Mr. Nichols recently launched the Norfolk Quality Schools Initiative, a plan intended to boost test results, reduce dropout rates, and close the achievement gap between white and minority students. If specific numeric goals aren't met within four years, school staff members could be reassigned. The administration is freeing up money for schools to devise creative ways of achieving those goals, which are meant to dovetail with the new state standards. While Mr. Nichols is confident that his schools can meet district and state mandates for student achievement, he worries that Virginia's time line is unrealistic. To achieve higher standards in a large organization quickly, school staff members need far more intensive and well-funded training than the state has promised, Mr. Nichols argues.
People expect an immediate turnaround.
But when we talk about changing expectations, it's not going to happen immediately. Teachers' union leaders in Norfolk have been largely supportive of both the district's and the state's initiatives, but do not want schools to be reorganized by the district or stripped of their accreditation by the state for having low test scores. While state education officials say all students should be held to the same high standard, Ms. George of the Norfolk teachers' association, an NEA affiliate, says urban school systems should not be penalized if they don't perform as well as those with fewer at-risk students. As the power base has shifted to the suburbs, some urban and rural legislators have begun forming new political alliances to preserve resources for their constituencies. So you will see more of a coalition between urban and rural areas in the future.