accepts that
half of our traditionally underserved student populations are not mastering
critical grade level expectations, we are condemning them to a life of
diminished possibilities.”
“Under Governor Youngkin, our North Star
is high expectations aligned to the demands of the knowledge economy for every
student and school. All learners must be empowered with multiple pathways to
post-secondary success which provide valuable exposure to the world of
work. Therefore, we are launching at least 20 lab schools which will
bring together higher education, employers, schools, and community partners to
provide innovative approaches to raising student achievement while also
building bridges with the world outside school walls.”
Guidera goes on to detail further efforts
the Youngkin Administration will be launching, including more fully engaging
and empowering parents and teachers, whom she calls “the two most important
factors in student success.”
Also writing in this latest edition is [5] American
Enterprise Institute Scholar Frederick Hess, who examines the state of
schooling in the wake of the pandemic and why policymakers must make every
effort to help students catch up. “Researchers have found that students
lost the equivalent of one-third to one-half of a year in reading, and nearly
twice that in math,” Hess writes, referring to the impact of closures and
shutdowns on American youth. Referring to the “disruption, politics, and
assorted nonsense” that has plagued education over the past few years, Hess
also urges public officials and school leaders “to eschew the sideshows and
focus on getting kids back on track.”
According to [6] U.S.
Rep. Tom Emmer (MN-6), policymakers also need to focus on the mental
health of students, which, he writes, also took a hit over the past two years.
“The CDC found earlier this year that 37% of high school students reported
suffering from persistent mental health struggles, including stress, anxiety,
and depression during the pandemic,” the lawmaker writes. “The earlier we
help our youth who are struggling, the more likely we will be able to ensure a
productive and prosperous future for the next generation.”
One other way to help students, writes [7] Martin
Luekenof EdChoice, is by providing them an option of where they go to
learn. “Educational choice,” Lueken argues, “is a commonsense policy to
fix the adverse incentives underlying the public [school] system by placing
parents where they belong: in the driver’s seat of their own children’s
education.”
In addition to examining the effort to
improve education in Virginia and elsewhere across the country, the latest Ripon
Forumalso includes a special preview of the GOP’s “Commitment to America,”
which is set to be officially unveiled this Friday and will lay out the
Republican agenda if the party holds a majority in the House of Representatives
next year. Writing essays in this regard are six of the seven Task Force
Chairs responsible for developing this agenda, including:
[8] U.S.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5)of
the Big Tech Task Force;
[9] U.S.
Rep. Michael McCaul (TX-10)
of the China Task Force;
[10] U.S.
Rep. John Katko (NY-24)
of the Task Force on America Security;
[11] U.S.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (NC-10)
of the Task Force on Jobs and the Economy;
[12] U.S.
Rep. Garret Graves (LA-6)
of the Energy, Climate, and Conservation Task Force; and,
[13] U.S.
Reps. Vern Buchanan (FL-16) & Brett Guthrie (KY-2)of the Healthy Future Task Force.

And in the latest Ripon Profile, [14] Brian Kemp
discusses, among other topics, his proudest achievement as Governor of
Georgia. “When I ran for Governor,” he tells the Forum, “I
committed to putting hardworking Georgians first ahead of the status quo. While
we’ve accomplished much in pursuit of this goal, such as raising teacher pay
and cutting state income taxes, I’m most proud our state has led the nation in
recovering from the economic turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The Ripon Society is a
public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the
town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the
main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that
have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas
include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal
government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.
For more information on The
Ripon Society, please visit [15] www.riponsociety.org.
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