Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 17, 1993 TAG: 9309170084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Nor can he prevent school divisions - such as Roanoke and Salem - from continuing to implement pieces of the reform movement if they choose to do so, officials at the state Department of Education said Thursday.
But Wilder can, and has, ordered the state not to spend any more time or money on the initiative.
It remains to be seen what will happen to a dozen demonstration grants helping elementary schools across the state change their approach to early childhood education.
"That has not yet been decided," said Department of Education spokesman Jim Foudriat. "We will likely continue the projects for this current year. We feel we have some contractual obligations."
In Roanoke, Hurt Park Elementary School had been a part of the two-year project until it withdrew in August because of a lack of schoolwide commitment. The state has agreed to continue to train some Hurt Park teachers, however, at no cost to the city.
Wilder called Wednesday for an end to the movement his administration began nearly three years ago which would have shifted the emphasis in Virginia's schools from what teachers teach to what students learn.
Known as World Class Education, it was part of the nationwide outcome-based education movement that has spawned organized opposition from the religious right and others. Wilder ordered the Department of Education to stop work on the Common Core of Learning, a document that laid out specific goals for what Virginia's students should know, be able to do and "be like" by the age of 16.
He had the authority to mingle in matters of curriculum, said Foudriat, because in Virginia, the governor hires the state superintendent of public instruction.
That's merely a fluke of Virginia law, said Board of Eucation Chairman James P. Jones, of Abingdon.
The board still sets educational policy, he said, adding that in most other states it also hires and fires superintendents.
Nonetheless, Jones appeared ready Thursday to throw the first clump of dirt onto the grave of the outcome-based reform movement. "I think it was generating too much heat and not enough light," he said.
Opponents of the Common Core - who feared it would "dumb down" classroom instruction - seized upon the component outlining what students should "be like," a list of "critical attitudes" that included respect for diversity and the civil and human rights of others.
They argued that this opened the door for the state to brainwash children with "politically correct" attitudes, such as acceptance of homosexuality and other nontraditional lifestyles.
Nothing could be further from the truth, developers of the initiative said. But the state failed to communicate its intentions clearly, producing a draft document open to misinterpretation and a public relations campaign that paled next to the one waged by the opposition.
"Those who were opposed were extremely well-organized," said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joseph Spagnolo. "And organized all over the country."
Despite a series of state-sponsored meetings to explain the Common Core, he said, "we could never get ahead of the curve in dealing with the criticisms. We are not public relations people."
In halting the reforms, Wilder said much of the opposition was "based on misinformation and hysteria," but concluded that "a better public relations campaign would not be sufficient to make this proposal more acceptable to me and other Virginians concerned about the future of our children."
Neither Jones nor Spagnolo expect to revive the Common Core - at least not anytime soon.
"I think the Common Core is dead for the foreseeable future," Spagnolo said.
Others, however, disagree.
Alan Wurtzel, one of nine members on the state Board of Education, said he'd like to see the Common Core rewritten by a broad-based committee that includes opponents of the draft.
"There's a lot more common ground between us and the opponents of outcome-based education than meets the eye," he said. "We all believe the schools are unsatisfactory, not doing a good job. We all believe we need higher standards."
Jones said the board would take up the issue at its Sept. 29 meeting in Wise County.
In the meantime, other state-sponsored education reforms - such as reducing elementary school class sizes, encouraging more business and parental involvement and granting more decision-making authority to individual schools - will continue, Spagnolo said.
And so will local efforts to move toward outcome-based education, such as planning multi-age classrooms for Roanoke schools and looking for better ways to show how students have grasped academic concepts in Salem.
But as far as developing those methods statewide, said Jones, it is too late.
by CNB