Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510090065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Michael Beahm and Perry Hambrick support Virginia's new academic standards for public schools. They disagree on how they should be used.
The state's new standards of learning should be required for all schools and be part of the assessment process to evaluate schools, said Beahm, a school board candidate in Botetourt County.
"Mandatory is not a popular word, but how can all students be evaluated on the same scale without the same minimal expectations?" Beahm asked.
Hambrick, a candidate in Franklin County, feels just as strongly that the standards should not become regulations.
"All schools are not equipped with the same technology and the best teachers; thus, they cannot be judged on the same scale," Hambrick said.
Beahm and Hambrick reflect the sharp division among school board candidates in Western Virginia on whether the new standards in math, science, English and social studies should be mandatory.
The candidates who responded to a survey by The Roanoke Times are almost evenly split on the issue that has divided Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly.
At Gov. George Allen's urging, the state Board of Education has approved the new standards, which are benchmarks of the skills and knowledge that students must master at each grade level.
The drafting of the standards was controversial. Some educators charged that Allen's allies tried to slant the standards to a conservative ideology.
Allen wants to make the standards mandatory for every school system, to test regularly to measure student performance and develop a report card to show how each school is faring.
School systems and teachers would retain the right and responsibility to develop the curriculum to meet the standards.
This year Democrats in the General Assembly refused to turn the standards into regulations that would have been required for all school systems. But Allen said he will renew his request during the next session of the legislature.
The state has had standards for many years, but they have been advisory and have received little attention.
James Jones, president of the state Board of Education, says the state can require schools to meet the standards even if the General Assembly again refuses Allen's request.
The push for new academic standards is part of a national movement for higher standards that has been spurred in part by conservatives and back-to-basics advocates.
Richard Edwards, a candidate in Montgomery County, said the standards should "absolutely" be mandatory.
"Further, certain standards should be at the national level, some imposed locally," he said. "Standards are a given for any education system."
But James Kluge, another candidate in Montgomery County, said if the standards become mandates, teachers may teach to test, rather than convey a love of learning.
"Students are individuals. Teachers and school systems should not be responsible for ensuring that all come out alike," Kluge said.
"If teachers are assessed primarily according to the results of their students, then there will be unhealthy controversy over who gets which students."
Beth Nelson, a candidate in Pulaski County, said she sees an inconsistency in the push to convert the standards into regulations.
"For a state that objects so strongly to mandates from the federal government, it is unseemly for that state to impose mandates on localities, especially mandates that will be costly to implement," Nelson said.
Sally Eads, a candidate in Botetourt County, said she doesn't think the standards should be used as absolute measurements because of the funding disparities and economic differences throughout the state. "I question using them to punish local systems," she said.
Next Sunday: Where school board candidates stand on a longer school day or a longer school year.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB