Maureen McDonnell – Historical Book

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Calling All Virginians!

Family homes are prized possessions, and it can be challenging to pass them from one generation to the next. However, when we are able to do so, we gain a much fuller understanding of our ancestors’ lives, surrounded by the furnishings and art that reflect their history.

For four years, Governor McDonnell and I have the honor of living in one of Virginia’s oldest “family” homes ~ the Executive Mansion. Celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2013, the Executive Mansion is the oldest continually occupied governor’s residence in all the fifty states. As you can imagine, this translates to a home full of history and stories of everyday family life. With the 200th birthday of the mansion approaching, we are looking to gain a more intimate understanding of this historic home, one that has not yet been told in the history books.

This fall, the official book of the Executive Mansion’s 200th Anniversary will be released. Our commemorative coffee table book will chronicle the experiences of the fifty-four governors’ families who have occupied the mansion. It is being written by Virginia historian Mary Miley Theobald, with an introduction by Virginia author David Baldacci and designed by Carol Roper Hoffler. We are also planning a yearlong celebration with special events, exhibits, and programs to commemorate this bicentennial.

I believe that the key to unlocking the untold stories of the mansion lies with the people of Virginia, and I’d like to involve you in this endeavor. If you are a descendant of a former “First Family” or of someone who worked in the mansion, we’d love to hear your stories about your ancestors and the mansion. We are looking for old photographs of governors’ families taken in the mansion and any letters and objects with a history of having been in the mansion that we might exhibit. You may have to dig them out of your great-great Aunt Matilda’s trunk that’s been sitting in Grandma’s attic, but they will help shed light on this wonderful home’s proud past.

If you have stories or images of Virginia’s Executive Mansion, please join us in this opportunity to recapture them as we celebrate the bicentennial. Please contact us by mail at Commonwealth of Virginia, Executive Mansion, P.O. Box 1475, Richmond, Virginia 23218; or by email at ExecutiveMansion@governor.virginia.gov, and help us bring the history of Virginia’s Executive Mansion to life!

With warmest regards,

Maureen McDonnell
First Lady of Virginia

Posted in Government Officials, Virginia

Standardized Testing

Posted on January 29, 2012 by

Should we end the era of standardized testing? Here are some thoughts against. Teachers oppose the tests:
– because they measure only “low level” thinking processes
– because they put the wrong people — test manufacturers — in charge of American education
– because they allow pass-fail rates to be manipulated by officials for political purposes
– because test items simplify and trivialize learning
– because they provide minimal to no useful feedback
– are keyed to a deeply flawed curriculum adopted in 1893
– lead to neglect of physical conditioning, music, art, and other, non-verbal ways of learning
– unfairly advantage those who can afford test prep
– hide problems created by margin-of-error computations in scoring
– penalize test-takers who think in non-standard ways
– because they radically limit their ability to adapt to learner differences
– encourage use of threats, bribes, and other extrinsic motivators
– wrongly assume that what the young will need to know in the future is already known
– emphasize minimum achievement to the neglect of maximum performance
– create unreasonable pressures to cheat
– because they reduce teacher creativity and the appeal of teaching as a profession
– are culturally biased; have no “success in life” predictive power
– lead to the neglect of the best and worst students as resources are channeled to lift marginal kids above pass-fail “cut lines”
– are open to massive scoring errors with life-changing consequences
– because they’re at odds with deep-seated American values about individual differences and worth
– undermine a fundamental democratic principle that those closest to and therefore most knowledgeable about problems are best positioned to deal with them
– dump major public money into corporate coffers instead of classrooms

Posted in Education, Policy, Virginia

Obama’s State of the Union Address

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

On Tuesday night, January 24th, President Obama delivered this speech in his State of the Union Address: Link

This can now be carefully and methodically disected, since very little of it actually matches reality. In Obama’s world, he seems to have no problems looking people straight in the eye and implying that he’s doing things that he hasn’t done, supported things that he has actually opposed, and has suceeded where he’s obviously failed – and he can do it with conviction. It’s a head scratcher, but with the advantage of having four highly energized presidential canidates, and the support of many super-pacs, I hope that someone in our party decides to pick the speech apart, paragraph by paragraph, and can articulate what’s actually happened.

Posted in Elections

The Republican Primary Continues!

Posted on January 22, 2012 by

This is going to get interesting! Topics are being discussed that are hard to get out there to the general public, and it seems that this longer primary race has the potential to bring us the best possible canidate to assure that Barack Obama will be a one term president!
Current delegate count: Newt Gingrich 21, Mitt Romney 18, Rick Santorum 11, Ron Paul 6

Posted in Elections