>
> Could you elaborate more about what's going on in
> VA? I'm also from VA and
> loathe those stupid criterion tests that are now
> being imposed on the children
> as well as some of the new state standards. Did you
> get a drop in attendance
> from schools when those tests started? Are your
> programs aligned with the
> standards or on your own topics?
>
> Deb
>

I started working in Va right around the time the
standards were introduced. I was in southwest VA at
the time, where the county and city had contacts with
the msueum so the indivual schools did not have to
pay. We imeditley listed the coresponding SOL's on the
flyer which helped. After the imediate drop in
programs
attandance came back up and evetually increased. As
someone mentioned earlier in that case it came down to
money-they still came because the classes were already
paid for and now with the SOL'c listed teachers could
see exactly what the program was meeting.Programs here
we deisgned fairley frequently, new ones introduced
every year, with teacher imput and alligned with the
standards.
   However, when I went up to Northren Va - where we
did not have a contract with the school the situation
was different. Our fees were very modert so I railey
herd spefic complaints about the cost but rather that
they couldn't afford to lose a day away from the
classroom. With the pressur of the SOL test looming
many seemed leary of being out of the classroom. So I
went about fostering stronger realationships with area
private schools and home school groups and kept our
numbers up that way, while trying to show public
school teachers what we could do for them. Most of
these programs had been offered for many years -some
since I had been a student in the sysetem 15 years
before! New porgrams have since been added with
teacher feedback form year-long survey process.
Jamilyn


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