THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9503310231
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SERIES: School Report Card
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 133 lines
AT OSCAR F. SMITH High School, the hopes and fears of the city's entire school system are played out every day.
Students are yanked from the brink of dropping out, given help finding a job and tutored to earn a high school equivalency certificate.
The hope is that other middle and high schools eventually will mimic the improvements Oscar Smith has shown in its drop-out rate, as reported in the state's report card on schools, released last week.
The fear, though, is that somehow the problem of losing children to pregnancy, drugs, family problems or the streets is escalating beyond school leaders' control.
``My concern is that there are not enough programs,'' said Michelle L. Ward, who developed Oscar Smith's Employment Plus, a program that offers job and GED training. Employment Plus was expanded to all the city's high schools last year.
Other city high schools are waiting to see the fruits; all posted increases in their drop-out rates between 1990-91 and 1993-94, the last year the report card covers. Oscar Smith was the only high school that showed a decrease between those years, from 11 percent in 1990-91 to 8 percent in 1993-94.
Oscar Smith's decrease has been uneven, however, lending some statistical credence to school officials' nagging concern that they are fighting a rising tide.
``You have so many that you lose for discipline problems, you have so many that you lose for pregnancy, you have so many students that you lose for family problems,'' Ward said.
``I don't know if you're going to find one program that's going to address all those problems. But you may be able to find some other programs that can address some of those problems.''
The drop-out rate is only one of a long list of criteria on the state's annual report card, formally called the Outcome Accountability Project, designed to measure schools' and school systems' performance.
There are at least as many reasons for Chesapeake to celebrate its performance as to lament. The city is gaining, for example, in the number of sixth-graders who pass the state's Literacy Passport Test. More non-college bound students are completing work training programs, attendance is on the rise and more students are taking a foreign language before the ninth grade, considered important for enrichment and college prep.
But the small increase in the secondary school dropout rate - up to 4 percent in 1994 from 3 percent in the three prior years - has generated much attention from top school leaders and the School Board recently. The increase translates to about 75 kids.
The number is ``still a few more than we'd like, bottom line,'' said Robert A. Cowden, director of research and testing.
Michael S. Dunn, 18, became one of the statistics when he dropped out of Oscar Smith in the ninth grade.
``I think it needs to be handled at a lower grade level,'' said Dunn, who is enrolled in Oscar Smith's Employment Plus program. ``If it was taught to me much younger, I would have had a different view of dropping out; because when you get to high school, there's a lot of pressure, and a lot of people just can't handle it.''
School officials now are examining the effectiveness of Employment Plus, and considering other ways to help potential dropouts, such as a program for pregnant teens at Oscar Smith High.
A computer analysis of Chesapeake's performance on the state report card, compared with five other school districts of relatively similar demographics, shows that the city may have a couple of other reasons for concern.
Compared to its peers and the state average, over the past four years Chesapeake showed far less improvement in the percentage of students earning an advanced studies diploma. The city declined slightly between 1990-91 and 1993-93 in the percentage of minority students earning the college prep diploma.
Manassas Park and Spotsylvania topped the list of Chesapeake's peer school districts in increasing the percentage of students earning an advanced diploma. Gloucester made significant gains in minority students earning the diploma.
Some of that phenomenon could be explained by the small size of those districts, particularly tiny Manassas Park. In districts with relatively few students, even small gains in numbers may show up as large percentage increases, giving the appearance that they are making greater strides than districts with larger student populations.
Even discounting those two districts, however, Chesapeake's improvement by one percentage point in kids earning an advanced diploma fell below the average state gain of 5 points and increases of 6 and 4 points respectively in Henrico County and Hampton, which have significant numbers of students.
Superintendent C. Fred Bateman has asked school principals to examine their schools' report cards and find weaknesses.
``His concern is that we use the results in a diagnostic way,'' said William E. Russell, assistant superintendent for instruction.
``We take a look at the numbers and say, `What does this indicate?' '' Russell said. ``Then we get together with the school folks and determine the appropriate course of action.''
The analysis shows several areas of strength for city schools.
Among its peers, Chesapeake made some of the biggest gains in training kids for the world of work.
Between 1990-91 and 1993-94, Chesapeake schools posted an improvement of 11 percentage points - from 55 to 66 - in the number of 12th-graders who reported having taken a keyboarding or typing class, considered an important job skill.
Also between 1990-91 and 1993-94, Chesapeake gained 17 percentage points in the number of non-college bound students who completed a vocational training program.
School guidance counselors have been urging students not to take just a smattering of vocational courses, but to sign up for a specific program that will give them a job skill.
``I'm real proud of that one,'' Bateman said.
City schools also significantly improved the number of sixth-graders who passed all sections of the state's Literacy Passport Test, a measure of reading, writing and math skills. Between 1991-92 and 1993-94, the pass rate increased by 8 percentage points, from 60 to 68, although that's still below the state average of 70 percent last year. Scores for 1990-91 were not counted, because of an adjustment in the state's scoring of the tests. MEMO: Related story on page 13.
School Report Card
Opportunities and threats for Chesapeake schools
For complete information see microfilm
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Michelle Ward developed Oscar Smith's job and GED training program.
Michael Dunn looks over a test in the Employment Plus class.
Chart
How Chesapeake Compares to "Peer" School Systems
For complete information see microfilm
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE SCHOOLS COMPARISON OUTCOME ACCOUNTABILIBY
PROJECT by CNB