{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/tim-in-the-news/tim-kaine-lessons-from-40-years-as-a-richmond-public-schools-parent", "Lessons from 40 years as a Richmond Public Schools parent", "2013-12-15", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Tim Kaine", "K000384", "www.kaine.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Anne and I are now empty-nesters. Combined, our three kids spent 40 school years in the Richmond Public Schools. While we both interact with the school system in our professional lives, we\u2019ve learned even more from back-to-school nights, parent-teacher conferences, attending school events and pulling crumpled notes to parents out of our kids\u2019 backpacks. The lessons learned as parents have made me think about what works and what doesn\u2019t work in Pre-K-12 education. Here are seven changes I\u2019d like to see:\r\nIt\u2019s about the individual!\r\nMost policy debate these days seems to be about charter schools or high-stakes testing. But I\u2019m convinced that the most important reform has been under our noses since 1975, when legislation was passed to guarantee children with diagnosed disabilities receive individualized learning plans tailored to meet their specific needs.\r\nEach child brings a mix of strengths and challenges to the classroom. Let\u2019s use the insight gained through advances in educating kids with disabilities to leverage new technologies and teaching methods that can individualize learning for each child.\r\nEarly childhood education works\r\nMy daughter was able to attend a year of high-quality pre-K in our city schools. This experience made me a believer, and it\u2019s one of the reasons why I greatly expanded pre-K for at-risk 4 year olds when I was governor.\r\nThe research is powerful \u2014 if you invest in high-quality programs that coordinate with K-12 curricula and have mandatory teacher standards, the gains from early education are lasting. It\u2019s also important that we focus on coordinating investments made in early childhood programs \u2014 such as Head Start \u2014 to ensure we are effectively using our funding, eliminating any waste and bolstering the structure of our education system.\r\nSimplify elementary education\r\nBy the time Virginians graduate from high school, they have taken at least 35 state-mandated tests in addition to all the classroom testing that good teachers require.\r\nThis over-testing phenomenon is particularly acute at the elementary level. Borrowing a phrase from Singapore\u2019s educational reform efforts, I\u2019d \u201cteach less and learn more\u201d at the elementary level by focusing the early grades on English and math fluency.\r\nUse social studies and science material to stimulate curiosity about the world while building reading mastery and making basic math concepts more concrete. Save the state testing of science and social studies for later grades. If the early years are intensely focused on language and math, our students will perform better in all areas down the road.\r\nMiddle school as career exploration\r\nI\u2019d reconceive middle school as fundamentally about career exploration. What do kids know about the work world beyond what their parents do? We can make middle school more exciting if we use all parts of the curriculum to expose students to the wide range of available career choices so that, by the time they enter high school, they will be more able to choose the right direction for themselves.\r\nDifferent paths to high school success\r\nAs governor, I created Governor\u2019s Career and Technical Academies to promote the notion that technical education is as important as college preparatory courses. Virginia now offers three diploma types \u2014 standard, modified standard and advanced. Coupled with an increasing variety of other options \u2014 Advanced Placement courses, career certification exams, community college joint enrollment programs, verified online courses \u2014 a high school transcript is now a highly personalized learning r\u00e9sum\u00e9. Gone are the days when kids are \u201ctracked\u201d into a two-tier system of college prep or vocational education. When students are given exposure to all options, they can build their own high school path to the future they want.\r\nValue the unvalued\r\nWhile RPS is an urban system with fiscal challenges, it has resisted pressure to devalue arts education. These experiences enhanced my children\u2019s creativity, confidence, communication skills and teamwork \u2014 all greatly in demand in the adult world. And it\u2019s not just arts. Trained computer professionals are in high demand, yet most states still treat computer science courses as an elective, not allowing them to be used to meet math or science requirements. Many of the things that promote life and career success don\u2019t fit neatly into today\u2019s curricular requirements. Let\u2019s create space for this kind of personal development in our schools.\r\nKeeping good teachers\r\nFinally, a note of gratitude. Our kids were blessed to have many wonderful teachers. There were some weak ones, but RPS teachers were mostly solid, some spectacular and a few life-changing for our children. As I listen to public debate, it often sounds like our main issue is how to get rid of bad teachers. But this problem pales beside the larger issue of how to keep good teachers.\r\nToo many great prospective teachers never enter the profession and too many great teachers leave too early over low salaries, high-stakes testing pressure, discipline challenges and an overall belief that society doesn\u2019t value the profession. We need a robust debate about how to value and attract good teachers.\r\nTim Kaine represents Virginia in the United States Senate. This column is adapted from a longer article published by Education Week.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/tim-in-the-news/tim-kaine-lessons-from-40-years-as-a-richmond-public-schools-parent"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5809079632163048, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}