THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 10, 1995 TAG: 9508100674
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Long : 140 lines
AFTER TWO YEARS of placing priority on safe and secure schools, the Norfolk School Board has concluded that academic excellence must now be the No. 1 goal - and the latest test results prove it.
While the shift is due in part to declines in serious behavior problems, members said disappointing scores on the 1995 state Literacy Passport Test reveal a critical need for academic improvement.
``The results are at a point in our school system that if we don't do something drastically and quickly, we're going to be doomed to a school system that is not where we want it to be,'' board member Joseph T. Waldo said last week during a board retreat at Fort Magruder Inn.
On the passport test, used to determine whether children have mastered basic skills in reading, writing and math, 44.3 percent of Norfolk sixth-graders passed all three sections.
That was the lowest pass rate among school districts in South Hampton Roads, and it marked the first time since students began taking the test in 1990 that fewer than half of Norfolk sixth-graders passed all three sections. Students must retake any section of the test they failed. If they haven't passed all three by the time they reach ninth grade, students can take high school courses but are considered ``ungraded'' until they do pass.
Beginning in the upcoming school year, students will have to pass the test before they can get a high school diploma. To date, board members were told, all but about 75 of the approximately 1,100 rising seniors - just under 7 percent - have passed the test.
Records show that 4,443 city students sat for the 1995 test, including 2,601 sixth-graders taking it for the first time. Most of the others were not yet in high school, but there were 159 ungraded ninth-graders, 48 ungraded 10th-graders and nine ungraded 11th-graders.
While the overall sixth-grade passing rate was disheartening, the percentage passing each of the three sections was more encouraging. For example, 62.9 percent passed the reading test, 68.7 percent passed math and 62.8 percent passed writing.
The percentage of sixth-graders passing all three sections declined at a majority of school districts statewide, a curiosity that some educators have blamed on inconsistencies and the subjectivity involved in grading the writing tests. In Norfolk, the sixth-grade passing rate in writing dipped sharply, to 62.8 percent from 75.3 percent in 1994.
Of more concern was a consistent decline systemwide in reading scores over five years. Board member Robert F. Williams questioned whether it was connected to the city's decision in the late 1980s to teach reading using a ``whole language'' approach, which places emphasis on word meaning and less on phonics, spelling and grammar.
``It may well be that whole language is an appropriate way to teach some kids, but not others,'' Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. said. ``If you look at test scores, there's no philosophy to it. It's clear it's not working.''
Part of the problem, he said, may be that teachers are not getting proper training in whole language techniques, which he said does not exclude phonics.
Nichols unveiled a series of recommendations that the School Board agreed to study, including a proposal to restructure elementary schools, to hold principals and teachers more accountable for results and to open an experimental year-round school for middle- and high-school students.
``I think rigor is the key word,'' Nichols said. ``We're moving toward a system of higher expectations. Just putting in your time isn't enough.''
Board members agreed with Nichols that more attention should be placed on what is taught in elementary school. A recent effort to track elementary schools' performance was ``frightening,'' Williams said.
At Young Park, one of the city's 10 majority-black community schools, only 3 percent of its 1994 fifth-grade class passed all three sections of the Literacy Passport Test in 1995 after moving on to sixth-grade and middle school.
At Campostella, another majority-black school, the rate was 19 percent. Even at Bowling Park, which has consistently produced the best results of the community schools on standardized tests, only 28 percent of its former fifth-graders passed all sections of the test.
The elementary school with the best results, Larchmont, with a pass rate of 67 percent, draws heavily from white middle-class neighborhoods. Next came Taylor, with a similar population, at 66 percent and then Sewells Point with 64 percent.
``The cataclysmic problem is in our elementary program,'' Williams said. ``Our high school program might be all right if the majority of kids arrive ready to perform.''
Results from the community schools reflect a consistently lower pass rate by African American students on the Literacy Passport Test, a statewide pattern. In Norfolk, 34.3 percent of black sixth-graders passed all three sections, compared to 61.8 percent of whites and 65.1 percent of Asian Americans.
By gender, 40 percent of boys passed all three sections, compared to 48.9 percent of girls. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
LITERACY PASSPORT TEST RESULTS
Percentage of Norfolk sixth-graders who passed the Literacy
Passport Test on the first try:
1995 44.3%
1994 53.4%
1993 52.0%
1992 50.0%
School-by-school, the percentages of sixth-graders who passed all
three parts of the test on the first try this year were:
Azalea Gardens Middle 43.6%
Blair Middle 61.9%
Lafayette-Winona Middle 39.5%
Lake Taylor Middle 42.1%
Northside Middle 52.2%
Norview Middle 39.4%
Rosemont Middle 43.5%
Ruffner Middle 33.3%
City sixth-graders have fared somewhat better on the mathematics
section of the Literacy Passport Test than on the reading and
writing portions. Scores below show the percentage of sixth-graders
who passed each section.
READING
1995 62.9%
1994 66.5%
1993 69.2%
1992 71%
WRITING
1995 62.8%
1994 75.3%
1993 68.1%
1992 64%
MATHEMATICS
1995 68.7%
1994 74.1%
1993 76.3%
1992 76%
Sources: Norfolk Public Schools, Virginia Department of
Education
KEYWORDS: STANDARDIZED TESTING RESULTS NORFOLK PUBLIC
SCHOOLS by CNB