Governor's Schools (Virginia)

Last updated

The Governor's Schools are a collection of regional magnet high schools and summer programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia intended for gifted students.

Contents

Virginia Governor's Schools provide some of the state's most able students academically and artistically challenging programs beyond those offered in their home schools. With the support of the Virginia Board of Education and the General Assembly, the Governor's Schools currently serve in their various forms around 1000 gifted students from all parts of the Commonwealth.

History

The concept of the Governor's School actually started as a three-year grant funded program in Stafford County, Virginia, from 1970 - 1972. One hundred Stafford public high school students were selected as "day students" and 100 public high school students from across the state were invited to be "on campus" students and were housed at the then Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Shirley C. Heim, Stafford County Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent of Schools, envisioned a program where the average person would be exposed to the arts. The original title was "the Humanities Institute." Mrs. Heim, under the supervision of Superintendent Andrew Wright, persuasively argued that Stafford County, culturally wiped out after the American Civil War, was more culturally deprived than Appalachia. Her argument helped secure the three year Federally funded grant program. It was after the three-year program ended that the Virginia State Department of Education, supported by Governor Linwood Holton, Jr., evolved the program away from the Arts to include science, technology, and journalism.

Begun in 1973 at the behest of Governor Linwood Holton, the first incarnation of the Governor's School program included summer residential sessions for 400 gifted students from across the Commonwealth. The first summer residential Governor's Schools were held in 1973 at Mary Baldwin College, Mary Washington College, and the Science Museum in Richmond. Isabelle P. Rucker, Director of Special Programs for the Gifted, oversaw the residential sessions until her retirement in the fall of 1979, [1] and served as a mentor to both faculty and students for many years. Since its beginning, the program has expanded to more than 40 sites throughout the Commonwealth. Summer residential sessions are still offered, but many other programs have been developed, including the two flagship schools described below.

Academic-year Governor's Schools

The Virginia Department of Education, in conjunction with localities, sponsors regional academic-year Governor's Schools that serve gifted high school students during the academic year. Currently, 18 academic-year Governor's Schools provide students with acceleration and exploration in areas ranging from the arts, to government and international studies, to global economics and technology, and to mathematics, science, and technology.

They are established as “joint schools” by Virginia school law. As such, they are typically managed by a regional governing board of representatives from the school boards of each participating school division. The regional governing board is charged with developing policies for the school including the school's admissions process. While these processes differ from school to school, all applicants are assessed using multiple criteria by trained evaluators who have experience in gifted education and the focus area of the specific academic-year Governor's School.

Most schools specialize in a particular subject, and each serves a single region, only accepting students whose parents or guardians live within a predefined list of nearby cities or counties.

Full list of academic-year Governor's Schools [2]

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies

Though there are 19 Governor's Schools designated by the Commonwealth for some amount of instruction during the academic year, many are intended only to supplement the education provided by local districts; these only offer a limited subset of classes, either on a partial-day basis, or in limited form to upperclassmen.

Three schools, Appomattox Regional Governor’s School(ARGS), the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, also known as "TJHSST", (founded 1986) in Fairfax County, Virginia and Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies, also known as "MLWGSGIS", (founded 1991) in Richmond are full-fledged four-year university preparatory programs and two-year programs. Two are considered by many to be among the best public high schools in the country with both schools notably listed in Newsweek's Annual Public Elite list of high schools.

Admission to the two schools is highly sought-after and competitive. In the Northern Virginia region served by TJHSST extensive courses were developed by private companies to help prepare students for the rigorous testing procedure. After public protests that this put poor and minority students at a disadvantage for acceptance, Fairfax County began offering similar free public courses.

As the acceptance rate is only about 15% [3] at TJHSST, the school is currently looking to expand from 1600 students to 2000. The MLWGSGIS's acceptance rate is currently about 8% [4] and enrolls about 700 students.

Summer Residential Governor's Schools

Also offered are summer programs for exceptional Virginia students. These Governor's Schools last up to four weeks and are held at Virginia institutions of higher learning. Students reside on the campus, but take courses taught by teachers and professors from around the state. Depending on the program, students may or may not have choices in course selection. There is typically no relationship between the institution at which the Summer Governor's School is held and the program its other than providing the infrastructure support for what resembles a college lifestyle.

Selection is based on applications submitted by students during the school year, while they are attending their home high school. Often, the number of students accepted from any given high school is capped, depending on the population of the school. Selection to summer programs is limited to rising 11th and 12th graders.

Full list of Summer Residential Governor's Schools [5]

The institutions at which the Summer Residential Governor's Schools are held can vary from year to year. The colleges indicated below are the most recent institutions selected for hosting the programs.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Commonwealth University</span> Public university in Richmond, Virginia

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia General Assembly merged MCV with the Richmond Professional Institute, founded in 1917, to create Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2022, more than 28,000 students pursued 217 degree and certificate programs through VCU's 11 schools and three colleges. The VCU Health System supports health care education, research, and patient care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology</span> Magnet high school in Alexandria, Virginia, United States

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is a Virginia state-chartered magnet high school in Fairfax County, Virginia operated by Fairfax County Public Schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Kentucky University</span> Public university in Bowling Green, KY, US

Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtown-Fort Knox, and Owensboro. The main campus, which has been undergoing expansion and renovation since the 1990s, sits atop a hill overlooking the Barren River valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Baldwin University</span> Private university in Virginia

Mary Baldwin University is a private university in Staunton, Virginia. It was founded in 1842 as Augusta Female Seminary. Today, Mary Baldwin University is home to the Mary Baldwin College for Women, a residential women's college with a focus on liberal arts and leadership, as well as co-educational residential undergraduate programs within its University College structure. MBU also offers co-educational graduate degrees as well as undergraduate degree and certificate programs for non-traditional-aged students.

Governor's School may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linwood Holton</span> American politician (1923–2021)

Abner Linwood Holton Jr. was an American politician and attorney. He served as the 61st governor of Virginia, from 1970 to 1974, and was the first elected Republican governor of Virginia of the 20th century. He was known for supporting civil rights, integration, and public investment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies</span> Magnet high school in Richmond, Virginia

The Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies (MLWGSGIS) is a public regional magnet high school in Richmond, Virginia.

Richmond Public Schools is a public school district located in the independent city of Richmond, Virginia. It is occasionally described locally as Richmond City Public Schools to emphasize its connection to the independent city rather than the Richmond-Petersburg region at large or the rural Richmond County, Virginia.

The Standards of Learning (SOL) is a public school standardized testing program in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It sets forth learning and achievement expectations for core subjects for grades K-12 in Virginia's Public Schools. The standards represent what many teachers, school administrators, parents, and business and community leaders believe schools should teach and students should learn. The Virginia Department of Education, schools, and school systems routinely receive essential feedback on the effectiveness of implementation and address effective instructional strategies and best practices. The Standards of Learning is supportive of and a direct response to the No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed into law by then-President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002. They address student achievement in four critical areas: (1) English, (2) mathematics, (3) science, and (4) history/social studies. Students are assessed in English and mathematics in grades 3-8 and upon completion of certain high school level courses. Science and history SOL are administered in grades 4, 5, and 8 and at the end of completing high school courses in these respective subjects.

A selective school is a school that admits students on the basis of some sort of selection criteria, usually academic. The term may have different connotations in different systems and is the opposite of a comprehensive school, which accepts all students, regardless of aptitude.

The South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities (SCGSAH) is a prestigious boarding school for the arts located in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1999 by Virginia Uldrick, the high school program provides pre-professional training in creative writing, dance, drama, music and visual arts to sophomores, juniors and seniors, in a master-apprentice, arts-centered community. The Governor's School also offers arts-intensive summer programs for 7th-through-12th-grade students.

Spotsylvania County Public Schools is a public school district serving Spotsylvania County, Virginia. It consists of 17 Elementary, 7 Middle, and 5 High Schools and has a total enrollment of nearly 24,000 students. The Spotsylvania County School division also has a Career and Technical Center and participates with other local school systems to offer the Commonwealth Governor's School. The district partners with area businesses to develop learning opportunities for the students. Spotsylvania County Public Schools works with the area Parks and Recreation Department to help maintain the area around the Schools.

The Blue Ridge Virginia Governor's School ("BRVGS") is a Virginia Academic Year Governor's School available to public high school students enrolled in the counties of Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson and Orange in central Virginia. BRVGS emphasizes technology, science, mathematics, and the development of skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, communication, ethics, and the effective use of technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Holton</span> American lawyer, judge and politician

Anne Bright Holton is an American lawyer and judge who served as the Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia from 2014 to 2016. She is married to United States Senator and former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, the vice presidential running mate of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

Lebanon High School is a public high school located in the town of Lebanon, Virginia which sits inside of Russell County, Virginia. They are a part of the Russell County Public Schools system and have been accredited by the Virginia Department of Education for the 2022–2023 school year. Joseph Long is the current principal. The school offers several Dual Enrollment courses and Career/Technical courses in addition to other academic courses. Students also have the option to take online classes through Virtual Virginia and A. Linwood Holton Governor's School.

The Governor's School of Texas, formerly the Texas Honors Leadership Program (THLP), is a summer program for academically talented high school students from Texas, who have completed their sophomore or junior years. The program is a member of the National Conference of Governor's Schools. 100 students are selected each year and scholars, who are nominated by their senior counselors, are invited to serve as junior counselors for the following year. Held at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, the School is an intensive three-week residential program. The program's curriculum is designed to develop skills in creativity, problem-solving, leadership, negotiation and conflict resolution, higher-level thinking, research and study skills and ethical decision-making. As an incentive to foster creativity, the program includes no grades or academic credit.

Education in Virginia addresses the needs of students from pre-kindergarten through adult education. Virginia's educational system consistently ranks in the top ten states on the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress, with Virginia students outperforming the average in almost all subject areas and grade levels tested. The 2010 Quality Counts report ranked Virginia's K–12 education fourth best in the country. All school divisions must adhere to educational standards set forth by the Virginia Department of Education, which maintains an assessment and accreditation regime known as the Standards of Learning to ensure accountability. In 2008, 81% of high school students graduated on-time after four years. The 1984 Virginia Assembly stated that, "Education is the cornerstone upon which Virginia's future rests."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Department of Education</span> State education agency of Virginia

The Virginia Department of Education is the state education agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is headquartered in the James Monroe Building in Richmond. The department is headed by the Secretary of Education, who is a member of the Virginia Governor's Cabinet, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, a position that is also appointed by the Governor of Virginia. The Secretary of Education is responsible for heading the department and for overseeing Virginia's 16 public colleges and universities, the Virginia Community College System, the commonwealth's five higher education centers, and Virginia's public museums.

References

  1. "Mary Baldwin". 1980.
  2. Education, Virginia Department of. "VDOE :: Academic-Year Governor's Schools". www.doe.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2018-08-07.
  3. FCAG TJ Info
  4. MLW Governor's School: Admissions Process
  5. Education, Virginia Department of. "VDOE :: Summer Residential Governor's Schools". www.doe.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2018-08-07.