ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 1996 TAG: 9601310015
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LIL TUTTLE
PUBLIC EDUCATION is a proud institution with a noble purpose. This public institution is designed to systematically transform the naive into the proficient, the powerless into the powerful, the dependent into the independent by methodically training them in the academic knowledge and skills that once belonged only to an elite.
Citizens invest their hard-earned money, parents entrust the future of their children, and teachers pour out their energy and labor to give the commonwealth's children the intellectual tools they need to go as far as their dreams will take them.
Yet there is a growing anxiety about our public schools. The recent National Assessment of Educational Progress test results show almost half (46 percent) of Virginia's fourth-graders are reading at "below basic" level. An international study found that French, Japanese and German students spent more than 3,170 of the last 4,000 hours of public school studying the essential academic disciplines, while U.S. students spent on average only 1,460 hours of their last 4,000 hours in the core academic subjects.
Public Agenda, a nonprofit public-opinion research organization, released a report in October that warns that public backing for public schools "disintegrates at the slightest probing." These are warning signs that make us less confident of our schools and the investment we make in them.
So exactly how are Virginia's students doing? The truth is, no one can give a definitive answer to that question. Each of the 130-plus school divisions sets its own learning standards. School expectations and priorities vary. And student-achievement reporting, mostly in the form of report-card grades, is a subjective assessment by individual teachers without any standardization. Statewide testing is "norm-referenced," which means individual student results are compared to the results of other students rather than to an independent, publicly defined body of knowledge and skills.
A bipartisan State Board of Education has embarked upon an effort to resolve the anxiety that flows from this uncertainty. Clear, unambiguous Standards of Learning, which define the academic knowledge and skills students should acquire at each grade level, were created for math, science, English, history and social science through a lengthy process involving thousands of teachers, parents, business men and women, and interested citizens.
These four disciplinary areas form the base of our competitor-nations' childhood educational programs, and they should be the priority in every Virginia public school's K-12 program. Other offerings will properly continue to round out a school's instructional program.
The next step is testing students against these standards at grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 to give teachers, parents, schools and communities an objective appraisal of how much their students are learning. These tests will be resisted in some quarters because of what they may reveal. That's understandable. Who among us waits for a scheduled mammogram or even a car inspection with joyful anticipation?
But tests are vital to early detection (and intervention) of conditions that threaten us. Waiting until the sixth grade to administer the Literacy Passport Test in reading, writing and math is too little too late. Students who are unable to pass these basic literacy tests halfway through their school career have little hope of catching up and greatly diminished opportunities.
Earlier and more frequent testing can become a much-needed early warning system, alerting parents of the success of their children's efforts, advising teachers and administrators of the success of their instructional practices, and informing school boards and communities of the educational health of their schools
Standards and testing represent the first phase of a long-term process. The second phase, involving annual school-performance reports and school accreditation, is far more complex and can be accomplished only through an extensive public dialogue. When is a school doing well and when is it not? Upon what criteria should schools be accredited (i.e., licensed)?
Schools now are accredited based on adhering to regulations governing locker-room facilities, the number of books in the library, written vehicular traffic pattern plans, etc., but not on how much students learn. If academic achievement is the goal for students, shouldn't academic achievement also be the goal for schools?
What protocol should be in place to help all schools achieve success? Should there be rewards for academically successful schools, and consequences for unsuccessful ones? These are decisions that can't be made without the public's advice and consent.
"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance," wrote James Madison, "and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." Our students must surely be armed with knowledge, but citizens must also be armed with knowledge: accurate knowledge about the health of our public schools.
Armed with this information, we will be empowered to build upon the strengths of our schools, improve upon their weaknesses and ensure that the institution of public education, which most citizens cherish, remains vibrant and effective.
Lil Tuttle, of Richmond, is a member of the state Board of Education.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Anthony D'Adamo/Newsday.by CNB