The University's Continuing Education program is now helping Virginia schools to better integrate the state's Standards of Learning curriculum.
The Virginia Department of Education set forth the SOL curriculum under Virginia Gov. George Allen (R) as a way to "strengthen the public school system," said Dennis Parks, associate dean for Continuing Education.
The implementation of the SOL examinations has caused debate over how schools should teach their students and prepare them for testing. Exams are administered to students in the elementary, middle and high school levels, going from general in the elementary levels to subject-specific in the middle and high school levels, Parks said.
The goal of the testing is to have 70 percent of a school's students pass the test in order for the school to receive accreditation. Schools have until 2007 to reach the 70 percent mark before their accreditation will be revoked.
But with the new SOL curriculum, a problem within many schools soon surfaced -- schools struggled to meet the standards, Parks said.
"When [Continuing Education] knew that the SOLs would be implemented, we knew that many teachers and school systems would not be prepared," he said.
In response to this problem, Continuing Education created the Center for State and National Programs for Education in 1997.
Center Director Nancy R. Iverson said its "purpose is to provide professional opinion and ideas about best practice to teachers" to administer the SOL curriculum.
The Center's program has three main themes -- "alignment, structural and instructional" issues, Iverson said.
The first of the Center's themes -- alignment -- addresses how a school now teaches a subject area and then aligns their curriculum with the SOL curriculum.
This should improve student performance because "if a child is tested in a curriculum they weren't taught, they won't do well," Iverson said.
The second focus -- structure -- deals with how a school utilizes their time, staff and class size, she said.
The third focus of the Center --instruction-- offers schools and teachers expert opinions on "best [teaching] practices and how kids learn," she added.
The program works with individual schools to meet their needs because "every situation is unique and we need to make sure what we do is tailored to the school," Iverson said.
Since the results of the first round of testing were released, the University's program has received more and more attention from educators throughout the Commonwealth.
Continuing Education has been "very pleased with the response [from schools] from across the Commonwealth," Parks said.
"Through this past summer there has been over 11,000 registrations" for the courses and seminars, with a focus on "technology and incredibly high demand for reading programs," he said.
The program has worked with almost all of the 132 school divisions in the Commonwealth and is providing better resources and services by going straight to the school systems instead of working solely out of the seven regional centers, Iverson said.
Although the SOL exams have received criticism for narrowing the curriculum that is taught in the classroom. "Education communities are trying to come together to work out" the situation, she said.
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