Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 29, 1995 TAG: 9505010024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C0-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``No, we haven't seen any drop in our reading scores,'' said Edward Decker, executive director of elementary education for Franklin County.
``We've been holding steady - and have shown some improvement in the past few years,'' Decker said.
Franklin County fourth-graders are doing slightly better than in previous years on the reading comprehension portion of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills that is given to all fourth-graders.
In Montgomery County, scores on reading tests fluctuate a few points from year to year, but there has been no evidence of a significant drop in ability, said Doris McElfresh, director of elementary education.
Lorraine Lange, supervisor of English language arts for Roanoke County, said there has been no decrease in reading scores among fourth-graders in her county.
William Bosher, state superintendent of public instruction, told the state Board of Education this week that Virginia's reading scores for fourth-graders have decreased significantly.
The reading test cited by Bosher is administered by the National Center for Educational Standards, a federal agency that tests students in 40 states. It is different from the widely known Iowa Test, which is given to all fourth-graders in most states.
Only slightly more than 3 percent of fourth-graders in Virginia, representing 150 schools, were tested by the National Center for Educational Standards, but state officials said the results remain disturbing.
Of the 2,719 Virginia students involved in the 1994 testing, 23 percent were reading on a level considered at or above proficiency, a drop of 5 percentage points since 1992, the results show.
The national average for proficiency was 24 percent last year.
Fourteen states had declines of 1 to 4 percentage points, while the others improved slightly or had no change.
The results were not broken down by schools or school systems. Few, if any, schools in the Roanoke area participated in the testing.
Sharon Dodson, director of instruction for Bedford County schools, questioned the relatively small 3 percent test sample.
``Did they have a representative group, or did they have a lot of schools where reading scores have traditionally been low?'' she asked.
Dodson said it would be difficult to speculate on the reasons for the decline in reading scores until more is known about the test sample.
If the scores are dropping, she said, the blame might rest partly with the state's old standards of learning for English and reading.
The Board of Education is overhauling the standards for English, math, science and social studies.
``Nothing comes to mind that would explain a drop in reading scores except that our standards are old," Dodson said.
Lange said test scores might be decreasing because the schools have more at-risk children with special needs because of their educational and economic background.
Many children who might have died or dropped out of school 10 to 15 years ago because of medical or emotional problems are in school today and make up part of the student population that is tested on reading and other skills, Lange said.
``Now we are testing more children, including those classified as at-risk,'' she said. ``We are keeping more kids in school who might have dropped out.''
The decline in reading scores might be similar to the drop in Scholastic Assessment Test scores caused by more students taking the test, Lange said.
Hillery Callahan, coordinator of language arts and reading for Roanoke schools, said new reading standards are needed.
``We are doing a great job with 1950 standards, but we need to change the way we are teaching reading,'' she said.
by CNB