Virginia Beach redefines school 'success'

Virginia Beach's school leaders have embraced a refreshing idea: They want students to be able to think for themselves and solve problems.

Over the weekend, the School Board endorsed a plan to shift teaching priorities from testing to critical thinking. The plan still needs refining and a formal vote in the fall, but it's the next logical step for a division whose schools have consistently exceeded minimum federal and state education standards.

A decade ago, as complaints mounted that tax money was being squandered on high school graduates who couldn't write coherently or figure percentages, Virginia overhauled its education policy to hold schools to rigorous grade-by-grade performance standards.

Students now take annual tests that measure "Standards of Learning" and "Adequate Yearly Progress," with the goal of ensuring students are prepared to compete in the global economy.

But preparing for the tests is all-encompassing. Teachers teach the information students need to pass those tests, leaving little time to explore philosophy, to question normal ways of doing things or look for alternative ways to solve problems. All but a few schools in South Hampton Roads now regularly pass the accountability tests. Virginia Beach has been first to pass practically every benchmark, and every school has been certified.

For all that's been accomplished, however, the phrase "SOL success" is misleading because it signifies basic competency only. As Superintendent Jim Merrill noted, tests don't necessarily measure skills students should be learning. "You could pass SOLs and still fail a kid," he told Pilot reporter Lauren Roth recently.

Merrill, spurred by teachers, parents and other members of the community concerned about the limiting climate of the SOLs, recommended a shift in priorities: more classroom emphasis on thinking, less on testing.

At a town hall meeting held in April, hundreds of people asked school leaders to focus not just on gifted students, but average ones as well.

For years, teachers have complained that the SOLs cramp their ability to show students how to question, evaluate arguments, consider alternatives, apply theories and solve problems.

Students have proven they can memorize facts for multiple-choice tests. The next step is making sure young people are able to write with clarity, argue persuasively and solve problems creatively.