The SOLS before 1995

1
The SOLS before 1995

• Alisa, Beth, Bruce, Jack and Marty

2
Problem 1

• Review the History of Virginias SOLS up to the
  1995 version. Review back to the introduction of
  the term. Provide an overview including the
  revision, reform and accountability processes.
  Remember standards other that 4 core classes.
  Include reference to your text in terms of your
  belief of the model or theory found in the
  development of the Virginia SOLs.

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Why do we have standards?

• Americans expect standards in everything that we
  do.
• We expect standards in the way buildings are
  constructed and roads are build. It makes life
  safer.
• We expect standards in the food we eat and the
  air we breathe.
• Standards are created because they improve the
  quality of life.
• Why should we not expect standards in education
  to improve the quality of life as well?
• (Former Assistant Secretary of Education, Diane
  Ravitch)

4
The Reform of Schools, 1939

• Effective standards in public education are
  deplorably and inexcusably low
• The subjects are being taught but they are not
  being learned
• Values come from learning and in standards which
  operate, not just going to school. Young people
  accumulate credits, pass courses and come out
  knowing little or nothing, it is intolerable
• Research demonstrates that the average pupil in
  school fails to learn but succeeds in passing
• (The Reform of Schools by James L. Mursell)

5
The Committee of Ten

• 1894
• Called for an established academic curriculum for
  all high school students
• Considered methods of instruction and
  assessment among other things

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Interview 1 Science Teacher

• How did you know what to teach?
• Did you feel pressure?
• Assessment?

• You followed the book
• The English Department choose a book and we did a
  unit around the book
• Myths taught stars
• A Day No Pigs Would Die taught soil
• Forget the SOLS. Do fun stuff. Do feel good
  activities
• 1996 The pressure began
• LPT

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Interview 2 Math Teacher

• How did you know what to teach?
• Did you feel pressure?
• Assessment?

• It was based on Units, the novels the English
  department read.
• Covered what they thought was important (but not
  necessarily what they liked)
• List of skills to teach and followed the list for
  Algebra
• Hands on activities
• 1998 The real pressure began
• LPT
• Liked SRA tests and the Stanford 9 because they
  liked knowing how we compared to others.

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Interview 3 Science Teacher - Administrator

• How did you know what to teach?
• Assessment

• Taught the SOLS. I was the only one and the
  principal wanted to know what I was teaching
• 1987 Taught units but still followed SOLS
• Teacher made tests
• LPT (Math/Science Blocks around LPT time double
  up on math)
• SRA and Stanford 9 were worthless

9
Opinions of then and now

• SOLS are much better.
• We know what to teach.
• Kids are learning more
• Teachers are teaching more.
• Hate the pressure but like the results.

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LPT Literacy Passport Test

• Criterion based
• 1989-90 The LPT was developed to determine if
  every student in Virginia was prepared for high
  school in the basic areas.
• Test was given to 6th graders
• Covered reading, math, and a writing sample
• Skills and knowledge assessed were based on
  Virginias 1988 SOLS

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LPT cont

• Developed as a requirement for students to be
  classified as 9th graders.
• All students, no exceptions, were required to
  pass to earn a Standard of Advanced Diploma
• Students (except Special Education students) must
  have passed by the 9th grade to participate
  according to VHSL rules and cannot hold class
  office because they are not considered 9th
  graders.

12
Stanford 9

• Norm referenced test
• Designed to provide information on academic
  achievement of Virginia Students as compared with
  those in other states
• Reading vocabulary and comprehension
• Math problem solving and procedures
• Language prewriting, composing and editing
• You didnt teach to the test as with SOLS but you
  didnt want your students looking bad compared to
  other schools around the nation.

13
Iowa Testing

• Measures the skills and achievement of students
  from kindergarten through grade 8
• Tests include reading, language arts, math,
  social studies, and science
• Provides information about development of
  students skills and their critical thinking
  skills.

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National Assessment of Educational Progress

• Assesses what student should know about
  geography, reading, writing, math, science,
  history, the arts, and civics
• 1969 surveyed achievement at ages 9, 13 and 17
• 1980s grades 4, 8, 12
• Not given to every school but to random schools
  nationwide
• 1994 Virginias NAEP reading scores are the
  lowest in the nation.
• 1995 Virginia first adopts the SOLS in response
  to NAEP test scores

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SOLS other than 4 core content areas

• Pe/Health 2000
• Music 1983, 1987, 2000
• Art 1989, 2000
• Correlated Dance and Theater to the 1995 SOLs

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The Remainder of the presentation..

• A Nation at Risk and the early SOLS
• Charlottesville Summit and NCTM standards
• SCANS Report
• Goals 2000 Act and the Allen Administration

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A NATION AT RISK

• Published in 1983 by the National Commission on
  Excellence in Education

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I. Goals

• Asses the quality of teaching and learning
• Compare American education with other
  industrialized nations
• Study the relationship between high school
  achievement and college admissions
• Identify programs which result in student success
  in college
• Assess how reforms have influenced student
  achievement

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II. Findings

• Regarding Content
• - No central purpose in curriculum
• - Cafeteria style curriculum
• - Too much student choice
• - Too many electives in non - core areas
• Expectations
• - measured through graduation requirements,
• exams and college admissions

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• Deficiencies
• - not enough homework
• - not enough time in class
• - no foreign language requirements
• - too many electives
• - minimums becoming maximums
• - weak textbooks

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• Regarding Teaching
• - mismanaged time in classrooms
• - unqualified teachers
• - subject content not being taught
• - shortage of teachers in significant areas
• - study skills not being developed

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III. Recommendations

• Teach the Core Curriculum
• Use outside resources to aid education
• Introduce foreign language sooner
• Elementary education should involve fundamentals
  and a love of learning
• Vocational and fine art courses should be
  included in high school

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• - More homework
• - Instruction in study skills
• - Longer school year and school day
• - Removal of students who have no interest
• in learning
• - Ability grouping
• - Teachers should teach

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National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

• NTCM, 1986

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What did NCTM do?

• They took the first step toward preparing todays
  students for tomorrows challenges.
• It charged the Commission on Standards for School
  Mathematics to create
• A coherent definition of what it means to be
  mathematically literate, and
• A set of standards that would guide efforts to
  revise and improve school mathematics curricula
  and to evaluate the success of mathematics
  reform.

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NCTM developed its Standards in response to a
recognized need for change in the teaching and
learning of mathematics.
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The NCTM Standards

• Learn to value mathematics.
• Learn to reason mathematically.
• Learn to communicate mathematically.
• Become confident of their mathematical abilities.
• Become mathematical problem solvers.

28
The Charlottesville Education Summit, September
1989

• President George Bush
• The Education President
• And
• The Nations 50 Governors

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Why?

• There were growing concerns about the educational
  preparation of our youth.

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What else contributed?

• A Nation at Risk
• Insignificant improvement of student achievement
  scores
• The need of better educated labor to remain
  competitive globally
• A need to stimulate public support for state and
  local schooling
• Highly controversial wall charts

31
Six Goals

• Annually increasing the number of children served
  by preschool programs with the goal of serving
  all at-risk 4-year-olds by 1995.
• Raising the basic skills achievement of all
  students to at least their grade level, and
  reducing the gap between the test scores of
  minority and white children by 1993.
• Improving the high school graduation rate every
  year and reducing the number of illiterate
  Americans.

32
Six Goals, continued

• Improving the performance of American students in
  mathematics, science, and foreign languages until
  it exceeds that of students from other
  industrialized nations.
• Increasing college participation, particularly by
  minorities, and specifically by reducing the
  current imbalance between grants and loans.
• Recruiting more new teachers, particularly
  minority teachers, to ease the impending teacher
  shortage, and taking other steps to upgrade the
  status of the profession.

33
The President and the Nations Governors Agreed
to

• Establish a process for setting national
  education goals.
• Seek greater flexibility and enhanced
  accountability in the use of Federal resources to
  meet goals through legislative and regulation
  changes.
• Undertake a major state-by-state effort to
  restructure our education system.
• Report annually the progress in achieving our
  goals.

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SCANS

• Secretarys Commission on Achieving Necessary
  Skills (June 1991)
• Report prepared as part of America 2000
• Asked to examine demands of the workplace and
  evaluate young peoples ability to meet the demand

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Findings Were Disturbing!

• More than 1/2 of all students were leaving school
  without the foundation or knowledge required to
  find hold a good job!
• Echoes of A Nation at Risk?

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Workplace Know-How

• Part of the World Class Standards
• Three Part Foundation
• Five Essential Competencies

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Resources allocating time, money, materials,
space, and staffInterpersonal Skills working
on teams, teaching others, serving customers,
leading, negotiating, and working well with
people from culturally diverse backgroundsInfor
mation acquiring and evaluating data, organizing
and maintaining files, interpreting and
communicating, and using computers to process
informationSystems understanding social,
organizational, and technological systems,
monitoring and correcting performance, and
designing or improving systemsTechnology
selecting equipment and tools, applying
technology to specific tasks, and maintaining and
troubleshooting technologies.
5 Essential Competencies
38
THREE FOUNDATIONAL AREAS
Basic Skills reading, writing, arithmetic and
mathematics, speaking, and listening Thinking
Skills thinking creatively, making decisions,
solving problems, seeing things in the mind's
eye, knowing how to learn, and reasoning Personal
Qualities individual responsibility,
self-esteem, sociability, self-management, and
integrity.
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SCANS Action Items

• Examine creation of an assessment system for
  teaching students to understand what they need to
  know and CERTIFY that they have MASTERED
  COMPETENCIES so that their performance in high
  school may be honored by employers and colleges

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SCANS Action Items

• Consider the implications of the findings for
  curriculum development, school organization,
  teacher training, and instructional materials
  technology AND
• Help the administration establish the
  partnerships called for in America 2000

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EXCERPTS FROM AMERICA 2000'sFOUR-PART STRATEGY

• Part 1
• For Todays Students Better and More
  Accountable Schools World Class Standards
• Part 2
• For Tomorrows Students help communities
  create schools that will reach the national
  education goals, including World Class Standards

42
GOALS 2000 EDUCATE AMERICA ACT passed in
1994under President Clinton
43
Goals 2000

• To improve learning and teaching by providing a
  national framework for education reform to
  promote the research, consensus building, and
  systemic changes needed to ensure equitable
  educational opportunities and high levels of
  educational achievement for all students to
  provide a framework for reauthorization of all
  Federal education programs to promote the
  development and adoption of a voluntary national
  system of skill standards and certifications and
  for other purposes.

44
The 8 Goals

• GOAL 1 All children in America will start school
  ready to learn.
• GOAL 2 The high school graduation rate will
  increase to at least 90.

45

• GOAL 3 All students will leave grades 4, 8, and
  12 having demonstrated competency over
  challenging subject matter including English,
  mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics
  and government, economics, arts, history, and
  geography, and every school in America will
  ensure that all students learn to use their minds
  well, so they may be prepared for responsible
  citizenship, further learning, and productive
  employment in our nation's modern economy.

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• GOAL 4 The nation's teaching force will have
  access to programs for the continued improvement
  of their professional skills and the opportunity
  to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to
  instruct and prepare all American students for
  the next century.

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• GOAL 5 United States students will be first in
  the world in mathematics and science achievement.
• GOAL 6 Every adult American will be literate and
  will possess the knowledge and skills necessary
  to compete in a global economy and exercise the
  rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

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• GOAL 7 Every school in the United States will be
  free of drugs, violence, and the unauthorized
  presence of firearms and alcohol and will offer a
  disciplined environment conducive to learning.
• GOAL 8 Every school will promote partnerships
  that will increase parental involvement and
  participation in promoting the social, emotional,
  and academic growth of children.

49
To have access to funding under Goals 2000,
states had to

• submit grant proposals
• submit "improvement plans" for the U.S. Secretary
  of Education's approval
• receive penalties for failure to comply with
  their own improvement plans
• form "partnerships" between local schools,
  businesses, and institutions of higher education
  and
• coordinate their Goals 2000 efforts with
  School-to-Work and other social reform programs.

50
Goals 2000 also established aNATIONAL EDUCATION
STANDARDS AND IMPROVEMENT COUNCIL to certify and
periodically review voluntary national content
standards and voluntary national student
performance standards that define what all
students should know and be able to do, etc.

• No one was ever appointed to this council

51
Goals 2000 was amended in 1996

• The amendment, among other things, refocused the
  accountability provisions of the legislation, but
  did not change the framework for the
  standards-based reform plans States were to
  develop and implement.

52
With the final language of the No Child Left
Behind Act came the withdrawal of all
authorization for Goals 2000. Just before leaving
town on December 21, 2001, Congress passed the
Fiscal Year 2002 Education Appropriations
Conference Committee report which eliminated
spending on Goals 2000. Goals 2000 no longer
authorized and now no longer funded, was dead.
http//www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200209010.
asp
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Meanwhile, in Virginia
54
Virginia was one of two states to refuse Goals
2000 funding. Governor George Allen rejected the
funding because the federal dollars came with
too many strings attached.
55
Allen reversed his position for FY 96 and 97 and
accepted funding, because, according to a
spokesman, the strings to federal oversight have
disappeared. Cavalier Daily, 1/17/97
56
Governor Allen

• In 1993, appointed a gubernatorial transition
  team for educational policy
• In 1994, charged the state legislators to do four
  things establish rigorous Standards of Learning
  (SOLs) for students, establish new Standards of
  Accreditation (SOAs) for schools and school
  systems, develop a plan of action for meeting new
  standards, hold school systems accountable for
  the performance of their students

57
New VA Standards of Learning

• In 1994, 4 lead school divisions were selected to
  head the process of developing new SOLs

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Lead School Divisions

• FAIRFAX COUNTY MATHEMATICS
• PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTYSCIENCE
• VIRGINIA BEACHENGLISH
• NEWPORT NEWSHISTORY/ SOCIAL STUDIES

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In September 1994, an initial draft for each core
academic area was presented to the Superintendent
of Public Instruction. The standards were then
presented initially to the Standards Subcommittee
of the Governors Champion Schools Commission
and, finally, to the full commission. Following
the revisions, the draft standards were ready to
be presented to the Board of Education for final
adoption. In all, more than 5000 Virginians were
involved in this process of evaluation and
development.VA DOE
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June 1995New SOLs approved by the state Board of
EducationJuly 1995SOLs distributed to local
school divisions
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References

• www.pen.k12.va.us
•  http//www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/suptsmemos/1997/inf
  152.html
• http//www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/VA_Board/bd-mtd-updt
  /mtg1-898.html
• http//www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Parents/ptasolna.pdf
  
• www.riverpub.com
• www.edaction.org
• www.has.vcu.edu
• www.sjraiders.org
• What Should Children Learn by Paul Gagnon (1995)
• The Reform of Schools by James L. Mursell (1939)
• A Comprehensive Guided to Designing
  Standard-Based Districts, Schools and Classrooms
  by Robert J. Marzano and John S. Kendall
• Informal interview of teachers, staff and testing
  coordinator
• http//www.ed.gov/G2K/GoalsRpt/append-e.html
• http//www.policyreview.org/fall95/thhim.html
• http//www.cblpolicyinstitute.org/goodleaders.htm
• http//www.cavalierdaily.com2001/.Archives/1996/A
  pril/26/nsgoals.asp
• http//www.edweek.org/ew/vol-15/28summit.h15
• http//www.ncpa.org/press/allenfedpr.html
• http//www.cblpolicyinstitute.org/lil.htm

62
References

• http//www.pdkintl.org/kappan/koha0002.htm
• http//www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200209010.as
  p
• National Commission on Excellence in Education. A
  Nation AtRisk, 1981.
• Dr. Robert Grimesey, Jr.  Superintendent,
  Alleghany CountyPublic Schools. interview.
• Mrs. Mary Jane Mutispaugh. Supervisor of
  Instruction, AlleghanyCounty Public Schools. 
  interview.
• Commonwealth of Virginia Board of Education,
  CurriculumFramework United States History. 
  Richmond, VA.  2001.