CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A recent CNBC report ranked the Commonwealth of Virginia fourth in the country in terms of the overall opportunity for education, citing graduation rates, SAT scores and a number of other factors.  However, despite the numbers, Virginia students still struggle in certain categories including fourth grade reading and math scores.  So the question is often asked, how does Virginia have high metrics in certain areas but also have children, particularly those in lower socio-economic conditions, who are underachieving in regard to educational outcomes.  There is a lot of research being conducted to try and pinpoint what the external factors are that are impacting a child’s ability to learn, in essence looking beyond the SOL scores.  City of Promise, a Charlottesville based nonprofit is commissioned with the task of working on the things that local kids are bringing through the door of the school that can adversely affect their ability to learn and excel.  Price Thomas, the Executive Director says it has to be a wholistic approach when addressing these challenges:  We’re really focused on education and opportunity particularly for kids here in Charlottesville who are experiencing varying and often overlapping layers of disadvantage.  We view education as a social issue and not one that is solely solved by the school and one that requires a real tri-part partnership between the schools, the communities and the homes.”

Thomas, while appearing on WINA Morning News went on to emphasize the importance of looking at the environment outside of the classroom because that is where kids spend the majority of their time.  ” The statistic that we really lean into is that kids during their K12 years spend about 80% of their time out of school.  So a lot of what they bring into the building has to do with where you’re from, who you are around and the resources of your family, the safety of your community.  All of those other dimensions across the spectrum of this constallation of care that we think about all the time but often don’t ascribe to education.” said Thomas.  ” What we’ve really been interested in pursuing and continuing to look into is that a school is really a mosaic of what comes into it and so there’s a ton of opportunities, of course you want scholastic fidelity, you want teachers to be paid well, you want them to be well trained that’s all critically important but what I would argue is what’s more important is what goes on outside of those walls and outside of the building where kids are spending most of their time.  We’re trying to optimize for that and coalesce around this idea that it really is a 360 degrees social issue”

Thomas’s comments are a welcomed sentiment of support for local teachers who are often judged on their performance as educators by the scores of the students they teach.  However, teachers often endure verbal and physical abuse from children who have been traumatized by the environment that Thomas describes where they spend the majority of their time.  Local divisions have invested heavily in counselors, social emotional support staff and professional development opportunities for teachers to help them mitigate these external challenges, but most are still looking for ‘the answer’ to help children not only achieve more but read on grade level, especially after the learning loss of the pandemic.  City of Promise looks to provide an assist by helping parents from underserved communities pursue employment opportunities as well as providing educational support for kids out of school.  You can hear the full interview with Thomas below: