|SUPTS. MEMO NO. 123|
|June 23, 2000|
|FROM:||Jo Lynne DeMary
Superintendent of Public Instruction
|SUBJECT:||Copies of New SOL Teacher Resource Guides|
The Virginia Department of Education is pleased to provide school divisions with the enclosed copies of the Mathematics Standards of Learning Teacher Resource Guide, Science Standards of Learning Teacher Resource Guide, and English Standards of Learning Teacher Resource Guide. In a continuing effort to help school divisions align and develop curricula closely correlated to the Standards of Learning, the Department of Education worked with committees of Virginia educators to develop these new teacher resource guides. The guides do not constitute a revision of the Standards of Learning, but will serve as tools to enable classroom teachers to teach the standards more effectively. These guides amplify the knowledge and skills presented in each standard and provide a foundation for curriculum development.
In addition to defining the content to be taught, the resource guides will assist in developing and selecting items to be included on the Standards of Learning assessments. The guides will be used in meetings of the Standards of Learning Assessment Content Review Committees.
We are providing each school division with two copies of each guide. To help maximize the flexibility school divisions have in transforming the amplifications into local curricula, a CD-ROM is being developed that will contain in a WORD file format the resource guides for mathematics, science, and English. We will mail four CD-ROMs to each school division as soon as they are ready. We expect delivery of the CD-ROMs within the next week.
Please share the resource guides with your contact persons in these subjects. Please duplicate the guides as needed for use by curriculum developers and classroom teachers. We anticipate that school divisions will use these guides as resources for developing sound curricular and instructionl programs. The guides should not limit the scope of instructional programs. Additional knowledge and skills that can enrich instruction and enhance studentsí understanding of the content identified in the Standards of Learning should be included as part of quality learning experiences.
You may also access the resource guides from the Department of Educationís website (http://www.pen.k12.va.us) under NEWS and SOL Resources. The resource guides may be viewed and printed in PDF format using Adobeís Acrobat Reader.
We express our appreciation to the many classroom teachers, curriculum specialists, administrators, and college faculty members who assisted the Department of Education in developing and reviewing these resource guides.
If you have any questions about the guides, please contact the following Department of Education specialists:
Phyllis Ayers, Secondary, 804-371-7585
Linda Poorbaugh, Elementary, 804-786-3925
Catherine Rosenbaum, Middle, 804-225-2665
Deborah Lyman, Secondary, 804-786-6418
Carol Rezba, Elementary/Middle, 804-225-2676
Delores Dalton, Secondary, 804-371-0778
Jim Firebaugh, Elementary/Middle, 804-225-2651