THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 19, 1996 TAG: 9608160016
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 57 lines
School reform is on the agenda in almost every state. But a new report by the American Federation of Teachers is critical of the efforts so far.
Many states are setting standards, but they are often vague and unenforceable. Less than half of the states impose consequences on students who don't live up to the standards. Only three states make promotion to higher grades contingent on meeting standards, and only nine states link graduation to meeting minimum requirements in English, history, math and science.
Interestingly, Chester Finn, an education theorist at the conservative Hudson Institute, endorses the findings of the more liberal AFT. Finn agrees that the standards are often ``nebulous and lacking in specific criteria.''
To its credit, the Virginia plan championed by Gov. George Allen has specific standards. Tests being developed would require students to demonstrate they've mastered required material.
Of course, setting standards and testing students to see if they measure up, penalizing them if they don't, is only half the battle. The real question is what happens next to students who have not mastered the material. The goal of education is more than simply winnowing the wheat from the chaff.
The goal ought to be to educate every willing student to the level of his or her potential. That implies the resources and the commitment needed for remediation. Virginia has been less of a leader in that regard. Too often it's assumed that poor performance is willful or can be remedied with a stick. It's easy - and inexpensive - to set the bar high and to let those who can't clear it fall by the wayside. But it isn't smart or realistic.
An education system has got to set standards, hold students to them, but also help students meet them. Teachers do that every day, but individual attention for those who need it isn't cheap. In systems that put 25 or 30 students in a class, it's a dream. Yet individual attention is a bargain if the alternative is dropouts unemployable in a high-tech society who are likely to be an expensive and even dangerous drag on it.
The National Governor's Association recently decided to create a standards and assessments clearinghouse that would help educators in each state to see what their colleagues are doing.
Governor Allen and other conservatives have turned national standards into a bogyman, but it is absurdly inefficient for 50 states to each create its own standards. There will be endless reinventing of the wheel to no purpose. Is there really any justification for a Virginia standard for competence at algebra that differs from that for Idaho?
In our highly mobile society, a child may begin his schooling in California, continue it in Virginia and complete it in Illinois. The graduate will compete with workers from Japan and Germany. Setting parochial standards is an anachronism. Unfortunately, until greater rigor is demanded by other states, Virginia may be forced to go it alone.
But it would be far better if the Governors Association could coordinate the development of shared standards. That would introduce economies of scale in the form of lower testing and textbook costs. The money freed could be used to advance the really important work: getting remediation help to students who need it in the earliest grades before they fall too far behind. by CNB