Education Trends--Part 1
Author: By Caren Cramer

Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series exploring education trends in Child Guide’s readership area. Part one explores Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties in West Virginia. Part two, in the March/April issue, will examine Washington and Frederick counties in Maryland. Part three, in the May/June issue, will study the trends in Clarke and Frederick counties in Virginia.

Educational trends at work in today’s schools have one thing in common: They seek the best way to provide children with the best education while meeting the requirements of No Child Left Behind legislation.
School systems realize there is not one cookie-cutter solution or path to the best education.
West Virginia is no different.
On the West Virginia Department of Education Web site (wvde.state.wv.us), you can find the speech from State Superintendent of Schools Stephen L. Paine in 2004 when he took that position. In the speech, Paine acknowledged how “… I have a big job ahead of me, especially regarding the continued implementation of No Child Left Behind, closing the achievement gap and mathematic achievement initiatives.”
At the opening of this school year, Paine issued a report card of sorts on the overall picture of West Virginia public schools’ performance from 2004-05 data, as well as an overview of the steps to ensure and maintain continued success.

• 594 schools statewide made the grade. More than 83 percent of state schools met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation.
• Forty percent of schools accountable for the students-with-disabilities subgroup met AYP in 2005
• Of the 29 schools accountable for the black subgroup, 93 percent met AYP. Of the 520 schools accountable for the low-socioeconomic subgroup, 93 percent also met AYP.
• 121 schools did not meet AYP in 2005.
For complete data, go to wvde.state.wv.us/news/1044.


Announced plans
According to Paine’s speech, the WVDE hopes to improve student achievement levels across the state by working with counties as they develop five-year strategic plans. The plans are part of the West Virginia Framework for High Performing School Systems, an initiative to achieve the state’s goal of bringing all public school students to mastery and beyond by 2014.
County School Improvement Leadership Teams are focusing on elements that impact student achievement: curriculum, instruction, school effectiveness and student/parent support, Paine says.

What does this mean to you, the stakeholders in a public school system?
Basically, every county will be writing or rewriting strategic plans to incorporate and act upon the new state initiatives in curriculum, instruction, school effectiveness and student/parent support. A tall order, but one that seems to be on track in Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties. Officials in these school systems echo a common theme: Providing the best education possible is the top priority for their schools.

Adequate Yearly Progress
First, it’s important to understand the AYP data pertinent to your locale. Local schools are among those 121 schools that did not meet AYP in 2005.
“It is important to point out that if a school is identified as not meeting AYP, the status should not reflect on the teachers or students. A school can be identified for a variety of reasons and we (WVDE) will make certain to assist the school as it improves its student achievement levels,” says Paine’s announcement.
Remember that as you look for yourself. Beware: You can get lost in the details available for review. From the WVDE Web site, you can find information about your specific school. Simply log on and click on School Data 2004-2005 (WVEIS Online Reports). Follow the prompts to search.

For general reference, here is a basic county breakdown for schools that met the 2004-05 AYP.
County Elementary* Middle High School Total
Berkeley 14 of 16 0 of 4 2 of 3 16 of 23
Jefferson 7 of 8 0 of 3 0 of 1 7 of 12
Morgan 3 of 3 0 of 1 2 of 2 5 of 6


*Intermediate schools fall into the elementary category by NCLB definition

Meeting the challenge
“There’s no one easy fix for everyone” says Frank Aliveto, deputy superintendent for Berkeley County Schools. Multiple approaches to reading and math provide creative methods to chart successes, he says.
He describes “differentiated instruction,” through which smaller groups of students benefit from different ways of delivering instruction. This smaller-group instruction provides a more focused approach in ways that students can better learn the material and “reaches the individual differences” in all students.
Aliveto credits the success of this effort on the “focused staff development” that began three years ago. Instructional strategies were developed and taught to county faculty by their peers.
“We realized we have the experts here in our own realm” says Aliveto, “so we train teachers that then train their fellow teachers. We’ve had a good track record thus far.”
Such creative collaboration among faculty yields positive results for teachers and students.
In Morgan County, “vertical alignment” is one professional development strategy being employed.
“We’re in the first year of our five-year plan” says David Temple, superintendent of Morgan County Schools, “but it’s definitely a positive aspect of this plan.”
He further describes how teams that meet teachers at all schools provide “embedded professional development.”
“In our math program, for example, a high school teacher will work with a middle school teacher on curriculum development,” adds Temple.
Berkeley County rewards teachers for what Aliveto calls “co-teaching.”
“Money goes to schools and teachers who plan (curriculum) together after school” Aliveto says.
Susan Sowers, coordinator for secondary education in Jefferson County, provides an overview on the coordination between local and state officials on new math initiatives aimed to boost achievement.
“Math has a new initiative at the state level that’s a five-year process to implement this standards-based math initiative across the state. It is an incremental process that will take time and money to train the teachers,” Sowers writes in an e-mail. “We’re working on an algebra pilot program with seven other counties within the state.”
The accountability data resulting from NCLB can help guide school systems in the planning process. However, Laura Hovermale, director of the ninth- through 12th-grade program for Morgan County Schools, offers this reminder:
“The AYP (a requirement of NCLB) is goal-oriented and focuses on individual children rather than the overall system,” she says.
Similarly, Sowers writes, “We are looking very carefully at the new programs we implement to help our students achieve mastery on the WESTEST (the West Virginia Educational Standards Test). NCLB looks much more carefully at the individual child and less globally or systemically.”
David Banks, director of programs for grades six through eight for Morgan County Schools, adds that “NCLB looks at reading/language arts and math. We are careful not to neglect other disciplines.”
Science and social studies are subjects included on the WESTEST, but don’t count toward AYP scores – only reading/language arts and math do.

Student/parent support
We’ve all heard that the more involved parents are in their children’s schooling, the better the students tend to perform. Parents in Morgan County can thank forward-thinking county officials for the newest “parent communication tool,” says Elaine Mitchell, assistant child nutrition director and tech coordinator, who also handles public relations for Morgan County Schools.
“EDLINE provides parents with up-to-date progress reports, is child-specific and has been extremely helpful,” explains Mitchell.
Working with communities can prove beneficial to all stakeholders – including parents.
“Eight years ago, it was clear that the community wanted its younger students in community schools,” Aliveto says.
Therefore, the locations of primary and intermediate schools in Berkeley County tend to be closer to the homes of younger students, while middle- and high-schoolers travel a bit farther to their schools.

Physical space and facilities
Only time will tell if the academic programs offered by these school systems will succeed. However, with exponential development and growth under way in two of these three counties, the physical facilities and space can directly impact the environment in which children learn.
“We’re now the 50th-fastest-growing county in the United States,” Aliveto says. “It’s likely we’ll see at least 600 new students to our schools this year. Last year it was over 700.”
Incorporating increases of this magnitude into school space continues to prove challenging.
“We’ve built seven schools in the last eight years here in Berkeley County,” Aliveto says, indicating that such construction has just about kept up with the growth in student populations.
Morgan County officials indicate that while the population is growing, they aren’t yet seeing the level of increases in other counties.
“We’ve built two new buildings in the last seven years, with major additions to two more facilities,” Temple says.
“We have about $16 million in funding available to improve the students’ learning environments and perform required maintenance in the face of increased enrollment (up 41 students so far this year),” says Nancy White, treasurer and chief of school business for Morgan County Schools.

Berkeley, Morgan and Jefferson counties are working diligently to meet the challenges outlined by NCLB. Future successes will be reflected in upcoming tests and data analyses. Increased technology usage in curriculum and instruction - distance learning, self-paced instruction to make up credits, etc.- coupled with a philosophy of better preparing students to enter school are planned to position students to reach their fullest potential.

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