DATE: Wednesday, August 27, 1997            TAG: 9708270514

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 

SERIES: Back to School 

SOURCE: Nia Ngina Meeks 

                                            LENGTH:   34 lines

A NORFOLK SCHOOL'S PLAN TO BOOST PERFORMANCE AND MAKE THE GRADE

NORFOLK - As the custodians were putting the final touches of wax on the floors of Lake Taylor Middle School on Friday, Principal Toni Y. Portlock sat in her office putting down final notes on this year's challenge: raising the reading scores for her students.

For many Norfolk schools, reading scores remain average, at best, when compared to others in the region. With the new state-issued standards of learning, Portlock and her staff will be among the many trying to beef up things that are working and trying a few new things, and quickly.

Among the shorter-term solutions: working with the counseling department to stress to students that periodic achievement tests such as the Stanford 9 actually mean something and should be treated seriously. Too often, tests without grades attached to them are taken lightly, Portlock said.

Another is galvanizing the school to pull together to make sure reading assignments are a part of every class.

``The English teacher, the reading teacher, they are not the only ones responsible,'' Portlock said. ``It has got to be schoolwide.''

And communitywide, in her view. Bolstering mentoring programs is also on the school's short list of can-dos. With an attendance rate of roughly 94 percent, Lake Taylor Middle has a good foundation to work from, Portlock said.

``We're not going to concentrate on `excuses.' We know we have students who come from low socio-economic levels,'' she said. ``We want to look at how other schools with such students have been able to meet that challenge. It has to be increased parental and community involvement. We want to go to the community and ask, `In what ways would you be willing to help us?' ''

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