| By Bob Weaver
West Virginia is one of nine states that have not decided whether it will apply for a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Most of the nation's schools are not measuring up to NCLB standards,
with half of West Virginia's schools not meeting Average Yearly Progress in math and reading.
Calhoun Middle-High School has failed to meet Average Yearly Progress under NCLB standards for the past five of six years, and has been listed as the worst performing school in West Virginia on a confidential State Department of Education web site.
Additionally, West Virginia has been ranked 50th in the nation as the worst performing school system in the nation, according to the Nation's Report Card in 2010.
Calhoun school board member Cynthia Dale said NCLB is flawed, asking "How can you judge a school on a single test?"
Calhoun Superintendent of Schools Roger Propst said there is a shifting of administrators at Calhoun-Middle High School, whose focus will be to improve academic achievement at the school.
Education officials told the Herald that a state take-over of Calhoun Schools could be coming, while others said the state tends to take-over school systems that have too many school buildings that need to be consolidated, as opposed to poor academic performance.
The officials, asking to remain off-the-record, cited the state take-over of Gilmer Schools, whose academic performance has been higher that Calhouns, but there is an on-going battle over school consolidation in the county.
Superintendent Propst said, "Regardless of whether West Virginia seeks a waiver or not, the state Department of Education is developing a new method of analyzing student test data called the Growth Model."
He said the theme of this model is consistent improvement and academic growth, as opposed to meeting baseline criteria with No Child Left Behind.
"AYP will still be in effect even if a waiver is sought and granted, but increased emphasis will be on individual student improvement and the trajectory of that progress as the student progresses through grade levels with proficiency as the final expectation," Propst said.
"If trajectory is upward, that is a good thing. Should the trajectory dip, then that is an indicator of the need for intervention."
See related story STATE LIST SAYS CALHOUN SCHOOL 'WORST' PERFORMING OF WEST VIRGINIA'S 55 COUNTIES
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