Education

VI Students Perform Poorly In New Academic Tests; Department Of Education Withholds Information From Media Outlet

ST. CROIX -- Multiple local media reports today, with information provided to them by the Virgin Islands Department of Education via a press release and telephone conference with Education officials, revealed poor tests results from most of the 8,859 public school students in the territory, who took part in the Smarter Balanced Assessments. But The Consortium's readership, with 2.7 million pageviews monthly, a dedicated 7,000-10,000 people who visit the site directly daily, and over 50,000 more through social platforms and Google search -- all on a daily basis -- was willfully blocked out of receiving the information by DOE. The publication became concerned that it had missed a press conference when it saw the tests information widely circulated in local media -- VI Daily News, The St. Croix Avis and VI Source -- complete with interviews with DOE officials. When the publication contacted Education Public Relations Officer Cynthia Graham, she said that DOE was "rolling out" the pre...