DATE: Wednesday, August 27, 1997            TAG: 9708270525

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SERIES: Back to School 

SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  101 lines

A NEW FOCUS ON LANGUAGE ARTS

See Jane read.

Can Jane read?

Can Jane read by the end of the first grade?

According to Virginia's new English Standards of Learning, all students are expected to be reading on their own by the end of the first grade. This switch, which was a third-grade objective under old standards, is one of several changes in the English standards, one core area of the state's toughened curricula, that require that more be taught earlier to students.

The new English goals, like those for other subjects, are more specific and more stringent. Compared to previous English standards, some reading, writing and oral skills are now being required of students two or three years earlier.

The standards of learning (SOLs) were approved by the state Board of Education two years ago, and local districts have been able to implement them since then, but this is the first school year that the standards have been required.

Some local districts already had objectives that mirrored the state's. But school districts have further revised lesson plans to reflect the standards, and, with extensive staff training, teachers say they're prepared. The State Board of Education approved the revised SOLs in 1995, the first change since 1988. Third-, fifth-, eighth- and 11th-graders will be tested on their mastery of the new standards starting next spring.

``What we feel at our school is that whatever challenge we give the children, they are going to surpass it,'' said Denise Vaughn, a first-grade teacher at Willard Model Elementary School at Lakewood in Norfolk. ``Children react to what your expectations are.''

The standards answer the clamoring of parents and educators who've wanted more rigorous goals and higher expectations of students for years.

The area of English is no exception - and that's as it should be, educators say. Reading and comprehension skills are essential to understanding math, social studies, science and technology. The inability to read and write hampers success in school and later in life: Department of Labor statistics show that illiteracy costs businesses and taxpayers billions of dollars each year in welfare payments, crime and unrealized tax revenues.

The new goals are expected to put students to task.

For example, old standards called for fifth-graders to ``speak effectively before an audience,'' in the form of a play, report, readings or role playing. Third-graders will now be expected to give oral reports, use appropriate volume and pitch, and organize thoughts around major points.

``The SOLs have greater weight than when they originally started,'' said Joyce Swindell, Norfolk's senior coordinator of communication skills.

``The original ones were more or less: `It would be nice if students could learn this.' But now it's: `You all are going to do this.' ''

The latest standards reflect a nationwide push, from President Clinton to local school boards, to get students reading earlier. Technology has also influenced the English standards, with students expected to use computers in the first grade for writing and for research beginning in second grade.

Other changes include:

A greater focus on spelling words correctly. The old practice of allowing kindergarten and first-graders to learn by ``invented spelling'' - writing words by how they sound - is no longer considered appropriate.

Teaching research skills beginning in kindergarten by encouraging young students to use ``how'' and ``why'' questions. By the second grade, students will research with tables of contents and computers.

A better integration of different subjects, such as social studies, to hone English skills. For example, fourth-graders will work on reading, writing and research by studying speeches and historical documents relating to Virginia.

Requiring 12th-graders to make a five- to 10-minute formal oral presentation, using visual aids or technology, to graduate.

Teachers have been aware of the changes, and local districts have bought new textbooks, offered training, and have revised their curricula to match the state requirements. The Virginia Beach division, which coordinated statewide meetings three years ago to gather input for the new English SOLs, began using the new English standards last year.

Some school administrators said they didn't have to do too much tinkering: Some of the old objectives were too low to begin with, and many new goals, such as expecting first-graders to read, have been expected of local children for years.

Some districts, such as Norfolk and Virginia Beach, have made literacy and reading priority goals for their systems. They have put reading-improvement strategies, such as Norfolk's 2 1/2-hour reading periods in elementary schools, in place. Local school districts have had reading support, such as reading specialists and tutors who work with slow readers, for years.

Some changes have required more adjustment. Chesapeake has switched its high school curriculum from offering two semester courses, which might have handled reading and writing components separately, to yearlong English courses to better integrate the major objectives of the standards - oral language, reading/literature, writing and research.

Instead of a student taking one semester of British literature, for example, and then a semester of research writing, students will now take senior English, which will incorporate the objectives.

``We're real excited,'' said Noel McCue, Chesapeake's supervisor of English for sixth through 12th grade. ``We were pretty much in line with the state standards already, but now it's better integrated . . . not something taught in isolation.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

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