By SHARON KILPATRICK

By SHARON KILPATRICK

Rappahannock News Staff Writer

The state Board of Education will solicit comments on proposed new standards for mathematics, language arts, science and social studies at a series of meetings scheduled for the rest of March and early April

Endorsed by the Governor’s Commission on Champion Schools, these new standards, called Standards of Learning (SOLs), were developed by four different school systems around the state. The Newport News system developed the standards for social studies. Language arts standards were developed by Virginia Beach schools, and Fairfax schools developed the new standards for mathematics. Prince William schools developed the new standards in science. „

“This is an effort to lift expectations,” said William C. Bosher Jr, Superintendent of Public Instruction. “It’s a tremendous undertaking with significant consequences for the young people of Virginia.

The two closest of the meetings on these new standards are at Falls Church High School on March 29 and Loudoun County High School in Leesburg on April 6. Both meetings start at 7 p m. Those who wish to speak must sign up. The sign-up period begins at 6:30 p.m.

If the SOLs are approved in their current form all students will be required to take Algebra I. Currently algebra is not required for students earning the regular high school diploma. A further class in Computer Mathematics will be offered.

For mathematics from kindergarten through eighth grade, the SOLs list standards in “Numbers and Number Sense,” “Computation and Estimation,” “Measurement,” “Geometry/’ “Probability and Statistics” and “Patterns, Functions, and Algebra.”

For each grade level there are 21 through 26 statements of what students in that grade are expected to be able to do. Under Measurement for seventh-grade students, for example, the standards state “The student, given appropriate dimensions, will estimate and find the area of polygons by subdividing them into rectangles and right triangles.”

The proposed standards in social studies have caused the most comment in the press so far. They include requirements from kindergarten through twelfth grade The lower grade requirements that kindergarten students “will identify by name, picture, and deed interesting people in American and world history (e.g., George Washington, Johnny Appleseed, Harriet Tubman, Walt Disney, Mahatma Gandhi)” and that first graders will learn about ancient civilizations in Egypt and the Fertile Crescent have caused the most controversy.