ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 27, 1996 TAG: 9604290025
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Virginia's teachers and schools should be held accountable for the state's new academic standards, but they should not be unfairly punished if students fail to meet them, Lt. Gov. Don Beyer said Friday.
"Closing a school because of low test scores won't help those children learn any better," he said. "The emphasis shouldn't be so much on punishment, but improvement."
Beyer said he agrees the state needs to test students to find out what they're learning, but the results should not be used to widen the disparity between school systems.
Speaking to teachers at the Virginia Education Association's annual convention in Roanoke, Beyer said accountability doesn't have to be punitive until the state and localities provide teachers and schools with all instructional materials they need, including calculators, computers and other technology.
Members of Gov. George Allen's Champion School Commission and the state Board of Education have suggested that consequences for poor scores should include closing schools, dismissing the superintendent and teachers, and removing the school board.
But Beyer said the state needs a "constructive form of accountability" that holds teachers and schools responsible for what they can control. Teachers shouldn't be accountable for students' family life and environmental factors that affect academic achievement, he said.
At Beyer's request, the General Assembly has created a commission on accountability to study the issue and make recommendations at the next session.
"We need to determine how to measure accountability and determine what the consequences should be," he said, adding that the commission wants teachers' ideas and suggestions.
Accountability and the state's new academic standards were a recurring theme Friday at the convention of more than 1,300 teachers from throughout Virginia. Many believe they are being unfairly blamed for the schools' ills, and they fear they will be penalized if students fail to meet the new standards.
The standards are the benchmarks of skills and knowledge each student should master at each grade level. They are the centerpiece of Allen's effort to improve education.
"When you undersupply a school, undersupport the teachers, pick it from an at-risk part of town with extreme poverty and a lack of parents, much less parent support and involvement, it is criminal to write the school off," said Michelle Degnan, a Chesapeake teacher. "It's punishing the victims for the crime."
Rob Jones, VEA president, said it appears the Allen administration and state education policy-makers expect all students and schools to meet the same standards regardless of social and economic factors or funding disparities.
"We know that the winners and losers on the school report card game are going to be predictable," Jones said. "We also know that if you reward success and punish failure by awarding funding to the successful school and withholding funding from the school with problems, the children most in need of help will be punished and those who have it made will be rewarded."
The state should adopt an accountability system that sets realistic expectations for schools based on variables that influence test scores such as family income, educational level and involvement of parents and other factors, he said. It should not approve a system "which places all of the blame on educators for schools that are demographically disadvantaged," he said.
Teachers complain that the state has not provided the money for instructional materials, teacher training, computers and other equipment that will be needed to implement the standards in English, math, science, social studies, history and technology.
"Voting new standards and providing the resources to meet them are two entirely different things. The governor and the General Assembly have done the easy one," said Jenny Peters, a Scott County teacher. "Now we'll see if they are willing to `walk the walk.'''
At Peters' request, the teachers voted to urge the state Board of Education to survey school systems to see if they have the funds and equipment to implement the standards.
Elizabeth Thayer, a teacher from New Kent County, said funds will be needed for training teachers and for textbooks that include the information to be taught in the standards.
"Money has got to get to the classroom itself," Thayer said. "It's going to cost to change. We have hands-on, concrete needs such as telescopes, spectroscopes, statistical counters, improved calculators and access in every classroom for students to use the technology that teachers are to teach them."
The teachers voted to support a bill introduced in Congress this week by Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, and Jim Moran, D-Alexandria, that would allow localities to apply directly for Goals 2000 money, bypassing Allen's veto of the federal funding.
Allen has refused to seek Virginia's $6.7 million share this year because he fears it would lead to federal intrusion into the state's schools. But Boucher, who was given VEA's 1996 Friend of Education award, and other Democratic political leaders disagree with the Republican governor. Boucher, who spoke to the teachers after receiving the award, said it is "unconscionable" that Virginia is not seeking its share of the Goals 2000 money.
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