Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 5, 1993 TAG: 9309070132
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
Radford's sixth-graders have topped the state in the percentage passing the Literacy Passport test for two of the past three years and finished in the top three this year.
The city's scores of 85 percent in 1992 and 90.4 percent this year beat out comparable scores from much larger and wealthier school systems in Northern Virginia.
It gets better.
Radford students' SAT scores were the best ever, and the system boasts a 2 percent dropout rate, a point below the state average.
Two Radford seniors were National Merit Scholarship semifinalists this year.
About 85 percent of Radford High School graduates continue their educations, one of the highest rates in the state and tops in the New River Valley.
If Superintendent Michael Wright were a boastful sort, he'd claim bragging rights over his better-heeled, city cousins in Northern Virginia.
He's just not the type.
Wright would rather the praise come from someone else.
It has.
In an editorial entitled "Those darn yokels" [see Page 3], the Arlington Journal suggested that Radford might even be able to teach Northern Virginia a thing or two.
Wright's not so sure. Besides, with a front office professional staff of just four, he's already got his hands full.
So, what is Radford's secret?
"I think it's the people, both students and educators," said Wright, who has worked in five school systems around Virginia.
He's been an administrator in Radford since 1980 and superintendent since 1988.
Part of Radford's secret is its demographics. Many of its pupils come from well-educated families connected to Radford University or the city's medical community. Almost 30 percent of the city's adults hold college degrees. Fewer than 12 percent have less than a ninth-grade education, compared to more than 20 percent in Pulaski County and 13.4 percent in Montgomery County.
School Board Chairman Guy Gentry credits a high level of parental involvement. "Where parents are involved, there is academic success," he said.
That Radford now finds itself the object of Northern Virginia's envy is the ultimate irony. Rural and smaller districts like Wright's - feeling overlooked and underfunded - long have envied the money Northern Virginia communities seem to lavish on well-equipped schools and well-paid staffs.
Radford is a charter member of the Coalition for Equity in Educational Funding, which has tried to use the threat of a lawsuit to get the state to spend more on less-affluent school districts.
Wright says the issue is "equalization of opportunity," but is quick to point out that Radford strives to use its resources efficiently.
Its annual $4,900 per-pupil spending is about $200 below the state average. In Fairfax County, the figure is about $6,700; in Arlington, around $8,600.
"It's one thing to look at student achievement. It's another to look at opportunity," Wright said.
He and Gentry feel their system's size of just under 1,500 is an advantage, although both concede that Radford can't offer the range of courses its larger neighbors, like Pulaski and Montgomery, can.
"We have tried to capitalize on our smallness," said Gentry, adding that Radford's teachers know their students better than they might in a larger environment.
"They know a lot about the kids and what drives them."
Wright puts it another way: "I think our teachers genuinely care about students" and work hard to help them succeed.
Small class size - in the low 20s - is another plus.
Then, too, there's little turnover among the approximately 120 faculty members, many of whom now are at the top of their pay scales (average annual faculty salary: $32,500). Wright describes hiring as "very competitive."
It doesn't hurt, either, that Radford is a university town. Wright describes the community as "mentally healthy" and "safe" and says it puts a premium on "education, perseverance [and] hard work."
Both the board chairman and superintendent also talk of highly motivated students with high self-esteem, and parents and teachers with high expectations.
Gentry believes that "success breeds success." Last year, the parents of more than 150 students from surrounding counties paid a token tuition of $100 to attend Radford schools
The influx of outsiders has helped stabilize once-dwindling city enrollments and boosted the bottom line, because student enrollment helps determine how much state money the city gets each year.
Between 1980 and 1990, the city lost almost 350 students and closed one of its elementary schools.
Will success spoil Radford?
No, say Wright and Gentry. But the state's school funding formula might: This school year, the city will see $101,000 fewer state dollars because of program and funding cuts that accompany lagging state revenues.
Wright believes the precise reasons are irrelevant. "What they're sending out here is not enough, and it's less than last year," he said.
Each of the past several years, the city has had to come up with a larger share of the school budget - in an effort to make up the difference from state funding cutbacks.
This year, the city will fund just over half the total school system's budget.
Teacher raises have ranged from minuscule to invisible.
A continuing school budget squeeze could one day reach a critical point where it affects the system's ability to keep top teachers, upgrade educational technology and repair deteriorating buildings, school officials say.
The School Board has pushed hard to get computerized learning systems and other technology into the schools, but equipment requests typically are among the first to fall victim to tight budgets. "Resources are critical," Wright said. "I think we've reached a point where reality has to be faced."
The state can't continue to lean on localities, but must must come up with more money for its schools, Wright said.
"Students only pass this way once. You can't go back 15 years from now and fix this."
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