THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9408090151
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
BACK TO SCHOOL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
It's one of the eight priorities listed by the federal Goals 2000. State education officials identify it as a key element of reform under Gov. George Allen's administration. Local school boards constantly lament how there's not enough of it.
Parental involvement.
Getting parents more involved in their children's education is the key to success in public schools, educators say. And beginning this school year, Norfolk school officials plan to do more than just talk about it.
This fall, three middle schools - Ruffner, Lafayette-Winona and Blair - will test a program for sixth-graders called ``Choice Contract Clusters.''
The program's name, school officials acknowledge, sounds like so much gobbledygook. But the concept is simple, and they think it holds plenty of academic promise.
To participate in the program, parents, students and teachers at the three schools will sign ``contracts'' promising to be responsible for certain things.
Students, for example, pledge to complete homework assignments, achieve at least C grades and maintain an attendance rate of at least 95 percent. Parents must monitor their children's work, perform a volunteer activity at school and join the PTA. Teachers are required to contact parents regularly, assign homework five to seven nights each week and develop a plan of action for students whose grades slip.
For the first year, only about 120 sixth-graders at each of the three test schools will be able to participate. If the model program succeeds, administrators hope it will be offered in the system's other five middle schools and expanded to include seventh- and eighth-graders.
``My hope is that other parents will say, `Hey, that sounds like school ought to be,' and we'll have to create more clusters,'' Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. said. ``I am convinced we are not challenging our kids enough. Hopefully, over time, the expectations will become greater, and we'll move from a C (grade) to a B. I see this very much as just the initial phase of heightening expectations for kids.''
Two of the schools that will pioneer the project have new principals this year - Pamela Hoffler-Riddick at Ruffner and George Boothby Jr. at Blair - and Stephen G. Peters is in his second year at Lafayette-Winona.
Hoffler-Riddick said she hopes the program will prove that public schools can provide the same quality of education offered by private schools.
``In public schools, all students may not have the same commitment to learning and this impedes the more dedicated students,'' Hoffler-Riddick said. ``This Choice Contract Cluster begins to eliminate those distractions.''
At Ruffner, students will be placed in the program on a first-come, first-served basis regardless of past school performance. Students selected will be grouped in ``clusters'' and study math, science, social studies and language arts under a team of teachers.
Even though the arrangement may improve the climate for learning, academic improvement won't magically happen, Hoffler-Riddick said.
``If the parents and the teachers and the students don't buy in to it and truly commit, it's no different than what we've been doing,'' she said.
A beauty of the program is that there's no price tag attached.
``It's an improvement that doesn't cost any money and it could have significant results,'' Nichols said.
Nichols, in his second year on the job, said he knew that public schools began losing children to private schools in the middle grades. He began to ask parents in the district why.
They didn't hesitate to tell him: Their kids weren't being challenged in middle school; there wasn't enough homework assigned; and too many unruly kids were disrupting classes.
Nichols credits one of the parents, Norfolk economist William L. ``Bill'' Thomas Jr., a father of three, with suggesting that Norfolk consider grouping children in clusters, an increasingly popular concept that educators call ``school within a school.''
Thomas has tried to recruit local businesses to provide assistance and technology that might enhance the program.
``I'm sick and tired of this nonfunctional school system,'' Thomas said. ``I told . . . (Nichols) to give me vouchers or give me a school system.''
Until this year, Thomas had been sending his two oldest children to private Norfolk Academy. But it angered him that public schools had fallen into such low public regard and that he was spending thousands of dollars to give his kids a private education.
``I just think that we've got to challenge the kids, and I'm tired of this dumbing down,'' Thomas said.
Thomas, who is black, said he is particularly concerned about the academic performance of African-American students, who now comprise about 60 percent of Norfolk public schools, even though 1990 census figures show that the city's overall population is 39 percent black and 57 percent white. That, Thomas said, indicates that many white families who can afford it already are sending their kids to private schools.
``I'm going to get heat from the black community. It's going to be said that I'm an elitist,'' Thomas said. ``My position is that brains and intelligence is not a race-dominated event. Kids have to have a safe, flexible environment before they can learn. And they must be challenged.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Pamela Hoffler-Riddick
George Boothby Jr.
Stephen G. Peters
SCHOOL BY CONTRACT
Three Norfolk middle schools this fall will begin a pilot
academic program that will require students, parents and teachers to
sign contracts agreeing to do certain things. The responsibilities
of each party are:
STUDENTS
Complete all homework
Achieve attendance rate of at least 95 percent
Attend mandatory tutoring if grades fall below a C
Complete all assigned projects, including research papers,
science projects and an individualized reading list
Adhere to all school rules and regulations
PARENTS
Attend a mandatory orientation session
Monitor and supervise homework assignments
Attend a minimum of two workshops (or optional activity)
Join the PTA and attend at least three meetings per year (or
optional activity)
Perform one volunteer activity per year (or optional activity)
Attend all parent-teacher conferences
Work with school to reinforce positive student behavior
TEACHERS
Clearly explain their expectations for students
Communicate with parents on a weekly basis (by telephone, notes
or progress forms)
Notify parents immediately of any academic or behavior problems
Assign homework five to seven nights a week
Implement an academic improvement plan for any student whose
grade falls below C
Use all available resources and services to help students
overcome difficulties
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOLS
by CNB