|
West Virginia is a state that is near the bottom of the rung with academic outcomes, while the entire nation is struggling to educate the nation's children.
West Virginia is a state whose education is tightly controlled by more policies and regulations than most other states, according to a recent audit.
West Virginia is a state whose educational bureaucracy is larger than the State of New York.
West Virginia is state that spends more taxpayer money per pupil than most other states.
West Virginia is a state that operates a system that discriminates against children that live in small population rural, poor counties, changing an initative that would have funded most low enrollment counties at a higher rate.
West Virginia is state that is now proposing taking over the management of county school systems finances, creating an even bigger bureaucracy. See ED-WATCH: WV SCHOOL BOARD PROPOSING MAJOR CHANGES OVER COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEMS FINANCIAL OPERATIONS
West Virginia is a state that spent $750,000 for an independent review of the public school system in 2012. The report ended with "We have encountered no other state that insulated its education system so much from gubernatorial â or voter â control."
West Virginia is a state that that has a major disconnect between parents and taxpayers they serve, in most counties the disconnect is evidenced by the lack of parental involvement.
West Virginia is a state, not unlike other states, that come up with promising initiatives every few years, all falling short.
West Virginia is a state that has been on a roll to consolidate community schools, with promises of saving money and improving academic outcomes. Failed.
West Virginia is a state that has taken over numerous county systems that are flunking. They still flunked with academic outcomes.
West Virginia is a state that does not acknowledge the importance of driven, competent teachers, to the point that few now want to become teachers.
Perhaps a West Virginia Summit with the state's best teachers that might come up with progressive solutions might be part of a solution. Surely there are solutions. - Bob Weaver
Officials Rethink Education At Summit By Samuel Speciale for the Charleston Daily Mail
In front of hundreds of education officials Monday, state Board of Education President Gayle Manchin admitted current teaching methods are not engaging students like they should.
Tom Vander Ark, a digital learning advocate and author, said the same Monday during a keynote address at an education summit in Charleston that brought together school and business leaders from across the state.
"We waste a ton of time in schools," he said. "Half the kids are bored while the other half is struggling."
It's a dilemma teachers across West Virginia and the United States face on a daily basis: How to teach students when they learn and advance at different rates. It also complicates lesson plans and end-of-year testing and has the education world rethinking its entire approach.
The result is a more personalized learning model that lets students work at their own pace through traditional and digital means regardless of whether they do so in a brick-and-mortar school or at home.
Widespread results are yet to be seen, but Vander Ark said districts that have implemented blended learning achieve at higher rates. Some districts, like the one in Mooresville, N.C., improved student proficiency by 20 percent, Vander Ark said.
Manchin considers West Virginia to be one of the lead states in implementing blended, personalized learning. This has required change in policy, which Manchin detailed in a panel discussion with a representative from the National Association of School Boards of Education.
The new policies place an emphasis on deeper learning that requires students to do more than memorize facts they will be tested on.
"We are now teaching students how to think, not what to think," Manchin said.
Taking inspiration from Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy of education objectives, blended, personalized learning creates a foundation for students to take their education further by analyzing data and recreating what they learned ...
READ REST OF STORY Officials Rethink Education At Summit By Samuel Speciale for the Charleston Daily Mail
| 
