INFORMATIONAL

 The Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Education Association will 
hold two Share Fairs in early June to provide information on SOL resource guides 
being developed for science, mathematics, and English.  Information also will be 
provided on the arts and foreign language Standards of Learning and the guidelines 
for ESL programs.  

Selected school divisions, professional organizations, and commercial vendors will 
be present to exhibit their products related to the Virginia SOL.  These sessions 
will bring together a wealth of teacher materials and resources for classroom and 
professional development use.

The Share Fairs will also provide an opportunity for participants to have input 
into possible revisions to Mrs. Gilmore's "A Commonwealth of Knowledge" website.  
Mrs. Gilmore is most interested in enhancing the website to make it more useful for 
teachers in implementing the SOL.

The dates and sites for the Share Fairs are:

June 6 - Newport News Omni Hotel
June 8 - The Hotel Roanoke Conference Center

You are invited to send a team of six individuals from your school division to 
attend the session closest to you.  In order to gain maximum benefit from the 
session, I encourage you to select a team consisting of classroom teachers, building 
administrators, and central office personnel who work with curriculum and 
professional development issues. 
Copies of the new resource guides will not be available at the Share Fairs but will 
be distributed to school divisions at a later date. Participants will receive 
training materials related to the new teacher resource guides.  Enclosed is a 
participant registration form which should be returned to Virginia Tech at the 
address listed on the form by May 19, 2000.

Since many school divisions have developed high quality curriculum projects and 
materials related to SOL implementation, the Share Fairs are designed to give 
localities an opportunity to display these materials and share them with other 
school divisions.  If you would like to nominate your school division or a school 
within your division as one of the exhibitors, please return the enclosed application 
form to the Department of Education by May 5, 2000.

Information on the Share Fairs is being sent under separate cover to all key 
instructional leaders.  For additional information, please contact Pat Dalton, 
curriculum and instruction specialist, Governor's Best Practice Center - Region 1, 
at 804-743-2275 or e-mail pdalton@mail.vak12ed.edu.


JLD/MJB/cle

Enclosures:
SOL Participant Registration Form
Information Sheet for Exhibitors at the SOL Share Fair
Application to Exhibit at the SOL Share Fair