By Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 2, 2006

This week, Catherine Puttre, principal of Herbert J. Saunders Middle School in Prince William County, has fielded numerous phone calls from parents of sixth- and seventh-graders, all asking one question: Why was my child's mathematics score on the state Standards of Learning exam so low?

"This has not been good for us. Some of these parents' kids have not failed before," Puttre said yesterday. "I tell them that we'll be using some intervention, and we'll go back and reteach. We assure parents, and they're comfortable with that."

After state test results released Thursday showed that just 51 percent of sixth-graders and 44 percent of seventh-graders passed in math, several educators in Northern Virginia schools said they will spend the next academic year figuring out how to make a better showing next year.

School officials said they will analyze which parts of the new exams the students fumbled and collaborate on strategies to boost pass rates. In some schools, officials said, teachers and administrators will conduct more classroom visits; in others, the curriculum will be revamped so students will have to explain in writing how they arrive at answers rather than simply solving them.

This year, for the first time, the state tested elementary and middle school students in all grades from third through eighth. Previously, it tested only in third, fifth and eighth grades. The new tests were so rigorous, officials said, that they contributed to a sharp rise in the number of schools in major Northern Virginia districts that failed to meet the annual performance standards of the federal No Child Left Behind law. The total rose to 71 schools from 53 the year before.

But not all Virginia schools that repeatedly fail to meet the federal goal of "adequate yearly progress," or AYP, face the same consequences. Those designated to receive federal Title I funding to help low-income students must allow students to transfer to better schools or provide tutors at no cost to the students if AYP is not made at least two years in a row.

Schools that are not designated to receive Title I funding do not face such sanctions.

Even so, many non-Title I schools are falling short of performance targets.

For instance, in Arlington County, Jefferson Middle School has failed to make AYP for three years in a row; in Prince William, Fred Lynn and Godwin middle schools have also failed to meet the benchmark for three years in a row. In Fairfax County, Glasgow, Herndon, Twain, Liberty, Hughes and Whitman middle schools failed three years in a row.

All schools are required at least to implement "corrective action plans" and to analyze data when they fail to make AYP three years in a row, officials said. But some community members and education experts wondered whether more aggressive sanctions should be imposed.

"I didn't know the school failed three years in a row. I thought they were doing a good job," said Guadalupe Woodward, who until this spring was an officer in the Parent Teacher Association at Fred Lynn Middle School in Woodbridge. "They should at least have somebody to check what's going on."

Pete Goldschmidt, a researcher at the California-based National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing, said more aggressive sanctions can help motivate lagging schools to shape up.

"High stakes definitely get people to take it seriously," Goldschmidt said. "Just because you're not a Title I school doesn't mean you shouldn't be demonstrating achievement or growth over time."

Meanwhile, many Northern Virginia school officials were scrutinizing their middle school math results yesterday.

Fairfax County Superintendent Jack D. Dale said his staff will examine whether teachers need to spend more time on some concepts or even get to topics earlier in the year so students have more time to practice before tests are given in the spring. "The first round of a test shows that what we're teaching is not aligned with what we're testing," Dale said.

David Van Vleet, the middle school math specialist in Fairfax, said teachers will be urged to do less lecturing and make classes more "student-centered." He said teachers will push students to summarize concepts in their own words.

In Arlington, Patricia Robertson, the school system's math supervisor, said teachers may be asked to administer quarterly exams so concepts learned earlier are refreshed. She said teachers who handle the same courses would be encouraged to work together more.

But Robertson also said the math tests and test-taking conditions need more analysis. She wondered, for instance, how students who took the state tests online fared in comparison with those who did not.

"Teachers are shocked, especially because we've always done okay in the eighth grade, but I am working cautiously with them as they plan," she said. "I don't want to take this as all their responsibility. I still think we have to look at the test."

Staff writer Maria Glod contributed to this report.