Schools Supt says achievement is everybody’s job

 On the WESTEST 2, the Educational Standards Test, two out of three 11^th graders score below mastery in at least one subject area.

Jorea Marple, PH.D., has been WV State Superintendent of Schools for 8 months and says improving achievement in public schools is the job of everyone.

“Certainly the educators in the building have direct accountability and responsibility and have to work diligently to improve instruction and improve learning opportunities for students,” said Marple.

“But at the same time all of us have to work and support the learning of our children. And when you live in a state of significant poverty, it does increase the difficultly of the job,” she said.

“When children come from a home without rich reading materials, children will come to school without a rich vocabulary and it makes it more difficult to acquire reading skills.”

The WV Department of Education and WV State Board of Education have submitted their budget request to the governor and the legislature in advance of January’s legislative session.

Marple says plans to address student achievement are a priority beginning with teacher pay raises.

“We are near the bottom in terms of salaries for educators, and our legislative priority is a challenge to make progress in this decade to move us up from 48^th to hopefully 25^th in the nation.”

“That is fundamental if we are going to keep equity of access and high quality teachers," said Marple.

Another priority of the superintendent’s is access to technology. The Department of Education is requesting 23 million dollars annually for the next 4 years to provide 6^th graders with classroom computers.

“Technology is a great equalizer of opportunity because it allows children to learn 24/7," said Marple. “It provides them with rich support and resources."

Marple says the State Board of Education is looking at what it can do to change policy to give teachers more flexibility to teach, addressing some of the more rigid instruction time requirements, revisiting student conduct expectations, and expanding curriculum.

“There’s nothing more important than reading and math, but we also know that children can improve their reading and math skills through other content areas, most especially the arts.”

“We know that children stay in school, don’t drop out, if they’re engaged in arts instruction,” she said. “So we have to change policy to allow and support a broad curriculum.”