
DATE: Thursday, September 4, 1997           TAG: 9709040465

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEDYARD KING AND PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITERS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   77 lines

GOV. ALLEN EARMARKS $32 MILLION TO HELP FAILING STUDENTS

Virginia's public school students who fail new state tests designed to measure mastery in English, math, science and history would be in line for after-school help each week under a $32 million proposal unveiled Wednesday by Gov. George F. Allen.

The announcement came a day before the state Board of Education is to vote on tougher standards that, among other mandates, require at least 70 percent of a school's student body to pass the tests to retain accreditation.

It also came a week after a panel of state legislators warned of a ``rocky road'' during next year's session if their concerns about the standards were not heeded. Among their concerns: The tests might demand too much too fast and leave struggling students even further behind their peers.

Allen said the timing of his announcement had nothing to do with the board's impending vote. But his proposal could help assuage skeptical state lawmakers and educators who worry the poorest students will founder - and be ignored - by schools more concerned with bottom-line scores than student progress.

``If he's proposing to put this in the budget to meet some of these concerns that a lot of us have in regard to children who probably can't make the scale, then that makes the situation better,'' said Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk, co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

David I. Joyner, chairman of the Portsmouth School Board and an education professor at Old Dominion University agreed.

``My reaction is: Wonderful. Good for him. That's exactly what we need,'' Joyner said. ``That was one of the sore points with the proposal. If they pass the proposal (today) that will make it go down a whole lot easier.''

The governor said he had been thinking about proposing some form of enhanced program for remediation as far back as December but decided to announce it Wednesday because the new school year had just begun.

Outlining his plan before a group of fifth-graders at George Francis Baker Elementary in Henrico County, Allen emphasized the need for a safety net to catch every student who fails at least one of the four tests.

``Any student who is trying to get ahead, we want to make sure we help them get ahead,'' Allen said. ``We don't want a single child in Virginia to fall behind or be a statistic.''

Fifth-graders are among those who will be tested this year.

Certain details of the program have yet to be finalized, such as how the money would be divided up among the state's 133 school districts or whether districts would be required to provide some matching money before they could receive the remedial aid, said State School Supt. Richard T. La Pointe who was at the announcement.

La Pointe said local districts would be given the latitude to craft an appropriate remediation program. They could, for instance, provide tutoring after school, before school, during summer school or even before the tests are administered if they recognize struggling students.

As many as 83,000 children could take advantage of the program and some of those children could receive up to 2 1/2 hours weekly for 36 weeks, he said.

The only requirement spelled out so far is that these remediation sessions would be limited to no more than 10 students per teacher, he said. ILLUSTRATION: DETAILS

Gov. George F. Allen proposed including nearly $32 million in his

1998-2000 biennial budget to help children who fail new state

Standards of Learning tests in English, math, history and science.

Here's how the program would work:

HOW MUCH: $31.6 million over two years: $26.4 million for

students to receive up to 2 1/2 hours of instruction per week for

as much as 36 weeks; and $5.2 million for teacher training.

HOW MANY: The state estimates as many as 83,000 students across

Virginia could receive the remedial help. The tests are taken by

third-, fifth- and eighth-graders as well as all high schoolers

during their career.

WHO CHOOSES: Local school districts would decide how to spend the