ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 26, 1997 TAG: 9704280026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER THE ROANOKE TIMES
STAFF WRITER LISA APPLEGATE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS STORY.
Pulaski County school officials didn't have to worry about a lack of parental involvement at an information meeting on new learning standards.
Hundreds of Pulaski County parents now have a better idea of how their children must meet new state Standards of Learning, but not many appeared happy about it.
Some who turned out for Thursday night's information session endorsed Gov. George Allen's call for more rigorous academic standards for a high school diploma. But most questioned the local costs, what would happen to students who do not pass on the standards, and how fast they are being implemented.
The 450 or so people expressed the same concerns heard by parents and educators throughout the state. Many local school systems - such as Montgomery and Roanoke counties - have held similar informational sessions as the changes draw near.
Many worry that the changes simply aren't practical in financially strapped school systems.
"We have not been able to purchase science or social studies books in this county for 13 years," said Associate Superintendent Phyllis Bishop. "We have to have that money to be able to implement these standards."
School Board member Rhea Saltz said it is obvious that local taxes would rise if the standards are to be met.
The state gave Pulaski County $68,000 to implement the standards, said School Board member Jeff Bain. Then it reduced its support for vocational education by $66,000, leaving only a net $2,000 increase.
Bishop said the school system had been gradually reducing class sizes to improve educational quality. "We had to stop it because we didn't have the money," she said.
The state Board of Education adopted the standards in 1995. Next year's ninth-grade students, the class of 2001, will be the first to have to pass them to get diplomas.
Students in grades 3, 5, 8 and 11 will take tests next week in English, math, history and social science, and science. But those tests are only to check out the questions being used and none of the results, good or bad, will go into any student's record. The first real testing comes next spring.
That testing will be in the same four grades and same four subject areas. Students who do not demonstrate mastery of those subjects by 11th grade will receive a certificate of completion after their senior year, but no diploma.
In school divisions where significant numbers fail, the school system could lose its accreditation.
Parents worried that their children will be tested on material they have not yet been taught.
The new standards do require mastery of material several grade levels earlier than taught now. Material which must now be mastered in third grade, for example, is now available only in sixth-grade textbooks. "Book companies have not caught up with the new requirements," Bishop said.
So, like school systems across the state, teacher teams in Pulaski County have been developing their own curriculum guides during the past year. They have been on four task forces, one for each subject, to produce what teachers will need to help students meet the standards.
Some teachers as well as parents have expressed concerns that children are being expected to master concepts at too early an age. Third-grade students, for example, must "explain the term 'civilization' and describe the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome, in terms of geographic features, government, agriculture, architecture, music, art, religion, sports and roles of men, women and children" according to the first measure in the standards booklet.
Mickey Hickman, who heads the social studies standards team, said one change must be the sequence in which world history and world geography are taught, to coincide with the years students at different grade levels will be tested on them. Otherwise, students who have taken only world geography would find themselves being tested on the history.
Finally, parents expressed concern over whether enough computers and other new technologies would be available for their children to master the science technology requirements.
School officials agreed this is a problem, because the county has many aging schools with wiring systems unable to handle the technologies. Some called it another example of educational disparities, where rich school divisions can afford more modern facilities than rural ones.
The School Board is working with the county Board of Supervisors on a plan, not yet disclosed, for updating school buildings. Again, however, such progress will carry a hefty price tag.
"I get asked a lot in these community groups: Do we really have to do this? And the answer is: Yes, you do," said JoAnn Karsh, a Virginia Education Association representative from Richmond who outlined the standards at the meeting.
"The state has not talked about how we make these standards a reality, and there are lots of concerns about that," Karsh said. School systems must realign their curriculums while continuing to teach, which some have compared to changing a tire when the vehicle is moving.
The meeting was suggested by the Pulaski County Education Association several months ago, and approved by the School Board which offered the added inducements of a dinner and child care at Pulaski County High School.
While the Standards of Learning are now law, new state Standards of Accreditation for school divisions - which will include the learning standards - are not scheduled to become official until August. A final public hearing on those changes will be held Wednesday at Abingdon High School, beginning at 7 p.m.
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