WV EDUCATION CHANGES FACE UPHILL BATTLE

(07/24/2010)

By Bob Weaver The WV Legislature, while passing some feel-good initiatives that could improve student performance, continues to shy away from significant educational reform in West Virginia. West Virginia ranks near the bottom of US states in student performance, while spending among the largest amount of money on education per capita in the country. They have failed to pass big-ticket recommendations, including new charter school legislation, called "Charter Innovation Zones 2.0." They have failed to pass alternative certification programs for non-teachers or any kind of teacher performance monitoring system based on student performance and other factors. Following the teachers union position, there is apparently no movement on annual evaluations for teachers, essentially holding to an entrenched tenured system. There was no movement on incentive-based pay for teachers or changes that would allow the state board to remove ineffective principals in a timely fashion. Legislators are wary of the influence of the state's teachers unions, and that teachers and school personnel likely represent the biggest voter block in the state. There are some proposals to bring teacher pay up to standards maintained by neighboring states. A bill reads, "West Virginia's unadjusted average teacher salary is less than those of the contiguous states which puts West Virginia at a competitive disadvantage for employing the best teachers." It states pay increases would "assist in attracting the best and the brightest students to the teaching profession."

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