THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 6, 1995 TAG: 9508060009
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
Determined to reverse a chronic pattern of failure among many inner-city school students, Norfolk Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. has recommended a ``radically different'' course.
During a two-day retreat at Fort Magruder Inn, Nichols proposed a series of remedies, including a plan to restructure elementary schools, remove ineffective principals and teachers and create an experimental year-round program for middle school and high school students.
The proposals reflect a growing frustration over lackluster test scores, and a seeming inability of school officials to motivate the low-income and African-American children who make up a majority of the urban district's 35,000 students.
``We can't just throw up our hands and say, `Poor little street urchins, you just can't learn,' '' Nichols said during the retreat, which ended Saturday. ``These are bright, intelligent kids. I tend to think we've got people seeing kids come from these poor backgrounds, and they're making excuses for them.''
Now entering his third year as superintendent, Nichols has embarked on an aggressive effort to raise academic expectations for students and to increase the accountability of school administrators and teachers.
``We as educators tend to use lack of parental support or a child's background as excuses,'' Nichols said. ``Certainly we can ask parents to do more and we should, but it is our responsibility to take those kids where they are and raise them to the next level. I am convinced that we have not expected enough of our students.''
His plan to restructure elementary schools could be the most far-reaching. In kindergarten through second grade classrooms, Nichols wants to abandon traditional grouping by grade level and assign pupils by academic ability.
Students would advance by mastering a specific set of skills, and the most advanced children could move to the third grade in two years or less.
Grouping kids by ability, known as ``tracking,'' has been criticized in education circles for unfairly labeling slower kids and possibly stunting their academic potential. But Nichols said he would avoid an ``ironclad tracking system'' by allowing children to ``challenge up'' and take tougher courses.
Low-achieving kids, he said, would be showered with the resources they needed to master reading, math and other ``core'' academic subjects.
``This should not be a screening mechanism but a support mechanism,'' Nichols said. ``The key will be the support system.''
Focusing more efforts on elementary students is considered essential. The idea is to provide a safety net for underachievers before failure becomes a frustrating pattern.
In Norfolk, which last year had the state's highest dropout rate, it is viewed as a way to rescue students from a life in the streets or in prison.
Nichols acknowledged that the restructuring plan would cost more and be difficult to implement. Board members, however, said the idea has merit and agreed to study it.
``Parents have been asking us to restructure our elementary curriculum and make it more challenging, and I think this could be the vehicle to do it,'' board Chairman Ulysses Turner said.
The year-round school proposal calls for students in middle and high school to attend classes for three weeks at a time and then take off a week. Students who were falling behind could get remedial help during the week off. Parents would be allowed to ``opt in'' their children for the voluntary program.
On another front, Nichols said principals who failed to improve student performance after three years should be recommended for removal. Central administrators, he said, plan an ``aggressive stance'' toward monitoring schools and will not hesitate to step in to direct efforts in schools that don't improve.
Board member Joe Waldo said the administration should keep tight reins on the way money is spent in under-performing schools.
``When you look at these test scores, I don't want some of these schools having the flexibility to spend this money anywhere they want to,'' Waldo said.
Board members spoke with a sense of urgency, in part because they were stung by the latest results on the state Literacy Passport Test. Taken for the first time in sixth grade, the test measures a child's grasp of basic skills in reading, writing and math.
This year, for the first time, fewer than half of Norfolk's sixth-graders passed all three sections of the test. Adding to the board's discomfort was another year of mediocre scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, a national standardized test taken by fourth- and eighth-graders.
Board members agreed that changes must be made.
``With the number of students we have who aren't able to achieve at a reasonable level of competency, we have to have some kind of radically different approach,'' board member Robert Williams said. ``This is one of the best things I've heard in the past three years.''
They offered several ideas of their own, including a recommendation by Williams that schools teach children the importance of values and moral character, such as respect, self-discipline and responsibility.
While serious discipline problems, such as guns in school, have dropped in Norfolk schools, classroom disruptions and insubordination toward teachers have increased. Williams said such behavior reflects an ``ethical illiteracy'' among children.
``Today there's a great cry for a correction of this,'' Williams said. ``A democratic society depends on the high moral character of its citizens.''
The board also discussed the possibility of incentive pay for teachers who raise student achievement and the need to expand the district's early childhood program for 3- and 4-year-olds, especially for kids from poor households who statistically are more at risk of failure. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Norfolk Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr.
by CNB