ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602210019
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
TAKE THE money - and the tests. But don't expect either to provide a magic pill for the challenges facing education in Virginia.
Tough, new academic standards for Virginia's public schools in math, science, social studies and English have earned national notice. They were developed by Virginia educators and education officials, with no mean old federal nanny looking over any quaking shoulders. The result, after some political jousting and revision, seems to be standards that most people can live with, albeit in some subjects more comfortably than others.
Now that the standards have been written, go ahead and test Virginia's schoolchildren to make sure they're getting what they're supposed to get. But fashion the tests, as best as can be done, so that they show more mastery of skills than acquisition of facts. Doing so might help diminish two of the dangers in relying on standardized testing: stultifying emphasis on rote, and lazy teaching to the test.
The Virginia Board of Education proposes testing students in grades three, five, seven, nine and 11, and giving a diagnostic test to kindergartners. Legislators want to scale that back to test in just three grades, saving up to $8 million in the process - which, they say, would be put into schools.
But that sounds more like politics than budgetary or education policy, given that the testing program is the centerpiece of the Allen administration's education agenda.
Members of the Virginia Board of Education are right when they say that, without tests to measure student progress, state standards would become little more than suggestions. More frequent tests could pinpoint learning gaps early, permitting remedial work before students who haven't mastered particular skills have fallen too far behind.
Meantime, as the state sets about implementing tougher standards, it should not be refusing $6.6 million in federal Goals 2000 money that would help. Gov. George Allen's professed trepidation to accept aid supposedly tainted by the federal government's nefarious designs is just plain silly. The state has developed the standards it wants. To help implement those standards, money is available. The state, as Democratic lawmakers urge, should take it.
Make no mistake: Despite conservative complaints about educational experimentation, and despite the fact that the Allen administration is selling its initiative as getting back to basics, the new standards and testing programs are, themselves, another experiment.
There is no guarantee that, if students pass these tests, they will have the education needed to become informed and active citizens or to compete successfully in a job market that increasingly values critical thinking, creative problem-solving and collaborative teamwork.
Standards and tests are, in this respect, like sending additional dollars to schools: They may be helpful or necessary, especially if they raise expectations and accountability. But they're no substitute either for changing the way that teaching and learning go on in the schools or for upgrading the importance that parents and communities attach to education.
Like any efforts to improve education, the Allen initiative should be scrutinized for its results and revised, or scrapped, as needed. For now, though, the experiment should go on. Public schools need and deserve strong public support - and they should be accountable for their work. Testing can help gauge the job the schools are doing, according to the state's limited criteria.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 linesby CNB