DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708280512

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SERIES: Back to School 

SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  114 lines

SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS STRESS THE CONCRETE OVER THE ABSTRACT

Welcome to second-grade social studies.

Today we will learn all about the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Then we'll compare the merits of real estate investing and savings accounts.

After that we'll look at examples of nomadic American Indian tribes and will draw a map of the United States to scale.

Depending on whom you talk to, Virginia's revised social studies standards are either refreshingly rigorous or a hodge-podge of unrelated topics taught at inappropriate grade levels.

But students will be tested on the standards this spring in grades 3, 5, 8 and 11, and everyone wants to be ready.

``We've adopted appropriate material, and we're ready to go with it. And we'll succeed. That's it. We will just succeed,'' said G. Charlene Chappell, social studies coordinator for Chesapeake schools, where the standards will be implemented this year.

Perhaps more so than in any other subject area, the changes in Virginia's social studies standards reflect a basic change in philosophy over how and why the subject should be taught.

The first goal of the 1989 standards that districts had followed was ``to provide experiences which would enable students to participate in society effectively and responsibly.''

The first goal of the 1995 standards that districts must now follow is to ``develop the knowledge and skills of history, geography, civics and economics that enable students to place the people, ideas and events that have shaped our state and our nation in perspective.''

The changes are most drastic at the elementary school level. Virginia has moved away from what is known as the ``expanding horizons'' concept, still accepted in national standards. With expanding horizons, social studies begins with the study of family and community, gradually working its way out in later grades to include state, national and world history.

Now kindergartners on up will be expected to learn the basics of economics, geography, civics and history. Under 1989 standards, first-graders may have had to ``identify the physical and social needs of a family.'' But under the 1995 standards, first-graders will be responsible for more specific knowledge, such as the accomplishments of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington Carver, Jane Addams and John Paul Jones.

Chappell has confidence in her staff to teach the new curricula but is skeptical of the standards themselves.

``It's a list of facts and events, people and places that may not relate to each other,'' she said. ``You want to build on (the students') foundation of knowledge, but it's hard to build on their knowledge when it's scattered all over the place.''

Chappell offered as an example the third-grade standards, which have students learning about ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, then switch to the settlement of Jamestown.

But the old standards underestimated what young children are capable of, said Michelle Easton, president of the state Board of Education.

``There is the notion that little children are not capable of knowing the history of Greece,'' Easton said. ``We heard scoffing from the social studies lobby that they can't learn this stuff; of course they can learn it. Children at Sunday school at 3 years old start learning their church history or synagogue history.''

At the high school level, the changes will require that students take an extra credit of social studies for an advanced diploma. Students previously were expected to take either world history or world geography. Now they'll need to take both.

Some wonder if there's enough time in the day to take all the required courses and still allow students to take valuable electives like band, art and vocational education classes - classes that are important but for which there are no state standards of learning.

``There are things we have been doing that even if we like it, we may have to cut it out because students aren't going to be assessed on it,'' said Rebecca Gillette, coordinator of instructional support services/vocational education for the Franklin City school district.

The change in philosophy is also costing districts money because appropriate teaching materials have be hard to find.

Publishing companies generally produce textbooks aligned to the national standards, which differ from Virginia's. Many of the state's concepts are taught at different grade levels than those recommended in the national standards - meaning finding good textbooks at the appropriate grade levels, particularly at the elementary school level, has been difficult.

If the financial burden has fallen hard on large districts like Chesapeake with more than 35,000 students, it has fallen even harder on smaller districts with fewer resources like Franklin, which has slightly more than 1,700 students.

The financial crunch has forced the district to make tough choices, said Gillette. But no matter what the cost, districts don't have a choice when it comes to following state mandates - not if they want to stay accredited.

``It can be death to a community, where economic development can come to a standstill if you don't have accredited schools,'' Gillette said.

Despite their worries, Gillette and other area social studies educators feel they're making good progress.

In Virginia Beach, where the standards were implemented last year, teachers have adjusted well to the shift, said Georgia Christie, elementary social studies coordinator for the district.

``At first, I think, teachers were apprehensive. Now, more and more are comfortable,'' said Christie. ``I have had more and more teachers tell me they really have enjoyed it.''

That might be heartening for Betsy Gardner, a first-grade teacher at Chesapeake's Great Bridge Primary School. Next week, she begins teaching the new social studies curriculum. She'll also be expected to teach her students to read and write, do basic math and get used to the concept of homework.

``We just have to sit down with this in front of us and make sure we're covering them because we will be held accountable,'' Gardner said. MEMO: Staff Writer Philip Walzer contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MORT FRYMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

G. Charlene Chappell, social studies coordinator for Chesapeake

schools, shows teachers the new curriculum last week at Hickory High

School in Chesapeake. KEYWORDS: EDUCATION STANDARD OF LEARNING

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