THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507280179
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Ron Mitchell wasn't thrilled by the news he'd be spending a chunk of his summer in a special program designed to boost his math and English skills. But four weeks later, the Bayside High School junior has changed his tune.
In fact, he's recorded that tune and hopes to have it copyrighted soon. As a participant in the Summer Youth Program, run here by the Southeastern Virginia Job Training Administration and the Beach public schools, Mitchell learned about reading, writing and 'rithmetic while he studied rhythm and rhyme.
``I learned a lot about the music business,'' Mitchell said, as this year's program drew to a close last week. ``But I've still maintained my education, too.''
Most of the federally funded program's 1,350 participants in Virginia Beach and seven other localities in the region are low-income youth who are considered academically at-risk because of their standardized test scores. They spend their mornings in classes and their afternoons on the job. In Virginia Beach, participants worked in the schools. The students, who are middle and high school age, are paid minimum wage for their class and work time.
While the program has been in place for years, Beach teachers put a new twist on things this summer. Rather than having traditional remedial classes all morning with students seated at their desks and teachers at the blackboard, classes also explored the work world. Lessons in music production, car detailing, landscaping and other career fields reinforced math and English, and emphasized less academic but equally crucial job skills - like punctuality, responsibility and teamwork.
``We're trying to link academic skills to skills they need for the workplace. All those things employers want from kids,'' said Linda Love, the district's school-to-work transition specialist.
``We were able to bring academics alive with real world experiences. That's what made the difference,'' Love said.
For Ron, that meant a music class incorporated metaphors and similes along with note values, and subtly reinforced English and math.
For Tonya Rouse, a 14-year-old ninth-grader at First Colonial High School, classroom skills translated into the picnic table she helped build and a custodial job in the afternoons at Great Neck Middle School.
``I was mad at first when I found out I had to come to school (this summer),'' she said. ``Then I came the first day and it was fun.''
Increasingly, schools are feeling the pressure to better prepare students for the workplace and ``school-to-work transition'' has become a catch phrase for ensuring that young people graduate with strong academics and job training and with the intangibles that make them reliable workers.
In fact, as the Summer Youth Program wrapped up its four-week run, a national forum on School-to-Work Transition was being presented in Boston to highlight state and local efforts to help classroom and workplace goals mesh.
Each of the local programs has set up its own academic component, said Beverly Dougherty, deputy executive director of the Southeastern Virginia Job Training Administration. She believes the changes in Virginia Beach this year have been an improvement.
``I think the kids are getting a lot more out of it,'' she said. The students are able to see ``where these math skills and reading skills come into play in the job market.''
Ahmed Britton, a freshman at Green Run High School in the fall, said he appreciated the chance to earn some money while learning, and he was proud to have made the picnic tables in his carpentry class.
``It's fun being here,'' he said. ``I made something, and I learned something.''
Students were given a test at the beginning of the program to provide a base-line measure of their skills and were re-tested in their last week to see if they'd improved. Test scoring should be completed soon.
Teneshia Lewis, an Ocean Lakes High School 10th-grader, took a break during English class to say that she'd been pleasantly surprised by the program and that she'd particularly enjoyed the people she'd met from throughout the district.
``I'd fail the test on purpose to come here again,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by CHARLIE MEADS
ABOVE: Ahmed Britton puts the finishing coat of paint on a picnic
table he and other students made in the landscape and construction
class.
LEFT: Instructor Charles Brown sings a song written by him and his
students in a music production class. Avay Rich records it on tape,
while Ron Mitchell takes notes.
Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Tonya Rouse, a member of the landscape and construction class, works
a flower bed at the Virginia Beach Career Development Center.
by CNB