3 R'S REWRITE PLANNED FOR HIGH SCHOOLS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Antelope Valley Union High School District is embarking on a three-year process of restructuring its curriculum to better prepare students to enter the worlds of work and higher education.

The new curriculum will stress a revised "Three R's" - relevance, rigor, and "reality-based" learning - and create academic standards to provide students with the skills demanded by today's society, officials said.

"The district is trying to improve the academic process of teaching and learning. It's getting towards more solid academic and back-to-basics education," board president Sue Stokka said. "There will be stiffer requirements. When students graduate from high school, the diploma will mean something and stand for achievement. With the current academic climate, there's too much of a tendency to accept less than the student's best."

To launch this effort, the district will hold a series of forums Friday to explain the curriculum changes to the community and help lay the foundation for involvement by teachers, parents and residents.

The event, at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center and the Antelope Valley Inn, is co-sponsored by the city of Lancaster and Southern California Edison. Tickets are free but must be reserved by 3 p.m. Thursday. For more information, call 948-7655, Ext. 241.

A forum for district teachers, administrators and staff will be held from 9 a.m. to noon at the theater. A business luncheon for community and business leaders will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the inn. A community forum for parents and residents will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the theater, 750 W. Lancaster Blvd.

The keynote speaker at the community forum will be Dr. Willard Daggett, director of the International Center for Leadership in Education, with whom the district has contracted at a cost of $50,000 to help implement the new program.

Traditionally, most schools have focused on preparing students for good citizenship and higher education, but this educational approach is no longer enough, district officials said.

Many students must now be able to be wage-earners upon graduation from high school. It is crucial that they receive the preliminary training that will prepare them to seek immediate employment or higher education opportunities, district officials said.

Developing "reality-based" skills in math, science and English will be the primary focus of the curriculum changes, officials said.

As part of the process, the district will discuss with the community the gap that exists between what students learn in school and the skills and knowledge they need for success in adult life.

"We will go out into the community and do forums to get information as to what they want kids to have when they graduate from high school," Superintendent Robert Girolamo said.

Girolamo said after the information is gathered and analyzed, the district will look at its curriculum and see if there are gaps that need to be closed.

"I think there are gaps. I think we are doing a good job, but society and the demands of the work place are changing so rapidly, some of what we're doing is not keeping pace," Girolamo said.

Changes could mean including technical reading and writing, statistics and probability, skills that would be applicable in a "real-world" setting, Girolamo said.

In the end, "systemically we will have in place a curriculum, classes and subject matter that will not only deal with theory and concept but also deal with application models relevant to what's happening in the real world," Girolamo said.

"Parents and community leaders must be apprised of the fact that the skills, knowledge, and behaviors needed for employment today outstrip those needed for entry into higher education," Daggett wrote in a proposal for the contract.

"This nation's fixation on preparing young people for college, while still a worthy goal, has become an impediment to achieving world-class standards," Daggett said. "Parents and others must recognize that while we continue to prepare our young people to be good citizens and ready them for higher education, we must also add a third important purpose to education - to develop the basic skills needed for the increasingly sophisticated workplace."