
DATE: Friday, November 14, 1997             TAG: 9711130510

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Education 

SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:  108 lines

HOW PORTSMOUTH PICKS ITS BEST SCHOOLS

Nine-year-old Pinrecko Artise can sum up in one sentence just why his school - Port Norfolk Elementary - is one of the best in the school district.

``You get to learn a lot and still have fun with the teachers,'' said the fourth-grader.

Artise's opinion - which might be a tad biased toward his own school - is backed up by the district.

Port Norfolk Elementary is one of two schools - along with the Diagnostic, Adjustive and Corrective Center - to attain the district's ``high-performing'' status in a district-wide school recognition contest.

The assessment used to recognize the most improved schools, but during the 1996-97 school year a committee of principals revamped the process. The goal was to make the system of judging schools more fair, less likely to pit one school against another and more cognizant of socioeconomic differences between schools.

The indicators used to tally up a school's score include standardized test results, physical fitness results, attendance, parent survey results and percentage of school improvement goals met.

The new report resulted in two schools hitting the ``high performing'' status in its first year of use - 1996-97 - and seven schools achieving the second tier, called ``successful schools.'' Previously, one school was selected each year as most improved at the elementary, middle, high school and center levels.

Now the process sets a target score for each school and allows more than one school per level to achieve top honors.

Mary Yakimowski, the district's research director, said the new system also takes into account, for the first time, the makeup of a particular school. Schools with 75 percent or more of their students on the free- and reduced-price-lunch program received 5 points added to their score, and schools with 61 percent to 74 percent of children in the program received 2 points.

Yakimowski said the committee did some research after seeing an article in The Virginian-Pilot that showed that raw test scores don't always reflect how well a school is educating students, and that after taking poverty into account, students from some schools were achieving better than expected. The school district's own research showed there was a correlation between achievement and poverty, which led the committee to create a system to level the playing field.

The committee of principals plans to meet again this year to judge how the new process works and consider how the state's new Standards of Learning could be incorporated into the assessment process.

Like Portsmouth, districts across the region annually assess how schools are performing.

For instance, Norfolk has a program called the Quality Schools Initiative in which every school has various goals to achieve in test scores, attendance, advanced placement class results and promotion rates. Schools that attain and surpass those goals receive incentives, those that don't get resources to help them in problem areas.

In Virginia Beach, research specialist Sid Vaughn said each school has what's called a ``school profile,'' in which test scores, racial make-up of students and staff, mission statements and significant accomplishments are listed. Parents can purchase the profiles or go by schools, libraries or the district's central office to see how their school is faring. ``The parent can judge for themselves, we don't try to do it for them,'' he said.

In Chesapeake, the School Improvement Plan looks at school safety, test scores, teacher training, technology and community involvement. Community members meet with planning teams from the school to assess the school, the needs and the goals for improvements.

And in Suffolk, individual schools are assessed in annual reports according to a variety of measurements, including test scores, but not in a formalized program. Bethanne Bradshaw, spokeswoman for the Suffolk Public Schools, said the school district has plans to develop a formalized program during the next few years that will include parents and the business community in assessing school performance.

Barbara Jones-Smith, principal of Port Norfolk Elementary, said the school recognition honors gave the students, teachers and parents a boost.

``It's a wonderful little school,'' she said. ``It helps to have a staff that works together, and gets the job done.''

Jones-Smith said she believes the new system of assessing schools works better than the previous system because the goals for each school are more clearly defined. ``It gives you the opportunity to work within your own confines, with whatever you have. It helps you understand the goals you are trying to reach. It's a tool that keeps everyone on the same track.''

Sharon Warren, principal at the Diagnostic, Adjustive and Corrective Center, likes the new system because it allows more than one school to win top honors, and also because it takes into account poverty rates.

The center she directs serves special-education children from birth to 6 years of age, from across the city. The center received the most-improved status twice during the past four years under the old system of assessing schools.

Warren said being recognized as one of the best-performing schools in the district holds benefits for teachers and parents.

``For teachers, it's a nice motivation for hard work,'' Warren said. ``And for parents, it's a reassurance of what's happening in your child's school. ILLUSTRATION: TAMARA VONINSKI

The Virginian-Pilot

Port Norfolk Elementary School...

OTHER AREA DISTRICTS

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[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]

PORTSMOUTH RATES ITS SCHOOLS

The Virginian-Pilot

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SOURCE: Portsmouth Public Schools

[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.] KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH SCHOOLS RATING ASSESSMENT