THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602230438
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
In action that will substantially raise the academic bar for public school students, the School Board voted unanimously Thursday to eliminate a diploma that about half of the city's graduates now receive.
Board members said they decided to ditch the so-called general diploma because it allowed too many students to coast through school and leave unprepared for college or the work force. Students can get the statewide general diploma by completing 21 credit hours in high school, the minimum amount of work required in Virginia to graduate.
The move puts Norfolk on the cutting edge of reform efforts in Virginia to toughen academic standards and improve student achievement, officials said.
``I think we have an obligation to students, parents and taxpayers to ensure that 12 years in school results in something other than a meaningless piece of paper,'' board member Anita O. Poston said after the vote. ``What we're saying is that the minimum is not enough.''
The Class of 2000 - students who now are in eighth grade - will be the first to feel the impact of the board's decision.
To graduate, they all will have to pass algebra, and they can expect to face higher-level courses in English and science. Advanced college-bound students will be be required to take an essay-writing class and at least three years of a foreign language.
Administrators said middle schools are sending letters to parents of eighth-graders inviting them to meet with school guidance counselors to help pick their children's academic path in high school.
Virginia Department of Education officials said Thursday that Norfolk is the state's only known school district that has eliminated the diploma. Legislators in the General Assembly this session directed the department to study whether the state should stop offering the general diploma. Four other states already have, officials said.
``I honestly believe this will make a difference,'' said Norfolk Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. ``We are establishing higher standards for students, and my experience is that when you raise expectations for children they will live up to them.''
Students now will be left with four diploma options:
Advanced studies, for the college-bound.
Tech-prep, for those planning to attend technical school or college, or enter the work force.
Vocational, for those who plan to enter jobs out of high school.
Special seal, for special education students unable to complete requirements for one of the other three diplomas.
The board began discussing the idea last summer. School officials bolstered their arguments with statistics showing that 79 percent of Norfolk graduates who attended two-year Tidewater Community College had to take remedial courses in math or English in their freshman year.
But the proposal has drawn mixed reviews from parents, some of whom worry that it will increase the failure and dropout rate.
``It is not fair to disenfranchise the thousands of eighth-graders their right to a general diploma,'' said Ellen B. Beamon, a retired elementary school librarian who told board members she represented a dozen working parents who ``bitterly opposed'' the board's plan.
Most concerns focus on the impact on children in special education, some of whom are able to meet the requirements for a general diploma, and to ``average'' kids who might be unable to pass higher-level courses. Black students, who last year made up 63 percent of Norfolk grads getting a general diploma, might bear the brunt of the impact.
Also, students on the college-prep track will lose a safety net because they won't be able to opt for a general diploma if they fail an advanced studies course their senior year. That means more students may need summer school to make up courses, officials said.
Many parents, though, have applauded the board's decision to better equip students to compete for jobs in the global, high-tech marketplace they will face after graduation.
``It's probably the best thing they could do, because a general diploma does not prepare them for the job market, it doesn't give them any qualifications, except for a diploma,'' parent Martha Shearer said Thursday.
Shearer's son, Nevin, a seventh-grader at Ruffner Middle, said the change could motivate some students to try harder.
``If they actually want a job and to be successful, and they know they can't go for something less, they'll have to shoot for something high,'' Nevin said.
The projected cost for strengthening academic requirements will be modest - an estimated $30,000 to begin, primarily for teacher training in algebra.
Marian Flickinger, president of the Norfolk Federation of Teachers, said she thinks the move is positive, but she warned that the school system has the burden of responding to parents' concerns.
``Change is tough,'' Flickinger said. ``I think that once it's in place we'll be saying to kids, `Look, you can do this.' I think for too long our expectations have been too low for students.''
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOLS NORFOLK SCHOOL BOARD by CNB