
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 10, 1991                   TAG: 9103110293
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SPAGNOLO

STATE school Supt. Joseph Spagnolo doesn't mince words. Announcing plans last September to dismantle the bureaucratic structure of the state Department of Education, he said "we are going to take the department, put it in a box, wrap a bow around it and bury it."

The public schools, says Spagnolo, "lack relevancy." Like "smokestack industries," they haven't adapted to change. Teachers teach in "a time warp," in about the same manner as when the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk and Henry Ford introduced the Model T.

"We need to start over," Spagnolo says. "We don't need to add more candles to the candelabra. We need to invent the light bulb."

In a recent speech, Spagnolo described the school system he'd like to invent over the next decade. It would be vastly different from what parents, teachers and students know today. Among his proposals:

Abolish short, unconnected classes that encourage "memorization of rote facts that yield very little understanding of the principles involved," and restructure the school day into long blocks of study time in which subjects are connected by theme.

Emphasize a core curriculum that provides all students with challenging courses in mathematics, science, literature, communications, cultural awareness and international studies.

Remove - or at least reduce school time spent on - driver education, hunter education, family-life education and "watered-down courses that serve no useful purpose."

Lower the compulsory school-attendance age from 18 to 16, and place responsibility for learning after 16 on the student rather than the teacher. Seventeen- and 18-year-old students would have options: an intense college-preparatory program; "realistic and meaningful" technical education, including apprenticeships in local businesses, offered through local community colleges or universities; or an employment/training program keyed to available labor-intensive jobs.

Reduce the number of teachers , but give them higher pay and the support of aides, interns, and visiting experts and lecturers.

Move away from competitive grading systems and standardized tests that, Spagnolo says, measure little more than students' ability to "regurgitate things memorized."

Have youngsters start school at age 4 and, possibly, extend the school year from 180 to 210 days.

That's quite a list, and it may suffer from overload. The items on it aren't all necessarily of equal merit, importance, urgency or practicality. Transforming it from a daydream to a serious reform effort will require filling in details, choosing priorities, convincing other educators and the general public, and, for some items, finding money.

But Virginia has at the helm of her public schools an educator uncontent with the status quo, and ready to use his office as a bully pulpit for recasting the existing order. For now, Spagnolo's words are merely thought-provoking. Ultimately, they could prove catalysts for great and welcome change.

by CNB