THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508100191
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Nearly three-fourths of Virginia Beach sixth-graders this year passed the state Literacy Passport Test on the first try, but the school district's pass rate nevertheless declined by 6.6 percentage points from 1994.
In most districts throughout the state, pass rates fell for the test, which measures mastery of basic academic skills in reading, writing and math.
Although Virginia Beach was the only district in the area to beat the state average for passing all three sections, it also had the second largest decline in the region, after Norfolk. Only Great Neck Middle School actually improved its numbers.
Nancy Jones, director of the Educational Planning Center, which includes testing, said performance must be looked at over the long term. Patterns that emerge help a school district focus its attention.
``Obviously, we'd like for 100 percent of the students to pass the first time through,'' she said. Jones noted, though, that Virginia Beach has had considerable success in helping students who fail the test pass it on a successive try.
The sharpest drop was in writing pass rates, which declined at every school in the division. Landstown Middle School, for instance, had improved by almost 5 percentage points in spring 1994 over 1993, to just above 90 percent. This year the pass rate dropped to just below 83 percent.
The districtwide drop in writing, from 90.6 percent to 83.8 percent, was in line with the dip statewide, but Beach schools remained above the state average of 77.6 percent.
Jones said a change in the writing test format, which this year used student scores from one writing sample rather than taking the higher of two, may have affected the numbers.
A slight decline in reading levels districtwide, however, deviated from statewide performance, which increased overall.
A student who has not passed the test by the end of eighth grade still may enter high school as an ``ungraded'' student. Beginning this coming school year, however, passing all sections will be a requirement for graduation.
In Virginia Beach, students who previously have struggled with the test are eligible to attend classes at the Literacy Center, a program offering personalized attention and intensive work on basic skills. The center has been highly successful in helping at-risk students.
But changes in the program will increase the student-to-staff ratio beginning in the fall from six students per teacher to 15. The original proposal in 1992 called for a ratio of up to 18 students per teacher.
``We're a little better than the original proposal, but not as good as last year (in terms of numbers),'' interim superintendent James Pughsley said. ``We can maintain the quality of the program at 15-to-1.''
Pughsley said the center is needed. ``There is every intention to maintain the Literacy Center and even expand on it.''
The program is being moved from Celebration Station to the Kemps Landing Magnet School for the coming year. Pughsley said that space considerations and cost savings played into the decision to reduce staffing for the program. ILLUSTRATION: Chart
LITERACY PASSPORT TEST
For copy of chart, see microfilm
by CNB