from Richmond Times-Dispatch, Thursday, March 15, 2001

MARK GORMUS/TIMES-DISPATCH

A PBS television crew working on a documentary visits Ann Houck's first-grade class at Baker Elementary School in Henrico County

Television producer John Tulenko and his crew spent four months trying to find the right school system in Virginia.

They were filming a documentary on standards-based education for "The Merrow Report," PBS' educational series. They were looking for an up-and-coming district that has shown great improvement in Standards of Learning test scores.

They found Henrico County.

"Three years ago, Henrico was at the back of the pack," Tulenko said. "Now they're a leader for the state. We want to show people everything there is to know about standards- how standards are made, how they're measured, how they play out here and across the nation."

This week, a PBS film crew has descended on Henrico schools to film footage for an edition that will focus on the nation's push for standards-based learning. Virginia is their first stop. Next, they plan to film at schools in Ohio, Massachusetts, California and, possibly, Alaska.

"This is arguably the biggest school reform effort since the war on poverty," Tulenko said.

The program is scheduled to run in September or October.

Two producers, a cameraman and a sound expert accompanied Merrow yesterday to Baker Elementary School in the morning and Fairfield Middle School in the afternoon. Today, the crew stops at Varina High School, where journalist John Merrow will meet with Henrico schools Superintendent Mark A. Edwards.

"We really wanted to capture the whole standards movement around the country," Merrow said. "Virginia, in particular, has spent a lot of time and energy developing these standards, so we're trying to find out how they play out in schools."

Virginia's SOL's, which have stirred considerable controversy, determine criteria on two fronts: setting standards for students to pass in order to receive their high school degree; and setting standards for schools to receive accreditation.

None of PBS's focus group of Henrico schools has achieved accreditation. Rather, they showed "leaps in improvement" schools spokeswoman Janet Binns said.

The program will focus on how teachers deal with standards, with some comments from state departments of education around the country.

"We have the opportunity to help the public understand what's involved in standard-based learning," Tulenko said. "Right now, people don't have a good handle on the issue."

Contact Paige at (804) 743-9052 or pakin@timesdispatch.com