DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708260203

SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS         PAGE: 04   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: BACK TO SCHOOL 

SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  131 lines

NEW YEAR, NEW STANDARDS, NEW PROGRAMS THE ACADEMIC INITIATIVE IS INTENDED AS AN INCENTIVE, A WAY TO SET THE BAR HIGHER.

When Norfolk public school students head back to the classroom Sept. 2, many will notice changes in the way teachers and administrators measure their performance.

Expectations will be higher and more specific.

This year, the school system officially implements its Norfolk Quality Schools Initiative, a plan that calls for improving student academic performance by pushing schools to meet certain goals.

As part of that plan, earlier this month principals were given detailed, numerical goals to increase test scores, decrease dropout rates and narrow the achievement gap between white and minority students. Meeting those goals will comprise 60 percent of a principal's annual evaluation. If they aren't met, administrators who oversee the work could be reassigned after four years.

Although the measures will be in place this year, they will not yet count, allowing for leeway in negotiating realistic goals during the program's implementation.

For parents and students, the new initiative is intended as an incentive, a way to set the bar higher, notes Schools Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr.

``We hope this will encourage students to take higher-level classes in middle and high school,'' he said. ``We're not satisfied with the academic performance of our students; they're capable of much more. We're setting these goals to figure out ways to get more out of them.''

One of the requirements will be that students must read on their grade level before being promoted.

``We won't move a child up until they're ready for that academic challenge,'' Nichols said. ``I expect we'll see more retention initially.''

High schools students will also be expected to take more academically challenging courses, such as algebra. Last academic year the school system announced that beginning with the class of 2000, all students must have algebra as a requirement for graduation.

Another new requirement will impact some students' extra-curricular activities.

Last May, the School Board approved a minimum 2.0 grade-point requirement for students participating in selected Virginia High School League activities. Those include athletic programs, forensics, cheerleading, debate and one-act plays.

Although the requirement doesn't go into effect until September 1999, the first phase of the program will start this September. Academic advisers will select low-achieving students for inclusion in mandatory study halls or tutoring programs.

In the second phase, students must have at least a 1.3 GPA to participate. beginning in September 1998. By the spring semester of 1999, they must have a 1.65 GPA to participate in the activities.

Previously, students were only required to pass five classes with D's to participate.

In addition to the tougher standards, the new academic year will also bring several new programs in elementary, middle and high schools. Among those are:

The Maritime Pathway schools.

With the help of a $100,000 grant and in-kind labor, students who attend Ocean View Elementary, Northside Middle and Granby High schools will now incorporate studies about area waterways into the regular curriculum of their classes, from kindergarten through high school, in everything from biology to music.

By using area waterways as a ``vehicle,'' students can map the Bay in social studies, research and write English essays about the lifestyle of watermen, examine the environment in science classes, and draw pictures of fish for art class. Field trips may include dolphin-watching excursions or participating in Bay cleanups.

Already planned is an aquarium at Ocean View Elementary that students will maintain and a book on maritime folklore that students hope to publish.

``Here we are in the middle of Hampton Roads, where people have historically made their living from the Bay and the ocean, and we thought it only fitting that a couple of schools focus on what they've meant to our community,'' noted Nichols.

The idea for the pathway ``continuum'' based on a maritime theme came from faculty members at Ocean View and Northside.

``They brought the idea to us,'' said Nichols. ``The teachers and principals got turned on, and we thought it was a terrific idea.''

School officials hope to secure another $100,000 grant to purchase additional technology for research and expand the program to all classrooms in the three schools. For this year, all 600 students at Ocean View will participate, but only selected science and language arts classes at Northside will initially take part. At Granby, the program will extend only to marine biology students.

Ruffner Middle School's Mathematics, Science and Technology Academy.

Teachers in math and science classes will now use a naval theme to broaden the appeal of their subject matter and incorporate more sophisticated technology into the classroom, notes Ruffner's principal Cynthia Watson.

They'll do this by developing a closer partnership with the crew of the aircraft carrier, John Stennis. Students also will get field-based experience at naval installations, participate in the Navy's Sea Cadet Corps program and become interns in the award-winning Starbase Atlantis program. Crew members will also come to the school to serve as mentors, Watson said.

Making studies more relevant is the goal of the program, Watson added.

``The Navy is so vital to Norfolk, and they have so much to offer and want to be part of what we're doing, we felt it was a perfect way to make math and science more exciting for our students,'' the principal explained.

Seventh-grade classes at Ghent and Bowling Park elementary schools.

As part of an experiment begun last year to offer more students, more options, two elementary schools are making space for seventh-grade students this year. Some 75 seventh-grade students will attend Ghent and Bowling Park elementary schools.

Last year, administrators initiated sixth-grade classes at the schools, and the programs were so successful - and received such accolades from parents - they decided to extend it to older students.

Sixth-grade classes will continue at both schools again this year. Normally, sixth- and seventh-grade students are promoted to middle schools.

``We've found that we had a lot of children who had a lot of trouble going into middle school,'' noted Kimberly Gray, principal at Bowling Park. ``Sometimes the maturity just isn't quite there in the sixth grade.''

Ghent's principal, Julia Kidwell, concurred.

``It's definitely better for some children to stay in an environment like this,'' she said. ``It's really working well for us. I'm very excited about it.''

The impetus for having selected children remain in the elementary-school setting initially came from parents, Kidwell added.

``They have really wanted this for a while,'' the principal said. ``Parents have continually said they wished their child didn't have to leave to go on to the larger setting.''

Teachers tend to recognize students in the more intimate settings, and siblings are often able to walk home or ride the bus together. Parents also stay more involved in school activities in the primary grades than at larger, more fast-paced middle schools, they say.

``That's very important during this very critical time for children,'' Gray emphasized.

Although the administrators acknowledge remaining with younger children is not for every student, they question whether the practice of putting young adolescents in larger school settings will prevail in coming years.

``If we continue to see the success we've had with our children, it may tend to trend back,'' Gray said. ``We'll just have to wait and see.''

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu