DATE: Friday, October 10, 1997              TAG: 9710100994

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  118 lines

1 IN 3 LACKS BASIC COLLEGE SKILLS 30% OF AREA'S PUBLIC-SCHOOL GRADS NEED REMEDIAL CLASSES AT STATE COLLEGES.

Nearly one in three graduates of South Hampton Roads public schools needs to take remedial courses in the freshman year at state-supported colleges in Virginia, according to a study released Thursday.

Thirty percent of the graduates took a freshman remedial course in math, English or reading in the 1995-96 school year, said the report from the State Council of Higher Education. The statewide figure was 24 percent.

``I think those numbers undergird the need for all of us in public education to stand back and look at how well we are preparing our students, and maybe admit we need to do more,'' said Richard D. Trumble, the schools superintendent in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth public-school graduates had the highest remediation rate in the region, with 44 percent needing help in college. The lowest rate was Chesapeake's 27.1 percent, closely followed by Virginia Beach's 27.8 percent.

Michelle Easton, president of the state Board of Education, said she also was disturbed by the statewide numbers.

``I think they signal a problem,'' Easton said. ``When you graduate from high school, you shouldn't need remediation in basic subjects if your high school diploma has much meaning.''

At a joint meeting Thursday night of the state council and the state board, council officials acknowledged that the report underestimates the expense of remediation in colleges. The study includes only for-credit remedial courses, which are funded by the state. That means that schools such as Old Dominion University, which offers only noncredit remedial courses, are listed as having no students in remedial classes.

The study also doesn't track high school graduates who attend Virginia private colleges or out-of-state schools.

Officials estimated that the remedial courses cost the state $27 million a year. More than two-thirds of that is spent in community colleges.

Both Easton and Trumble predicted that tougher school standards would ease the problem. The state board has approved more demanding curriculums from kindergarten to 12th grade. In addition, high school students will have to pass a majority of new state tests to receive a diploma.

Portsmouth is going one step further - requiring all high school students, beginning with the Class of 2003, to maintain a C average to get a diploma. That, Trumble said, will reduce the number needing catch-up work in college.

Far fewer graduates from private schools needed to take remedial classes. The rate was 9.2 percent in South Hampton Roads and 11.3 percent in Virginia.

Easton, whose children attend Catholic schools, said private schools shouldn't be crowing. ``Let's face it, they all ought to be better,'' she said. ``They both (public and private) need to bring that up.''

Trumble said the statistics don't mean that private schools are doing a better job of teaching youngsters. It's just that those schools can pick whom they educate. ``We educate a much broader cross-section of human capability, desire and drive,'' he said.

Among public high schools, Great Bridge in Chesapeake had the best showing, with 14.5 percent of its graduates in remedial classes. Second was Virginia Beach's First Colonial, at 17.9 percent.

Norcom, in Portsmouth, had the highest percentage of graduates in remedial courses - 52.5 percent - followed by Ocean Lakes in Virginia Beach, at 48.0 percent.

Among local private schools with more than five high school graduates, Norfolk Academy had the best record: None of its 55 graduates who were enrolled in state-supported schools needed remedial classes.

Bob Robinson, who was principal of Great Bridge in Chesapeake in 1995, attributed its success to ``a combination of school and community that places an emphasis on academic excellence.''

``I think it goes to the commitment of parents and students in recognizing the importance of their education,'' said Robinson, now Chesapeake's assistant director of pupil discipline. ``I think it goes to the faculty and staff at Great Bridge High School, who set high expectations for students and help those students fulfill them.''

Norfolk Academy's headmaster, John H. Tucker Jr., said his school's numbers are strengthened not just by selective admissions, but also by a rigorous curriculum in math and writing. ``We require all students, regardless of ability, to complete calculus, and they survive it,'' he said. ``When they go to college, they are prepared to handle the college math course.''

The statewide averages for public and private school graduates are slightly improved from the last report, which looked at Virginia freshmen in the fall of 1993. Then, 26 percent of public-school graduates and 15 percent of private-school graduates took remedial courses.

At the meeting Thursday night, James Alessio, a consultant who helped prepare the report, said students whose parents have low incomes or little college education are more likely to take remedial courses. That, he said, is because those teen-agers are less likely to be steered toward college-prep courses in high school.

Alessio also said that students in remedial courses return to college for their sophomore year at nearly the same rate as others. ``Remediation is working,'' he said. ``These students are progressing at the same rate as their counterparts are.''

But the council and board members took little comfort in the explanations.

``What we've heard is a very comprehensive, complex excuse for a bad job,'' said John W. Russell, a member of the State Board of Education. ``There's no getting around it.''

The report also breaks down remediation by colleges. In 1995, two local institutions had among the highest rates for freshmen - 66.9 percent at Tidewater Community College and 64.5 percent at Norfolk State University took remedial courses.

That's what Norfolk State is doing, said its president, Marie V. McDemmond.

This year, the university dropped its open admissions policy and began requiring most students to have a C average in high school. But, she said, Norfolk State ``still wants to be a university of opportunity for those students who have the potential for college education.''

At TCC, E.T. ``Joe'' Buchanan, the provost of the Virginia Beach campus, said, ``It's certainly more proper for the community college to do it (teach remedial courses) than the four-year institutions, which have research as part of their mission vs. being a purely teaching institution.''

Not everyone is fretting about the remediation report.

Sareit Hess, a freshman at Old Dominion University and recent graduate of Kempsville High in Virginia Beach, said, ``I don't think it's the education'' in high school. She thinks the standardized tests used for college placement may not tell the whole story.

``I do very poorly on standardized tests,'' said Hess, 18. ``I do better on essays and short answers. Your four-choice, multiple-choice and true-and-false tests don't cut it all the time.''

And McDemmond said remediation isn't synonymous with failure.

``It is giving the student one more opportunity to succeed,'' she said. ``I see a student who is often successful after remediation as one person we have saved and we won't have to pay on the back end for.''

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