THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996 TAG: 9608060299
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 77 lines
While angry feelings linger, the PTA president of Bowling Park Elementary School said Monday he hopes a controversy over high standardized test scores at his school and at Tarrallton Elementary is soon put to rest - even if parents don't get an apology from the city schools superintendent.
``I just hope it doesn't linger, because we need to prepare to start a new school year, and we need to prepare our students for a successful year,'' Yvonn Hardy, the president, said in an interview.
At a news conference earlier in the day, Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. said he didn't think an apology was necessary.
Nichols, who had called into question high test scores at the two schools, said Monday that he had never accused the schools of cheating, as some parents believe.
Instead, Nichols said he was only doing his job as superintendent when he decided in late May to retest fourth-graders on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. The tests measure skills in reading, language arts, math, science and social studies.
The students' scores on the March tests had ``exceeded even what the most optimistic researcher might have predicted for them,'' Nichols said, and he wanted to ensure that their impressive gains from the previous year could be verified.
Sometimes, Nichols said, he had to ``set aside popular opinion'' and ``call them the way I see them.''
The retesting scores, while lower than the original, validated the students' improvement, Nichols said.
Nichols also seemed ready to put the matter behind the school system. He said he planned to reward the students for their accomplishments with a ``celebration of learning'' party at the Norfolk Zoo later this month.
``It's a thank you for the kids and their parents for going through that extra trial and tribulation and effort that other students didn't have to go through,'' Nichols said, ``and to let them know that `You pulled through and we're proud of you.' ''
Nichols was joined at the news conference by City Councilmen Randy Wright and Paul R. Riddick, who represent the neighborhoods surrounding the schools.
Wright said he was satisfied with Nichols' response and tried to draw a positive lesson from the episode: That ``you can get a good education in Norfolk public schools.''
On retesting, students at majority-black Bowling Park had an overall average score in the 75th percentile in math, reading and language skills; that means the students scored in the top 25 percent nationwide. On the March testing, they scored in the 90th percentile.
At Tarrallton, students initially had an overall score in the 79th percentile; they dropped to the 69th percentile on retesting.
Nichols attributed the drop to resentment among some students and parents at having to retake the test and also because of year-end distractions.
Riddick said the results indicated the city schools were ``headed in the right direction.'' But he questioned the decision to retest the students, calling it ``just totally an insult.''
Riddick said the issue revolved around social class rather than race, since the schools draw from ``blue-collar'' neighborhoods. If students from middle-class Larchmont or Taylor had scored higher than expected, Riddick said, they would have gotten ``glowing accolades'' rather than questions about their achievement.
Nichols disputed that view, saying, ``I would do it no matter which school it occurred in.'' Nichols said that other schools in the past have been retested to validate test scores as part of a ``routine audit,'' but had never received media attention.
Riddick said after the news conference that the testing results show that ``there are teachers and principals that are going to defy the odds, that children may live in public housing and may get free lunches, but they can learn and overcome the odds.''
Bowling Park Principal Herman D. Clark, who attended Monday's conference, attributed the students' success to high expectations, community involvement and hard-working teachers.
Hardy, the PTA president, said: ``It's a good thing that we can put this behind us . . . If they're adamant about not issuing an apology, what else do you hope to get from this situation? We just need to look very carefully at next year.''
KEYWORDS: STANDARDIZED TEST by CNB