PRINCIPAL TO DISCUSS PROJECT-BASED LEARNING FEB. 11

Pete Bender, principal of Newsome Park Elementary School in Newport News, will discuss improving scores on Virginia's Standards of Learning tests through project-based learning at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11, in Old Dominion University's Kiwanis Parenting Center, 45th Street and Hampton Boulevard in Norfolk.

Newsome Park, a K-5 school, has improved its SOL test performance by implementing teaching models that emphasize teachers' attention to what and if students are learning. Newsome Park has chosen project-based learning as the delivery model for instruction to allow students to learn independently.

For its work in project-based learning, the school was recognized by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit foundation that gathers and disseminates the most innovative models of K-12 teaching and learning. The U.S. Department of Education has recognized Newsome Park as a Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program.

For more information, call 683-4121.