ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 27, 1996 TAG: 9607290109
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
TALK ALL you want about the widely acclaimed achievements of public-school systems in Northern Virginia. Strutting peacock-proud today are Highland County and Patrick County in Western Virginia.
Highland and Patrick rank, respectively, No. 1 and No. 2 in the state in percentage of sixth-graders passing all parts (reading, writing and math) of the Literacy Passport test.
Granted, Highland has fewer than 40 sixth-graders; rural Patrick has about 200. They don't have the population or the challenges that some other districts face. This still shouldn't take away from their achievements, or from the reminder that money isn't everything in educational quality.
Highland, which had a pass rate of 97 percent this year, moved up three notches from its statewide ranking a year ago. Patrick, with a pass rate this year of 91 percent, has consistently been among the state's high scorers since Virginia started giving the Literacy Passport tests six years ago. Patrick was No. 1 last year, and the only school district in Virginia to exceed the 90-percent level for sixth-graders passing all parts of the test.
Bragging rights aside, of course, it's not rankings that matter. It's that sixth-graders, in whatever school district, are learning well and ready for future achievement. If you happen to be a sixth-grader in this region who got your Literacy Passport, congratulations. Be sure to say thanks to your teachers.
IF YOU believe the polls, only two out of five Americans think Bill Clinton is honest. Yet he retains a commanding lead over Bob Dole in presidential-preference polls. How is this possible?
It may be that we still have a high regard for integrity, but have come not to expect it from our politicians. Richard Nixon, after all, was re-elected in a landslide, while the righteous Jimmy Carter was rejected.
All of which makes you wonder whether Dole's new campaign slogan - "A better man, for a better nation" - will catch on as he hopes.
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