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Academic emphasis growing at the core Federal report cites efforts on curriculum, techniques By Vicki Guarino While Oregon teachers, students and parents have been focusing on this state�s new education standards, the hours of tests and the academic accomplishment of the Certificate of Initial Mastery, a new federal report shows they haven�t been laboring alone. From coast to coast, schools have been putting emphasis on core academic subjects, overhauling curriculum, finding new teaching techniques and writing new tests. Emphasis has shifted from memorizing facts to building knowledge, the National Center for Education Statistics reports in "The Condition of Education." The new emphasis is requiring different teaching methods such as classroom discussion and hands-on projects. The sorts of projects that are common among Oregon schools, such as having students build portfolios of their work, are widely used elsewhere, according to the federal report. The center, an arm of the U.S. Department of Education, collects data and provides various services for schools. For instance, the Medford School District uses the center�s standards in setting curriculum at the secondary level. The drive for school reform in Oregon and elsewhere grew from "A Nation at Risk," a 1980s-era examination of education and learning. Highly critical of school performance, the report called for longer school days, more testing, more rigorous academic programs, and high demands on teachers and higher salaries for them. Many reforms took shape as curriculum changes, new teaching techniques and new tests. Results show high school students now are taking more classes in core subjects � English, science and math � and they are taking more advanced classes. Much of that increase is due directly to reforms and the emphasis on the core subjects, says the Medford School District�s director of secondary schools, Dan Zaklan. "Anytime you focus kids on something, they are going to do more of that,�� Zaklan says. In the area of advanced curriculum, the federal report shows, the percentage of students taking a second year of algebra rose from about 25 percent in 1982 to about 60 percent in 1996. The percent taking geometry rose from about 42 percent to about 65 percent in the same period. And the demand for advanced classes extends to humanities courses. "We�ve seen a great increase in just the past few years," says Phil Long, Medford curriculum administrator. In the area of teaching techniques, teachers are engaging their students in activities designed to promote higher-level thinking skills, according to the national summary. For example, a majority of teachers say they regularly ask students to explain how what they have learned in class relates to the real world. The report shows that technology is playing a fast-growing role in education. For example, classroom access to the Internet nationwide has gone from nearly zero in 1994 to around 60 percent by the beginning of the last school year. Numbers are no doubt higher now. Locally, many districts are finishing up long campaigns to get multiple computers with Internet access into every classroom. Additionally, Jackson County schools are putting together a full-blown on-line high school program for the coming year. A scattering of Internet high school class have drawn local students for some time, but this will be a locally controlled program staffed by local teachers. Computers are seen as an aid to students in finding information, manipulating data and displaying their work. Even students at the elementary level in Medford are publishing their own books, complete with color illustrations and covers. Despite the opportunities and the increasing use of technology, a majority of teachers nationwide say they are not prepared to use the technology in their classrooms. "Well, that�s often the problem," says Rich Haugh, director of the Jackson Education Service District�s center for education technology. "We can run the lines to the classrooms, but often the money for staff development doesn�t follow.�� Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA