THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409130157
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
NOBODY HAS TO tell Norfolk's five public high school principals that too many of their seniors graduate unprepared for college-level studies.
But a report issued last week by the Virginia Council of Higher Education reminded them of the hard work that lies ahead.
Slightly more than 1 in 3 of Norfolk's 1993 grads who enrolled as freshmen last fall in state-supported colleges needed remedial courses in math, English or reading.
There is, however, an element of good news: Overall, fewer Norfolk graduates last year needed help catching up in college than they did when the council issued its first report four years ago.
In 1991, 41.33 percent of grads were routed into remedial courses. Last fall, the number had dropped to 35.06 percent.
But that relatively minor decline is small comfort to most school officials, including Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr.
If Nichols, in his second year as chief administrator, fails to push those numbers down it won't be for lack of trying.
This year, for instance, he urged the School Board to adopt a tougher attendance policy. Before a student can learn, principals agreed, he must come to class. Last year, on any given school day, about 15 percent of high school students were absent.
``We've got to get them in school and get them engaged,'' said Joel R. Wagner, first-year principal at Booker T. Washington High. ``I think we've got to give a vision to our kids, even before they reach ninth grade. We need to attach something concrete to it, that they're working toward a goal, toward a career, toward a vision.''
To graduate better-prepared students, Nichols also is pushing to eliminate the general studies diploma and replace it with more-demanding courses of study.
Students would have two choices: one track would offer advanced studies to prepare students for four years of college, while the other would be a high-skilled ``tech-prep'' program for those who planned to work after graduation.
Nichols said he hoped the program would be ready for students entering ninth grade next fall.
``I dare say that most of our kids taking remedial courses (in college) probably were not in the college-prep program - they graduated with a general diploma,'' Nichols said. ``We want to force them into taking these more rigorous courses.''
Records kept by Norfolk schools show that only 30 percent of the 1,217 students who graduated in 1993 - 130 males and 233 females - earned an ``advanced studies'' diploma, the current college-prep program. The majority - 798 students, or 66 percent - received a diploma for general studies.
To receive the advanced diploma, a student must take, at minimum, three years of foreign language, one year of geometry, two years of algebra and three years of science. In 1985, only 15 percent of Norfolk students graduated with the more rigorous credential.
At Maury High, serving some of the city's most affluent areas, about 50 percent of seniors typically enroll in advanced studies, Principal Jake Slaughter said. About 75 percent of each graduating class, however, goes on to attend college.
``The students in the advanced studies program rarely, if ever, need remediation,'' Slaughter said.
New programs and methods are being tried constantly in Norfolk schools. Seventh-graders, for instance, at Blair and Norview middle schools this year can take algebra for the first time. All eight middle schools are offering a new ``first-generation'' program to provide support and guidance to talented students whose parents never attended college.
More middle-schoolers are being encouraged to take the PSAT, a precursor to the SAT, a college-admissions test taken by seniors.
Booker T. and Lake Taylor High and Azalea Gardens Middle are participating in a new program called AVID - Advancement by Individual Determination - that combines tough course work with guidance to boost the number of minority students attending four-year colleges.
Next year, Lake Taylor will be grouped with Fairlawn and St. Helena elementary schools for a new project called PRIME. Students will begin taking advanced courses in their early years, and by the time they finish high school can qualify for two years of college credit, said John Osteen, Lake Taylor principal.
Lake Taylor has made some of the system's most impressive gains in preparing kids for college. Council of Higher Education statistics show that the number of Lake Taylor grads who needed remedial courses as college freshmen dropped to 30.43 percent in 1993 from 47.06 percent in 1991.
Osteen credited the success to a higher number of students taking advanced placement courses. Promising students who lacked the required math or science backgrounds were allowed into the courses and given more time and attention to succeed, Osteen said.
At Norview, which is participating in a program called ATLAS to encourage ``authentic'' learning and teaching, ninth-graders this year are assigned to interdisciplinary class ``clusters'' in science, social studies and English. The idea is to help students make connections across subjects and to supply information they can use.
``We want students to leave class being able to apply their knowledge in some fashion rather than just being rote memorizers,'' Principal Majorie L. Stealey said.
In addition, Norview is piloting ``block scheduling'' for Norfolk schools this year. Instead of attending all their classes daily, as in the past, students are studying fewer subjects each day but spending more time in class.
``Teachers can really get into teaching - we've never had the time before, it was `hurry-up and go,' '' Stealey said.
A new systemwide effort attempts to link students' progress from kindergarten through high school, an approach reflected in Nichols' central office reorganization last spring.
Nichols ditched a previous system whereby an assistant superintendent was responsible for only one area of education, such as elementary schools. In its place, he created a Division of School Governance in which three directors and an assistant superintendent oversee a chain of schools that feeds students from one level to the next.
Booker T.'s Wagner said he plans to share information and work more closely with principals at the elementary and middle schools that supply students to him.
``We're trying to hit these problems head on,'' Wagner said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
NOT READY FOR COLLEGE
Source: Virginia Council of Higher Education
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB