Education Trends - Part 3
Author: By Caren Cramer

Editor's note: This is the third in a three-part series exploring educational trends in Child Guide's readership area. Following is an overview of the public school trends in Winchester, Frederick County and Clarke County public schools in Virginia. Part one, which was published in the January/February issue, explored Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties in West Virginia. Part two, published in the March/April issue, explored Washington and Frederick counties in Maryland.
Officials from Clarke County did not respond to numerous inquiries requesting interviews, so information about their schools was derived solely from the Virginia Department of Education and Clarke County Public Schools Web sites.

The Commonwealth seems to have grasped federal accountability standards of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation by the horns.
According to the Virginia Department of Education Web site (www.pen.k12.va.us), the state's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) objectives for achievement during 2004-05 were "among the highest in the nation." The site explains that for a Virginia school or district to make AYP during 2004-05, at least 65 percent of students overall and students in all nine subgroups must demonstrate proficiency in reading and 63 percent of students overall, and in all subgroups must demonstrate proficiency in mathematics.
If a school or school district misses a single AYP requirement or objective (out of a possible 29 required elements), that school or school district is not considered to have met the objectives.
Ever since 1995, when Virginia instituted the Standards of Learning (SOL) program, public schools overall began to chart increased student achievement. Successes highlighted on the Frederick County (www.frederick.k12.va.us) and Winchester public school (www.wps.k12.va.us) Web sites include:

Frederick County:
* 100 percent of schools meet the rigorous state accreditation requirements based primarily on student academic performance
* Dropout rate decreased over six years from 4.65 percent to 1.26 percent, the lowest in school division history
* First grade Reading Recovery program showed a success rate more than 10 percent higher than the national average
* Continuing education rate of 88 percent for high school graduates
* SAT scores exceed national and state averages

Winchester:
* Scholastic Aptitude Test scores consistently exceed state and national averages
* Approximately 78 percent of high school graduates go on to higher education or post-secondary training

"SOL tests provide the gross data and some test data is used for dual purposes," says Winchester Public Schools Superintendent Dennis Kellison. "Data (from the SOL's) is used for Virginia accreditation purposes and extracted differently to determine AYP."
Kellison explains that a student, when appropriate, can be counted up to four times for different AYP subgroup purposes, thereby making AYP benchmarks all the more challenging. NCLB calls for continued AYP for all U.S. public schools, with the ultimate AYP goal of 100 percent proficiency of all students in reading and mathematics by 2014.
With the high standards for learning and achievement already required by Virginia's SOL program, these local schools and school divisions are working to better meld the various state and federal requirements - without lowering state standards.

Growth and enrollment challenges
Patricia Taylor, assistant superintendent for instruction for Frederick County Public Schools, focuses on growth.
"Our area is one of the fastest-growing in the state," she says. "If this continues, our enrollment could grow by 500 students per year. By the year 2011, we're anticipating student enrollment at almost 16,000."
Reports published in January show that the Winchester metropolitan area, which includes the city of Winchester and Frederick County, is the second-fastest growing area in Virginia. The figure is 1,400 more than the 91,900 residents estimated one year earlier, and 10,506 more than the U.S. Census Bureau's population report of 82,794 on April 1, 2000. The increase marks a five-year growth rate of 12.7 percent, just one percentage point lower than the state's fastest-growing metropolitan area, Northern Virginia.
"This impacts almost every aspect of our operations, from space and facilities management to adequate and sufficiently trained staff to maintain class sizes our community is accustomed to," continues Taylor.
While Winchester public schools face the same impact, Kellison describes a different challenge of growth - the English as a Second Language population.
"Here in WCPS, we have 27 different languages represented in our students," Kellison says. "In five years, this segment of our school population has grown from 5 percent to 20 percent, causing WCPS to adapt and adjust instructional objectives."
To adjust, WCPS added bilingual staff and works to determine ways to better differentiate instruction, he says.
Although Clarke County is not considered part of the Winchester metro area, information from the Clarke County Public Schools Web site (www.clarke.k12.va.us) describes similar accelerated growth.
According to the facility needs posted on the site, each of the five schools shows enrollment that exceeds capacity.
On one extreme, the expansion and renovation of Johnson Williams Middle School in 2000 positions the school to have only seven students over its capacity of 530. On the other extreme, D.G. Cooley Elementary has no gym, has seven trailers and inadequate common spaces (cafeteria, library) and a student population of 394 – that's 148 students over its 246-student capacity.
Plans appear to be in the works to address some of these capacity issues, such as converting the present high school to an elementary school, and hopes of building a new high school.

Instructional challenges
Like other education professionals throughout the area, FCPS officials believe students benefit from intervention at the first sign of struggle.
"We look at helping students through intervention at the earliest points in their education," explains Esther Morrison, director of elementary instruction for the school system. "We'll identify the needs and get help to students, whether it's extra tutoring or increasing reading skills. In the primary grades, we can see the benefit of small-group instruction vs. entire classroom instruction, as well as the use of centers and the use of technology. We find creative ways to get them the help they need."
One successful program impacting student performance employed in FCPS is Project CRISS (Creating Independence through Student-owned Strategies). According to the CRISS Web site, students learn to become strategic readers and students when teachers teach the process of learning directly through explanation, modeling and reflection.
Over the past five or six years, FCPS began training its teachers in Project CRISS.
"We made this a priority in the core area (reading)," Taylor says.
Morrison says the program "helps student to become independent learners and monitor their own learning. This is a real bonus of CRISS. Once the students get used to applying the strategies, it makes learning abstract content that much more efficient."
Another intervention program FCPS adapted is the Algebra Readiness Initiative, a state program designed to provide math intervention instruction for students not mastering algebra skills.
"This program shows where algebra works in the world and how much more applicable to life algebra can be," says Fran Jeffries, director of middle and secondary instruction. She says the program has been a key to success at the middle and high school levels.
Kellison says Winchester public schools have tried to make larger blocks of time for remediation and intervention.
"One of our elementary schools will have Saturday classes to help students that may need that extra boost," he says. "Although this is voluntary, of the 80 students we identified as benefiting from this extra instruction, we expect 60 to show up."
Building on the belief that there are "no quick fixes," Kellison describes a long-term strategy WCPS has found successful with its students: Graphic Organizer.
"Students take what they learn and sketch it out on paper," he says.
According to www.graphics.org, "Graphic organizers, mind maps and concept maps are powerful tools that can be used to enhance learning and create a foundation for learning."
Adding to the instructional challenges, Taylor admits to difficulties in filling vacant faculty and various staff positions.
"NCLB, while well-intended, has put additional staffing requirements especially in the areas of special education, math and science" Taylor says.
Larry Shobe, director of human resources for FCPS, explains that because of increased competition within and outside Virginia, coupled with fewer teacher candidates graduating from Virginia colleges, "we're seeing a critical shortage of teachers, especially in the areas of special education, math and science."
"In Virginia, to meet the state and federal requirements defining highly qualified, you need a degree, a licensing endorsement and a teacher assessment," Shobe says.
"We work very hard at developing a level of understanding for our new teachers," explains Taylor. "Within the first 24 months, we make an investment of time and resources. We are not simply seeking people to fill vacancies - we're seeking the right people who will return our investment and invest in us."

Facilities and construction challenges
When it comes to addressing the physical needs of his schools, Kellison finds himself in a unique position.
WCPS is financially supported in part by the Handley Trust Fund, which was established in 1895 by a Pennsylvania resident who fell in love with the Winchester area. As described on the WCPS Web site, Judge John Handley left most of his estate to the city of Winchester to be used "for the education of the poor."
Since the mid-1920s, when funds were used to build a school and a library, the Handley trust has provided significant funding for projects that "strengthen and enrich the instructional program" of Winchester Public Schools, according to the Web site.
Renovations and additions to Daniel Morgan Middle School are completed and plans for renovating John Handley High School head up the immediate construction plans for the school system, Kellison says.
FCPS faces a different funding paradigm, one that has shifted to a greater reliance on local funds, Taylor says.
Given the enrollment growth facing FCPS, "we hope our building can keep up," says Al Orndorff, assistant superintendent for administration. "We will open our 11th elementary school in the fall of 2006 and we (have) a replacement school that will open in the fall of 2007. These projects are fully funded."
Like many area school systems, FCPS utilizes modulars to address immediate space and capacity concerns.
FCPS uses two types of "pre-engineered structures" - the traditional trailer modular and a "bubble-type" modular that offers 700 square feet of space, more easily meets Americans with Disabilities Act compliance and is easier to maintain.
"We have four classrooms of approximately 22 children per class in one of these structures," Orndorff says. "It is a synthetic fabric pulled over an aluminum alloy frame. Its exterior walls are 18 inches thick and it is designed to withstand a tornado. While it is a tad more expensive than the traditional modular, these attach to the main structure more easily and indoor air quality is more controllable. Overall, having these has been a positive experience."
In a January statement, Acting State Superintendent Pat Wright says, "Virginia's public schools enjoy a national reputation for academic excellence and innovation."
The school systems in Winchester, and in Frederick and Clarke counties, share a commitment to academic excellence, innovation and community in an effort to help students live up to the state's educational motto: "Education for a lifetime."

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