Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 30, 1995                   TAG: 9503300068
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EDUCATION STANDARDS DEFENDED

Some teachers appear to have personalized the proposed standards and view them as indirect criticism, Sgro said.

But she said there was no intent to criticize or imply that anyone has been doing poorly.

``We want to enhance our schools, and the standards are not criticism,'' she said in an interview. Sometimes, the people closest to a situation don't see a need for change, she said.

Sgro said the administration of Gov. George Allen has gotten an unfair rap on the standards, which define what students should know and be able to do at each grade level.

New standards have been developed for math, science, English and social studies. This is the first time they have been revised since the mid-1980s. The standards are part of the national movement toward improving education.

Some teachers have suggested that conservative politics are behind some of the standards in social studies.

The teachers have complained that Allen's Commission on Champion Schools made broad changes to standards that originally had been drafted by teams of teachers.

But Sgro said much of the criticism is unjustified.

She said the commission and the state Department of Education made no changes in the proposed standards without consulting and getting the approval of the teacher groups that them. ``There were no unilateral decisions,'' she said.

Many teachers were involved in the early stages of the drafting, she said. As the process continued, however, smaller teams refined the proposals before they were submitted to the commission and Department of Education.

Some teachers who participated early might not have been aware of the changes by the smaller teams - or that the teams approved the changes that were made by the commission, she said.

She also discounted criticism that the standards focus on rote learning and memorization rather than analytical and critical-thinking skills. She said the standards for the upper grades clearly require critical-thinking skills.

The proposed standards are the subject of public hearings throughout the state this week. A hearing will be held at 7 tonight at William Byrd High School in Vinton.

The state Board of Education will decide whether to adopt the standards, which would be the basis for a new method of accreditation that would be based on academic performance.

Statewide, students would be tested in only a few grades to determine whether schools would remain accredited by the state.

Now, the state accredits schools on the basis of physical facilities, libraries and other nonacademic factors.

If schools failed to meet the academic standards, Sgro said, state education officials would provide them with expert and technical assistance.

The Virginia Education Association has refused to endorse the proposed standards, partly because it believes the Allen administration ought to provide more information on the assessment program and on what will happen to schools that don't meet the standards.

Sgro said there is no plan for the state to start running schools that fail to meet the standards.

The Allen administration wants the new standards to become regulations. The academic standards now are guidelines - not mandatory.

A bill to make the new standards mandatory was defeated during the recent General Assembly session, but the issue is expected to be back before the legislature next year.