Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 26, 1993 TAG: 9306260192
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But a state Department of Education administrator - seated in the audience at Northside High School where consultant Mark Resetar was speaking - disputed Resetar's claims, saying his speech contained "misinformation."
Larry W. Brooks, coordinator for the Virginia Center for Staff Development, said reforms contained in Virginia's Common Core of Learning and Outcome-Based Education proposals would not create national files on students.
Nor would the reforms generate a new testing system, as Resetar charged, that would score students on values such as honesty and integrity, Brooks said. And no reports would be made available to employers.
"The intent of the Common Core is not to measure whether a kid is honest or not and make it part of the record," he said.
At issue is a reform movement that would shift the focus from what teachers teach to what students learn. Outcome-Based Education, which includes a revised curriculum called the Common Core of Learning, would de-emphasize standardized testing in favor of performance tests and portfolios that show how well a student masters information.
The reforms - yet to be acted upon by the General Assembly - have been criticized for including a section on "critical attitudes," such as honesty, to be taught in the public schools. Critics, such as Resetar, also charge the reforms could cost up to $700 million or more to implement.
"Big-time tax increases we're looking at," he told the audience of approximately 200 parents in Northside's auditorium.
That's not so, according to state Secretary of Education James Dyke. In an interview Thursday evening, Dyke called previous estimates of $500 million "way off" and said the state was still determining what a more accurate figure would be.
He said teacher training costs, the only piece budgeted thus far, would amount to $5 million to $7 million next year.
Dyke called Resetar, who recently resigned an education professorship at Pat Robertson-founded Regent University, a member of the "far right" and said he was among a minority of people opposed to the reforms.
"They are the same ones who objected to sex education," he said.
Dyke objected to Resetar's practice of comparing Virginia's reforms with those in other states, such as Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
Friday, Resetar used those comparisons and others as evidence that Virginia would become part of a national reform movement that would channel information on individual students to federal files.
"This is much bigger than Virginia," he said. Resetar asked those in the audience to contact their state representatives in an effort to stop or at least slow a movement that had yet to succeed elsewhere in the country.
Dyke said Virginia's reforms differed from those in other states and should not be judged on the success or failure of others.
"Everyone has their own approach," he said.
But Resetar, who spoke at the invitation of a group of concerned parents and charged no fee for his appearance, also had his supporters.
State Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, assured those in the audience that Outcome-Based Education was "not a foregone conclusion" and asked Resetar to help him come up with an alternative.
"I'm as alarmed as you are in hearing some of the things that are being talked about," he said.
Brooks said he, too, was alarmed, because Resetar was spreading information that was incorrect. He said he would speak to Resetar after the meeting to make sure he fully understood the reforms being proposed by State Superintendent Joseph Spagnolo.
While he didn't believe Resetar was intentionally spreading misinformation, said Brooks, he would find out if he was by listening to future presentations.
Dyke was not as diplomatic.
"I think they're just passing out a lot of bogus information," he said. "They know it's bogus."
by CNB