Charleston, W.Va. – The Education Alliance issued two major recommendations in conjunction with a research report released today, entitled “Through Different Lenses: West Virginia School Staff and Students React to School Climate.” The recommendations include placing greater focus on equity amongst students as part of future school reform efforts, and investigating the characteristics of schools that generate positive student experiences in order to replicate practices within lower-performing West Virginia schools.

Sponsored by The Education Alliance, the school climate study sampled 2,931 West Virginia students and 371 staff persons from 19 middle and high schools. Researchers found that impoverished and African-American students rated their schools significantly lower than teachers and school officials on measures of academic expectations, instruction, course-taking, counseling about education options, respect, mentoring and fairness.

Students attending high-poverty schools were more likely to report poor relationships with peers, while students in rural schools perceived their schools most positively.

The Education Alliance further recommended that schools and school systems address equity within their formalized plans and professional development in order to improve school climate. Forums and study groups on race, achievement and poverty were also recommended to help education officials, communities, and students better recognize and address the issue.

   Download Through Different Lenses:  West Virginia School Staff and Students React to School Climate - File size is 260 kb.

West Virginia Wins Funding to Participate

 in the State Scholars Initiative

Boulder, Colorado — The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) is
pleased to announce that it has chosen West Virginia to participate in the State Scholars Initiative (SSI), a national business/education partnership effort working to increase the number of students who take a rigorous curriculum in high school. WICHE oversees SSI, which is funded by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) of the U.S. Department of Education (ED).

West Virginia joins Colorado, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Utah, and
Virginia as a new member of the SSI network. “Each of these states demonstrated a keen
interest in the State Scholars mission, along with the ability to realize SSI’s vision of motivating high school students to stretch themselves academically,” says Terese Rainwater, SSI program director. “We believe their students will benefit from SSI, and the SSI network will benefit from their participation.”

West Virginia will be funded at up to $300,000 over a two-year period to implement SSI programs in at least four school districts. The Education Alliance, a state business education partnership, will work with students in those districts, encouraging them to take a rigorous course of study, one that will give them a boost whether they go to college after they graduate or go straight to work.

The Scholars Core Course of Study includes four years of English, three years of math (algebra I and II, geometry), three years of science (biology, chemistry, physics), three and a half years of social studies (U.S. history, world history, geography, economics, or government), and two years of a language other than English. To motivate students to take the Core, SSI brings business leaders into the classroom to talk about the real-world value of a challenging curriculum.

The new states join 14 others that already participate in the State Scholars Initiative: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Washington.

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