
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 26, 1995                   TAG: 9510260033
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-11   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

MONTGOMERY SCHOOL BOARD ESTABLISHES TESTING, READING AND SALARY GOALS

The Montgomery County School Board began its work session Tuesday night setting one goal for the future and ended up with a list of far-reaching objectives. The impact of those objectives, though, remains unclear.

With Bob Goncz, Mary Beth Dunkenberger and David Moore absent from the meeting, the board passed goals to:

Increase the number of students who pass all three sections of the Literacy Passport Test to 80 percent for county sixth-graders.

Reinstate the reading recovery program that was taken out of schools after federal funding was cut.

Make employee salaries and benefits a top priority during the upcoming budget deliberations.

These goals are separate from the Focus 2006 goals developed by county residents and passed by the board more than a year ago. Chairman Roy Vickers could not say whether these goals will have the same impact on board decisions as Focus 2006 has had.

Last month, Assistant Superintendent Jim Sellers presented the board with a "report card" that listed how students ranked on state and national tests in the past several years.

Results from the Literacy Passport Test, which is given to sixth-graders and must be passed to earn a high school diploma, concerned some board members. Only 65.9 percent of sixth-graders passed all three parts.

An average of 80 percent of students passed the math, reading or writing section. Board member Peggy Arrington suggested setting that same 80 percent as a goal for passage of all three tests.

After that resolution passed, board member Lou Herman suggested reinstating the reading recovery program as a way to lower future drop-out rates.

Then member Annette Perkins jumped on the bandwagon to suggest the board focus on salary and budget improvements during budget negotiations.

When Barry Worth tried to add to the list with another priority, Vickers stopped the discourse, saying he should have kept the board focused on the first issue.

"I blew it. We set this up so we could talk about test scores and now we've gotten into all of this," he said.

by CNB