Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9409160004
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
So it's exciting to open the paper one day and read about local people who have set out in a quiet, day-to-day way on a project that could transform lives.
In Pulaski County, the teachers in kindergarten through the third grade are committed to teach each child to read and do math at grade level by the time they enter the fourth grade.
Now that's revolutionary. Imagine a school in which each child succeeds; where no child knows the misery and anger of failing day after day.
Obviously, that's the goal every teacher carries into the classroom the first day of school. Why do Pulaski teachers think they can accomplish what other well-intentioned professionals haven't?
For one thing, the teachers themselves have worked for hours with administrators and consultants to come up with a strategy for their Critical Ages/Critical Skills program.
Simply put, the program involves a detailed assessment of each child and special help for those who need it, including a "jump-start" summer program. Superintendent William Asbury did not let a lack of funds become an excuse. Within a tight budget, the schools have hired and reassigned teachers to guarantee smaller classes for these first crucial grades. As teachers focus on basic math and reading skills, they will have no more than 20 children to teach. "That should make a tremendous difference," said Shirley Cook, director of curriculum and instruction. Intensive training for the teachers and increased parental involvement are other elements of the program.
Despite the extra work and long hours, the teachers' voices vibrate with excitement and confidence.
"I feel I can do wonders!" said Patty Baker, a second-grade teacher from Dublin Primary School. "This is what we've been begging for for years."
Part of that confidence may come from the teachers' belief that the administration and the School Board are behind them.
"Now we're given the manpower, the training and the money to do this," said Marsha Simpkins, a second-grade teacher at Riverlawn Elementary School in Fairlawn. "We can ask for help if we have a child who is not reading on grade level. ... . if you can't fix it, you find someone who can."
Amy Brooks, who teaches the first grade at Newbern Elementary School, summed up the enthusiasm for the program: "There is not a teacher I've talked to who isn't just glorious about this. ... This entire process has taken hours and hours and hours of behind-the-scenes work."
The new comprehensive assessment for each child is one of the keys to the program and will help teachers work with children "exactly as they come to us," said Brooks.
Asbury sees these first years as the essential building block for each child's future performance. If the schools don't succeed in teaching children their basic skills by the fourth grade, he said, "we've probably lost them. ... They get light-years behind those that can [read]."
The teachers realize the ambitious goal they've set. But they seem remarkably unruffled by the challenge.
"I don't feel it is possible; I feel that it is probable," said Brooks when asked about the chance of each and every child learning to read.
She also predicted this effort by the primary teachers would result in rich dividends in the very near future.
If these teachers do succeed, it could be life changing for the children of Pulaski County.
You might even call their effort heroic.
Elizabeth Obenshain is the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River editor.
by CNB