DATE: Tuesday, September 16, 1997           TAG: 9709160265

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

DATELINE: ROANOKE                           LENGTH:   80 lines

STUDENTS IN TOWNS AND RURAL COUNTIES SCORE SOME OF TOP PASS RATES IN STATE 94.5% OF STUDENTS IN PATRICK COUNTY, WITH 2,600 ENROLLED, PASS 3 BASIC TESTS.

You don't need big-city schools with big-city budgets and dozens of educational programs to produce top test scores.

Students in small towns and rural counties in Virginia can compete with the richest schools.

Just ask school officials in Patrick, Craig and Highland counties. Or in cities such as Radford and Salem. Or West Point, a King William County town with fewer than 3,000 people.

Sixth-graders in these localities had some of the top pass rates in Virginia on this year's state Literacy Passport Tests. Patrick County's rate was 94.5 percent - the highest in the state.

``In small communities, everyone knows everyone, and teachers know where students live, how they've done in school, and where they might need help,'' said Wendell Smith, director of instruction for Patrick County. ``It's more of a human thing and less of an assembly line.''

The average for all 133 school divisions was 68.3 percent. The state average has fluctuated between 65 percent and 72 percent since the test began eight years ago.

Students must pass all three parts of the test - math, reading and writing - before they can be classified as ninth-graders or above and eventually receive a high school diploma.

Seven of the top 10 localities have fewer than 4,000 students, including three with fewer than 1,000.

Patrick County has 2,600 students and ranks 82nd in size.

Highland County, the smallest school system in the state, with fewer than 400 students, had the seventh-highest pass rate.

Fairfax County, the largest and one of the most affluent school divisions, is No. 9 on the list of the 10 localities with highest pass rates.

Fairfax has 140,000 students - more than four times the combined enrollment of the other nine localities in the top 10.

Fairfax's pass rate was 82.4 percent, but the rate in most suburban counties was more than 20 points below Patrick County's 94.5 percent.

In Patrick County, the passport test is a priority for the community - from the school board and school administrators to teachers, students and parents, Smith said.

The county's schools provide tutorial help as early as the second and third grades, Smith said. Children are tested on basic skills in the early elementary grades, and community volunteers work with those who need special attention, he said.

Cameron Harris, assistant superintendent for assessment and reporting for the state Department of Education, said students in small school divisions tend to be in small classes and probably get more individual attention than their counterparts in large school districts.

But the state has not done research on why pass rates are higher in many small school divisions, Harris said. Some large localities also have small classes with low student-teacher ratios, but their pass rates are not as high as the small communities', she said.

School officials in some school divisions believe that the low turnover in students and teachers contributes to their high pass rates.

Most students in Craig County remain there for all of their school years, said Pete Controvich, principal of McCleary Elementary School.

Students tend to develop a stronger sense of pride in and commitment to a community and a school if they remain there for several years, he said.

National studies have shown high mobility among students in inner-city schools and, to a lesser extent, in suburban counties. Nationally, one in six third-grade children has attended at least three different schools since the beginning of the first grade, according to a report by the General Accounting Office.

Children who bounce from school to school are more likely to perform below grade level in English and math and more likely to repeat a grade than children who never move, according to the GAO report.

Several national studies have also shown a link between low test scores and poverty.

Statewide, the average of students receiving free or reduced-priced lunches, considered to be one measure of poverty, is 32 percent.

But eight of the 10 localities with the highest pass rates have fewer than 32 percent of their children on the lunch program - and seven have fewer than 20 percent. KEYWORDS: LITERACY PASSPORT TEST VIRGINIA STANDARDIZED TESTING

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