Ep. 52 "Restoring History & Social Studies In Our Schools" - Guest Jillian Balow

Recently, Virginia’s Board of Education decided to revise the history and social study standards for public school students. This generated both praise and backlash, and Jillian Balow, our guest today on The State of Education, is right in the thick of it. Jillian is not only the Superintendent of Public Instruction on the Virginian State School Board, but she was a teacher herself and formerly the Superintendent of Wyoming’s education board. Listen in on The State of Education as she and Melvin discuss the shifting landscape of education and the importance of preserving our nation’s history.

Recommended Resources:

• As of last week, Virginia’s State Board of Education has approved the  draft of the history and social studies curriculum standard which Jillian and Melvin discussed in today’s episode. It is now open for public comment before it goes back to the Board for another vote in a few months. You may submit your comments on the draft via this form.
• The Board will also be holding several hearings where the public is invited to come and offer feedback on the document. Head over to the NWEF blog to learn more.
• Learn more about the revision on the Virginia Department of Education’s website.

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Transcript

ADAMS: Welcome to The State of Education with Melvin Adams. Delighted today to have the Superintendent of Public Instruction. She was appointed as Vriginia’s 26th Superintendent of Public Instruction by Governor Glenn Youngkin, effective January 15, 2020. 

As State Superintendent, Balow is the executive officer of the Virginia Department of Education which is the administrative agency for the Commonwealth's public schools. Balow leads the external functions of the agency and also manages the internal operations. She serves as secretary of the State Board of Education.

Balow was a classroom teacher for ten years, she served in the Wyoming Department of Family Services, and as a policy advisor for Wyoming Governor, Matt Mead, before being elected as Wyoming’s State Superintendent in 2014. She developed a support system for Wyoming’s lowest performing schools, and reduced the number of schools needing state assistance by 5%.

Balow also incorporated career and military readiness into Wyoming’s accountability system, and worked with businesses, industry, policy makers, and educators to include science education in every K-12 classroom.

Since becoming Virginia’s State Superintendent, Balow has advocated the Virginia Literacy Act, and provided governor Youngkin with a report on policy steps necessary to restore high expectation and excellence as objectives for all of the Commonwealth's students.

So, Superintendent Balow, welcome to the program today.

BALOW: Thank you so much for having me on your podcast. It’s a pleasure.

ADAMS: Tell us about the new Social Studies and History Standards for Virginia students. It’s my understanding that these standards are revised every seven years. Is my understanding accurate, and why this revision such a big deal?

BALOW: Yeah. Well, thanks, that’s such an important question right out of the gates, and I’m going to take the easy part first. 

And that is, that we, in Virginia and across the nation have multiple content areas with standards. And in Virginia those standards are reviewed every seven years. That doesn’t mean that they have to change, or be replaced every seven years. It means that they’re reviewed. 

So this just happens to be the time that the social studies standards are reviewed. The review process itself, for standards–any set of standards, not just social studies–takes a couple of years. And social studies has been no exception.

It’s so important right now–and this particular revision is so important–because we have parents who are more engaged in their children’s education than ever. And the standards documents have really presented themselves, especially over the last five to ten years, as that public-facing document that says: these are the broad and general roles that we expect our teachers to teach and our students to learn in every content throughout the year, in every grade level.

And so, not only is the document itself important for that, but it also serves as sort of the launching point for teachers to select curriculum and decide what teaching takes place day-to-day. For schools to decide what curriculum to adopt and how to best train their teachers. Even for higher education institutions–colleges and universities across the state–to say: this is how we want to make sure our teachers are prepared to teach this content area.

So those are just a few reasons why it’s so very important. And then, of course, we're at a time in our history where we want our students…there was actually just a great national survey that came out a few months ago that said across the aisles and across the board parents want their children to have a great education in history and social studies. And so we want to deliver the very best in class in Virginia.

ADAMS: So here’s a question for you: why is social studies and history so important and how are Virginia students doing in that subject?

BALOW: Thanks for that important question coming out of the gate. It is the question that we all have, right? Why now, why these?

And here’s what we know: over the course of the last ten or twenty years, there’s been a de-emphasis on social studies and history in our classrooms. And we see it.

Recently, I had the opportunity to submit an op-ed to The Richmond Times Dispatch and we started off with how it used to be funny when the late-night comedians would ask people on the street simple history questions and people didn’t know the answer. Now, that’s more commonplace than not.

What we also know is that parents want kids to have a really great education in history and social studies that’s not aligned to a particular ideology. But is in truth factual and comprehensive. 

Governor Youngkin has been really clear from day one. We want the very best in class standards when it comes to teaching and learning history and social studies. And we want our students in Virginia to learn all of history–the good and the bad. That’s what we set out to do, and the truth is, this is really hard work.

ADAMS: Yes it is. You know, you are so right. So often we’re watching TV at night and there’s the guy with a mic going out and interviewing students on campus or at the beach, or wherever. And it’s just absolutely appalling, many times, the lack of basic knowledge.

That’s got to get fixed because if we don’t know who we are or where we came from, it brings a big problem in having true perspective as citizens. 

And then of course, the whole–you mentioned the whole ideology focus that goes with it. Unfortunately, we all know that politics has invaded the classroom through ideology and it’s time for that to go away and for us to get back to just factual, educational content that builds good citizens for our communities. So I appreciate the focus that you have there.

Let’s go back to the Board of Education. My understanding is that the Board of Education has delayed approval of the proposed standard two times at least. And this is back for another draft. 

So there's been some controversy about these standards, apparently. Can you tell us more about that?

BALOW: Sure, and actually the delays have been on my recommendation. 

The first recommendation I made to the Board was that they not accept a document that was presented in August–the work for that document had been primarily done in 2020 and 2021 under a previous administration–until Governor Youngkin–and frankly, a newly elected Board of Education–had an opportunity to look at it, to wrap their brains around this complicated work, and to weigh in with some vision around what our history and social studies standards should look like.

Presented to them in August was an over-400-page document that combined both what we call “the standards document” –which again, are those broad learning goals–as well as a curriculum framework, which is a more detailed plan for each grade level that really says this is how you teach all of these topics. While still a public-facing document, it really moves away from those big goals that we want our students to know about social studies. 

So my suggestion, my recommendation to the Board was: give us some more time. Because we want to pull this massive 400-page document apart. And we want to make a standards document, which is what we’ve always done in the past, plus the curriculum framework for each grade level. Which, again, is what we’ve always done in the past.

This was the first time in history that those two documents had been combined into one. And it’s really important that we keep them separate so that it’s not confusing for the public. The difference between standards, which are kind of the mile-markers, and the curriculum, which are all the steps, or all the tire rotations between each mile-marker.

So, you know, we took some time–not enough time to put a new document in front of the Board in November. There were some errors, there were some omissions. So after public comment, I again recommended to the Board that we take additional time, from November on, consult some of the groups who had provided public comment, do some more consulting with Board members and other members of the public to make sure that we get it right.

So, as I started this is hard work, it continues to be hard work. But we’ve hit the mark. We’re presenting in front of the Board in February, a set of standards that is a concise and thorough set of goals for each grade level–kindergarten through twelfth grade in history and social studies.

And you mentioned earlier, which I think is so, so important: we want our kids to know facts. Facts about history, facts about people. And history becomes rich by learning fact, by learning stories of people who were involved in American and world history. 

And then, and only then, can we expect them to think critically about history. And to apply the present-day happenings, the current events, and what might happen in the future, as it relates to how it happened in the past. 

So we;ve taken a lot of care in this draft and in these standards, to make sure students and teachers have an opportunity to front-load with facts. And then lot’s of opportunities for students to think critically about our past, about our present, and about our future.

ADAMS: Yeah, it’s so important when we study content like this, that kids are given everything–you know, the good, the bad, the ugly at appropriate age and study levels–so they can understand kind of how things developed and how those actions and those historical events actually helped shape what we have today, what we’ve learned from that. 

And what can we learn about what’s going on today that can make a better tomorrow? That’s just part of the whole process of teaching critical thinking.

BALOW: Yep, absolutely. And we can’t expect students to think critically if they don’t have the facts to bookend both sides of that.

ADAMS: Absolutely. So what updates on these standards are you especially excited about?

BALOW: Well, so much. First of all–you know there have been so many voices at the table. This is unique because it spans two governors’ administrations, two State superintendents, two different board compositions, and lots and lots of common voices across Virginia who have weighed in and said we want to make sure our students understand that Virginia history is the basis and really is American history.

And being a newcomer to Virginia, that’s one thing that I’m so excited about. You know, our students, including my son, have this wonderful opportunity to learn about the foundations of our country through the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

So I'm super excited about the content that’s Virginia-specific because it feeds into so much about who we are as Americans. And again, it’s the good and the bad and, as you said, it’s the ugly. We certainly have sins from our past that we’re not proud of, but we want our students to understand that. We don’t want to repeat mistakes in history, and the only way we don’t repeat mistakes is if we factually teach our students about that.

And most importantly, teach students that we’ve overcome those sins. How we have grown toward a more perfect union. And how our republic and our constitution and the Declaration of Independence and our bill of rights continue to be these foundational documents, as well as America’s people who grow toward a more perfect union.

So I think, you know, I pontificated a little more than I should, but I’m so excited about the aspects of American history that are in these standards. And I really truly believe that they will be a model for the best way to teach students across the country about American history.

ADAMS: You know, there’s a lot of response to this work through the media and of course the media puts its spin on everything. 

But if I may, this is a portion from a Washington Post articles: “One of the alterations to the guidelines is a new section titled ‘Implementation of Virginia's History and Social Science Standards.’” And then they continue to say, “Which is lacking from the previous version. It lays out a broad framework for teaching history in Virginia that seems to be an attempt to navigate left-leaning and right-leaning theories of appropriate education. For example: one bullet point on this section states, ‘Students should be exposed to the facts of our past, even when those facts are uncomfortable.’ But then adds, ‘teachers should engage students in age-appropriate ways that do not suggest students are responsible for historic wrong based on immutable characteristics such as race or ethnicity.’”

I totally agree with those concepts. That’s how we should–you don’t put guilt on kids, you give them education, tell them what happened, and then how to make it better from here. Do you want to comment on this?

BALOW: Sure. I was a little bit surprised to read that and it still shocks me even to just hear that read to me. Of course we want teachers checking their politics and their ideologies at the door. 

Their job…no teacher’s job is to impart ideology. In fact, that would be antithetical to the public education system and what we expect to have happen in American public school classrooms. 

So I’m a little bit baffled about why that particular statement would be controversial. Also, an iteration of that was in the November draft standards document that was in front of the board and discussed.

So this concept isn’t new to anyone. I spent over a decade in public school classrooms, teaching. I didn’t teach social studies but I did teach high school students. And I remember when I was in a rural school where I had kids for multiple years. And one student always wanted to know what political party I was in. And he could never figure it out; one day he’d think one thing and one day he’d think another.

And even at the time, even though this was a long time ago, I was really proud of that, right? I must be doing something right if kids don’t know my opinion about the subject matter, but I have given them opportunities to question the content that’s in front of them, question themselves as emerging adults, and ask tough questions. To think through tough answers. 

And that’s what we want to facilitate as educators. We want to facilitate critical thinking, not do the thinking for them. Governor Youngkin, many times, has said, “We want to teach students how to think, not what to think.”

So, again, I was a little bit baffled why this would be surprising to anyone, because it goes right along with that. One thing that we like to do with all our major documents at the Department of Education is front-load those with what we call “guiding principles.” And I believe that that is a section from the guiding principles that just basically says we expect every teacher to check their ideology and their politics at the door. 

No matter which side of the aisle they’re on, that’s not their job.

ADAMS: So, let me ask this. So this is a process and there has been, and perhaps will in the future, opportunity for public comment and hearings and so forth. As you understand it, I mean, there’s a process here, but the best you understand. You said in February this would be coming back to the board. Do you anticipate additional comments or any of that kind of stuff? Or do you believe this is wrapping up?

BALOW: Yeah, so here’s what the process looks like. In February the State Board of Education–February 1 and 2, those are the public board meeting dates.

February 1 the staff at the Virginia Department of Education will present these standards to the Board for discussion and for questions. Anyone can log onto that. Or they can come in person and watch that discussion. They can’t interact with it at that moment because there’s not an opportunity for public comment, but they can certainly view that, watch that, attend the meeting.

On February 2, which is the business meeting, that’s when the Board will take this up as an action item. And that’s also when Virginia, or whomever, will have an opportunity to start public comment. I encourage folks to come or to submit their public comments to the Board of Education to be heard, to be read by members of the Board. 

At that point, the board could decide to accept those for what we call the first review. And the first review is simply the Boards nod that hey, these are ready to go forward in the process. That kicks off a cycle of public hearings.

This is all laid out in code, but we are going above and beyond that. So I think that state code requires us to do three public hearings. We will, in fact, do more than three public hearings. And these are opportunities for people to say this is what I like about the standards, this is what I don’t like about the standards. It could be repeat customers or it could be folks who are talking about it for the very first time. 

And we’ll listen to those. When warranted we may make changes to the standards document and then we’ll present that to the Board again at a future date. And the board will have an opportunity again to take that up publicly.

They could choose to go through the standards document line by line and make changes to it or alterations. But typically what happens is they may make some changes, they may accept the changes that we've proposed, and then those are approved by vote of the Board.

And then we go through another process with schools. They adopt curriculum, we do professional development, we adjust our assessment. And these will be implemented in the 2024 and 2025 school year in every classroom across Virginia.

So that’s an outline of the process. It is not a quick process.

ADAMS: Right, I understand that. Well, thanks for sharing that. We’ll do our best to put information in the footnotes of this show, as well as share as we go along with dates when these things happen, we’ll try to track with it so that our audience can follow and engage if they wish to. Thank you for that.

So here’s maybe a final question. Would you like to make any statements about this administration’s overall goals in education and specific deliverables you believe Virginia parents care about?

BALOW: Yeah, well, thank you. What a wonderful question to end on. And I’m so excited. You know, over the weekend I was just doing some reading…and Vriginia really is ground zero for education issues. And that’s largely due to Governor Youngkin’s leadership on the issue.

Fundamentally, parents matter. Parents are responsible for raising their children, for guiding everything from their education to their healthcare to the well-being and the decisions, the day-to-day decisions, in the development of children.

Somewhere along the way, some folks have lost sight of that and think that maybe that’s a role that government should have. Governor Youngkin has worked since day one to empower parents, to make sure that parents matter in every education decision, every parenting decision. And has made a goal and a commitment to make sure that parents matter every day in education and it is an honor to work on that agenda with both parents, teachers, students, families, and Governor Youngkin as we continue to fulfill that agenda and that mission.

ADAMS: Well, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for joining us today, and we wish you all the best as you continue to lead.

BALOW: Thank you so much for the opportunity, it was a pleasure to meet you and take part in this important conversation.