The consolidation of schools in West Virginia that was intensified in the 1980s and 1990s has not proven beneficial to our students or to the overall operations of our schools. Purportedly, consolidation of schools would offer, first and foremost, more educational opportunities for our students while reducing expenses. However, during this decade of consolidation efforts, academic achievements did not elevate; graduation rates did not increase; and expenses did not decrease. In fact, the reverse is true.

Despite the closing of 202 schools during the ’80s and 90s consolidation period, West Virginia had to face the following educational statistics in 2000:

• The state ranked 39th among the states in academic achievement.
• The state’s graduation rate was 82.6 percent while the national average was 87 percent.
• The state experienced an 11 percent decrease in student enrollment; a 16 percent increase in education expense; an 8 percent increase for general administration expense; an 11 percent increase in operations and maintenance expense; a 1.4 percent increase in school administration expense; a 19 percent increase for instruction expense; and a 11 percent increase in transportation expense.
• The state experienced a 25 percent increase per student maintenance and operations.
• The state spent 10.3 percent of its education budget on building operations and maintenance while the national average was 8.5 percent.

• Most disturbing, the state had the highest percentage of teens in the country - 13 percent - who were not attending school and not working.

 
These statistics correlate with statements of John Sylvia, director of the Performance Evaluation and Research Division, Auditor’s Office, and Delegate Tom Azinger, Wood County.

Sylvia reported to the Legislature that large high schools and larger school districts have higher dropout rates and that the present graduation rate has declined to a mid-70 percentile. Delegate Azinger discussed whether students from smaller schools and smaller counties have a greater sense of belonging.

He suggested that students from smaller schools are more apt to have the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities.

The Fayette County Board of Education did not get this message in 2001 nor in 2009, the years that the consolidation vote was placed before our citizens. During these two time periods, the Fayette school system spent a considerable amount of money in pursuit of getting the consolidation bond levies passed.

The money that was expended in these special levy endeavors could have been invested more wisely by purchasing textbooks and financing much-needed renovations to our facilities.

Nevertheless, the educated vote of our Fayette County citizens has presented the opportunity for our administrators to move our school system in the right direction.

In 2001, the citizens voted 88 percent against consolidation; in 2009, they voted 78 percent against consolidation again.

For our children, West Virginia needs to follow the advice and example of the Kanawha County Board of Education: Apply the brakes to the consolidation of our schools in West Virginia!

The taxpayers’ education dollars need to be returned to the small schools in the communities where quality education began and where, as documented research substantiates, quality education should continue.

Edwards, of Fayetteville, served 14 years as superintendent of Fayette County Schools.

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The Fayette County school system has been taken-over by the state, the latest in a series of take-overs that followed the failure of counties to support school consolidation.

“This is an extraordinary circumstance that must be resolved,” said state auditors. The system lost accreditation in 2007.

The State Board of Education voted 8-1 for the measure, with officials saying the system is “weak and thin” and largely inefficient and ineffective.

Thomas Ramey, Jr, executive director of Challenge WV said, “Taking over on the heels of a bond election, which was overwhelmingly against closing schools, is a definite and unfortunate blow to the democratic process.”

“People in communities deserve to be heard and not have their votes disregarded,” he said.

Ramey said recent legislative findings clearly show the connection between closing and consolidating into larger schools has increased dropout rates.

“Hopefully state education officials have learned from their failed wholesale consolidation movement,” said Ramey.

Auditors wrote, “The board is deeply divided and at an impasse over what course needs to be taken to improve schools…This is an extraordinary circumstance that must be resolved.”

State officials said students showed weak test scores, with some of the worst math scores in the state, while county school buildings are described as sub-standard and not suited to serving the county’s students and staff.

In October, a $49 million bond issue failed by a wide margin. It would have built a consolidated Fayette Plateau High School and moved students from four existing high schools: Mount Hope, Oak Hill, Fayetteville and Midland Trail. About 1,300 students are involved.

The four closed high schools would have been renovated into middle and elementary schools. Six schools, Nuttall Middle, Collins Middle, Ansted Middle, Mount Hope Elementary, Gatewood Elementary and Fayetteville Elementary, would have closed under the plan.

Fayette County Board of Education President David Arritt believes the consolidation issue, the county supporting six high schools, has irked state officials for years.

Arritt is in favor of smaller community schools, where he says drugs and discipline are not the problems, and children perform better.

With the state board’s decision, state Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine will have control of finances, personnel, the school calendar and curriculum.

Paine also has the authority to conduct hearings on school closure, consolidation matters and to remove principals from low-performing schools.

Dwight Dials will take over in Fayette County. Dials was a state-appointed superintendent in the bitter Mingo County consolidation case, where hundreds of students will now face long bus rides.

The state is currently controlling Mingo, Grant, Preston, Lincoln and McDowell county systems.

Despite years of state take-over, most counties have showed little if any improvement in academic performance.

“Treating the democratic process in such a disparaging manner is unforgivable,” Ramey concluded.

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The National Council for Teacher Equality just released a report that gives West Virginia a D+ for policies that impact teacher quality.

West Virginia scored lowest on retaining teachers, and educators say low teacher pay is a cause for concern.

The American Federation of Teachers ranks West Virginia 16th in the nation in spending per student, but 47th for teacher pay.

The council didn’t hand out any A’s or B’s, and 25 states and the District of Columbia scored worse than West Virginia.

Three states, Maine, Montana, and Maryland received F’s.

The report examined five different factors, teacher preparation, evaluation, tenure and dismissal, alternative certification and compensation.

There are many different accessible technologies and assistive technologies that are available to help create universal classrooms for learning. Accessible technology is computer software that allows people to adjust their computers to meet their individual preferences.   Assistive technology (AT) is any device used to perform tasks that would otherwise be difficult or impossible. These devices can be as complex as computers with screen reading software or as simple as a typing aid for keyboards. Accessible technology and AT are two options that work together to provide all students with access to educational opportunities in inclusive mainstreamed general education classrooms.

Microsoft reports that the U.S. Census Bureau found 15 percent of students between the ages of 6 and 14 have a disability. For those students over the age of 15, the percentage of students with disabilities increases. In about half of the cases, students have more than one diagnosis that qualifies them for services. Although they may not qualify for a specific AT device to use in the classroom, students with mild disabilities are often the most overlooked for accessibility features. Often these students do not consider themselves as “disabled”; therefore, they may feel uncomfortable seeking out services and fall through the cracks of the educational system.

Although teachers and educators are familiar with using their school computers, many are unaware of the resources for accessible technology already available to them through Microsoft software. As part of our mission, West Virginia Assistive Technology System (WVATS) strives to inform teachers and students about AT options and support systems to help students with disabilities succeed in inclusive regular education classrooms. In addition to providing information and assistance to people in education, WVATS operates a Virtual Loan Library where AT devices can be loaned out on a short-term basis. Using the loan library system, individuals are given an opportunity to trial different devices and determine whether the AT device will or will not meet their needs. WVATS also houses many software options that are not available for loan, but can be trialed by individuals who visit the WVATS computer lab.  The purpose of this article is to highlight some accessible technology features that are already on public school computers using Microsoft software and present specific AT that you can loan from our Virtual Loan Library.

Not all students who have vision problems are blind; however, most all can benefit from accessible and assistive technology. Because students who are blind cannot see the computer screen, they may need to receive computer information through hearing or tactile stimulation options. Although students with low vision have not completely lost their sight, computer screens are often difficult to see and interpret. Alterations to your computer screen either by changing the screen resolution to increase clarity or by increasing the font and icon sizes, can help students with low vision see the computer screen. By adjusting color combinations and screen contrasts, even students who are color blind can benefit. These are examples of accessibility features that already available through Windows XP and Windows Vista. The specific options are Invert Colors, High Contrast, text-to-speech with Narrator, screen magnification with Magnifier, keyboard shortcuts and sound notification. In addition to the accessibility options that Microsoft offers, WVATS can demonstrate screen magnifier and reader software. 

There are a number of students in today’s classrooms who have mobility and dexterity impairments. Cerebral palsy is a common cause of mobility and dexterity problems. It does not matter if muscle tone is too tight or too loose, it can significantly impact students’ ability to access computers. Built-in accessibility features on your computer can help eliminate some barriers. For instance, if students cannot do multiple key selection (SHIFT, CTRL or ALT), StickyKeys will allow students to enter a series of key combinations without the hassle of simultaneous key selection. In the event that students do not have control over how many times a key is selected, FilterKeys will ignore these brief, repeated keystrokes. An on-screen keyboard allows students to type using a pointing device, joystick or mouse. Button set-up, double-click speed, pointer size and how quickly the mouse pointer recognizes the mouse movements are all options that can be changed to adjust to students’ individual needs. For loan, WVATS has a keyboard typing aid which enables students with limited hand function or dexterity to operate a keyboard by functioning as a finger. WVATS also loans infrared pointers, touch screen overlays, joysticks, trackballs and a variety of alternative keyboards and computer mouse options (including one that is hands free). Word prediction software can be demonstrated in the WVATS demonstration lab.

As with visual impairments, hearing impairment exists on a continuum of severity from a slight hearing loss to deafness. Accessibility features that come with any computer can be as simple as altering the volume. SoundSentry (visual or text notifications in place of sound) and ShowSounds (captions) are two selections that Windows offers. Students who have minimal hearing loss may benefit from headphones attached to their personal computer.

Other students who present with language impairments, learning impairments or are on the autism spectrum sometimes have difficulties comprehending and producing written or spoken language. Often computer screens are cluttered and students become too distracted to fully participate. Windows offers simplified user interfaces to reduce this clutter and interference. Another option is to use abbreviated menus and to customize toolbars to individuals’ needs and preferences. Many of the AT devices mentioned previously can also be used for this group of students: touch screens, speech recognition programs, word prediction software and speech synthesizers.

This article presents a number of different options for accessible technology that school computers are already equipped with. To learn more about the accessibility features mentioned visit, www.microsoft.com/enable/. For an extended overview of accessibility features and descriptions, visit www.microsoft.com/enable/products/windowsxp/. Finally, if you would like step-by-step trainings and tutorials on how to use the accessibility features, visit www.microsoft.com/enable/training. All of the AT devices that were mentioned in this article are a part of the WVATS Virtual Loan Library and are available for short-term loan or demonstration. By taking advantage of this loan library system, teachers and students are afforded the opportunity to trial a variety of AT to help all students succeed in general education classrooms.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Hannah Sites WVATS Graduate Assistant, Jamie Hayhurst-Marshall ATP, CIRS Program Manager WVATS.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For more information about this article contact West Virginia Assistive Technology System at wvats@hsc.wvu.edu or (304) 293-4692.

After state education officials issued fuzzy numbers about the state’s drop-out rate, a new legislative report says one-in-four WV students drop-out.

The study also says students do better in smaller, community schools.

Thomas Ramey, Executive Director of Challenge WV said, “It’s strange that state school Superintendent Steve Paine told lawmakers that he is intrigued by the research topic, after the state has been in the wholesale consolidation of schools.”

Legislative manager Aaron Allred pointed out that the Department of Education has never studied the effects of school consolidation on student outcomes.

The department has been using inflated figures, claiming an 85% graduation rate, or insisting that only 2.6 percent of WV students quit after reaching age 16.

“The erratic numbers issued by state education officials is shameful,” said Ramey.

A WV legislative audit now says that 27 percent of students fail to graduate.

Ramey says state education officials have used fuzzy numbers before, including a failure to accurately report the number of students that are thrust into long bus rides with the state’s wide-spread consolidation of schools, over a decade long.

Several thousand state students, including pre-kindergarten kids, are or will be riding school buses between one and two half hours each way.

The legislative study validates what Challenge WV has been reporting for years,
the drop-out rates are higher in larger high schools and larger school districts - that education is best delivered in small community schools.

West Virginia spends among the largest per captia sums on education in the nation, with some of the poorest outcomes.

In 2008, Kanawha County had the lowest graduation rate in the state, at 68 percent.

Tyler County had the highest graduation rate, at 90 percent, where there is an imminent danger of closing high-performing Paden City High School.

Delegate Tom Azinger, R-Wood, questioned whether students from smaller schools and smaller counties have a greater sense of belonging.

Azinger said small schools, anyone who tries out for sports teams, school choir, or other extracurricular activities is likely to get to participate.

Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, said “I guarantee you the vast majority of the 25 percent who don’t complete their education stay in West Virginia, and become a burden on the system.

“Promise scholars may leave the state, but dropouts don’t,” he said.

Helmick said “Not only do we have children graduating with poor reading and poor math skills, but we’re also losing a $100,000 investment for every child that drops out.”

“There’s $100,000 thrown away,” he said.

Delegate Bill Hartman, D-Randolph complained that no one from the Department of Education came to the interim committee hearing.

“I think it’s ridiculous nobody is here to respond to this very important report,” he said.

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The McDowell County school system has been returned to local control after being operated by the state Board of Education for eight years.

The state Board of Education has voted to return control to the McDowell County Board of Education.

The state took over the McDowell system in 2001, saying it had terrible test scores and school buildings, and lots of uncertified teachers.

During the take-over, the state consolidated a number of county schools, in what Thomas Ramey, Executive Director of Challenge WV, said was a customary move for the board.

“Good things have happened in McDowell County relative to gains in organization and accountability in the elementary curriculum,” said OEPA Executive Director Kenna Seal.

“Compared to the November 2001 OEPA report, the situation in McDowell County is much improved but problems still remain in some areas,” he said.

Critics of the state takeover say outcomes have improved very little.

“Overall, we are very proud of the work done by the county board, the superintendent, teachers, students and parents in McDowell County,” said State Superintendent Steve Paine.

Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia.

Today, 1/8/10, marks the eighth birthday of the signing of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the most recent version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Reauthorization of the law, which was due in 2007, has yet to occur. For every year that Congress fails to address the unique challenges faced by high schools through a reauthorization of ESEA, approximately 1.3 million students across the nation will drop out of school. In West Virginia alone, more than 6,900 students left high school in 2009 prior to earning their diploma.

“In many ways, NCLB is a compact disc in an iPod world,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “It’s still around, but it is in desperate need of an upgrade.

“The best birthday present for West Virginia’s students is for the Congress and President Obama to enact a new ESEA. It’s time to blow out the candles and bake a new cake.

“NCLB rightly deserves credit for requiring schools to report data that focused attention on educational disparities for various groups of students. Unfortunately, due to shortcomings in the law’s design and implementation, most improvements in learning outcomes for the nation’s elementary school students have not been echoed by their middle and high school counterparts.

“In their brief tenure, President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have actively recognized the high school crisis, focused on turning around the lowest-performing schools, and called on the nation to graduate all students ready for college and careers. Over the last several years, congressional leaders have held hearings and developed legislative proposals based on research and best practice that demonstrate ways to improve the law. However, until research, discussions, hearings, and legislative proposals are actually turned into an ESEA reauthorization, none of these positive changes will reach the countless high school students and teachers in thousands of classrooms.

“This eighth birthday should be a commitment that 2010 is the year to harness the progress and increase momentum around high school reform into a reauthorized ESEA that strategically addresses the high school crisis and begins turning the more than one million dropouts a year into high school graduates who are ready for college and careers.

“Today, our message to the Congress and President Obama is, ‘Don’t delay. Reauthorize ESEA.’”

Office of Educational Performance Audits executive director Kenna Seal has announced that an audit team is scheduled for a re-visit.

A 2006 audit found problems in hiring and financial practices, low student achievement and poor leadership.

In 2007, the WV Board of Education declared a state of emergency in Fayette County.

Officials said an audit conducted earlier in 2009 found that many issues have been addressed.

The system was granted conditional accreditation in February.

Fayette voters just turned down a bond that would have closed several high schools to build a county consolidated high school.

PADEN CITY HIGH HANGING BY THREAD - The Wetzel County Board of Education will soon consider a proposal that calls for closing Paden High at the end of the 2011-12 school year.

The move would send the students five miles away to New Martinsville - Magnolia High School.

The consolidation is widely opposed by the community.

The closure is part of 10-year-plan developed by a review committee that will soon present the information to BOE members.

Currently, PCHS has 159 students in grades 7-12, with 28 seniors, 25 juniors, 32 sophomores, 20 freshmen, 21 eighth graders and 33 seventh graders. The school has picked up 16 new students.

Magnolia currently has 483 students in grades 9-12. Wetzel County’s two other high schools, Valley High School in Pine Grove and Hundred High School in Hundred, currently claim 209 and 113 students in grades 9-12, respectively.

State officials generally push to close schools because those schools have poor facilities or poor academic records, sometimes using an economies of scale model linked to enrollment.

The current high school was built in 1976 after the former structure burned, with a new addition in 1988. Thee facilities are in good shape.

“We have a nice computer lab, SMART Board (interactive whiteboard) technology, and very dedicated and committed teachers…Our academic and attendance records are good here,” said school principal Grace.

School board president Patterson said “The move throughout the state is to consolidate.”

“The committee has made a recommendation to close Paden City High School, and bus those students to Magnolia. But we still have to hold public hearings and vote on the plan before anything like that would happen,” he said.

Paden City area residents have been involved in a vigorous pro-active movement to save the community school.

STATE TAKEOVER OF GRANT SCHOOLS - The West Virginia Board of Education has voted to takeover all of Grant County’s schools.

The Office of Education Performance Audits released a report outlining specific problems facing the Grant County system and recommendations for starting to fix them.

A 130-page report say there are “serious deficiencies” in Grant County schools, including a failure to make adequate yearly progress for the last five years.

State education officials say the county is suffering from a leadership breakdown involving the local school board.

The report also cited a lack of advanced placement and honors classes at the high school.

“I can tell you right now that there are some serious concerns in Grant County,” said Steve Paine, state superintendent, “Specifically with leadership issues that emanate from the local school board and issues that emanate from previous leadership.”

Paine says the Grant County school board is not following the lead of interim county school superintendent, Dr. Sharron Harman. Paine says the relationship is “fractured” and something must change.”

The state School Board is currently involved in take-overs of Mingo, Lincoln, McDowell and Preston counties. Improvement plans are also under review in Fayette and Randolph counties.

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The recent school consolidation proposal by the Fayette County Board of Education was not in the best interest of the students, teachers or communities in Fayette County. Bigger is not necessarily better.

There are better ways of successfully approaching and solving the school problems in our system.
Arguments presented to support the need to consolidate four of our smaller schools were that greater efficiency could be achieved by decreasing the number of teachers and by increasing the number of course offerings.

We all agree that operating our schools as efficiently and effectively as possible with a rich array of courses is of the utmost importance and that we all need to strive to reach the highest of goals for our students.

However, the big challenge in reaching this goal, in my opinion, is intensified by the procedural process that is practiced in West Virginia in the certification of teachers. This certification procedure, propagated by the West Virginia Board of Education and used by teacher-training institutions, greatly restricts the number of classes and grades in which our teachers are permitted to teach. The educational system should provide greater flexibility, in terms of utilizing teachers, by expanding their certificate endorsements as well as making it possible for our teachers to teach a greater variety of courses with a given certificate.

For example, there is not a sensible reason why a social studies teacher should not be able to teach any social studies course in all grade levels. Teachers who have taken a rich college curriculum in the area of social studies should not be narrowly defined by certification to teach only grades 9 to 12, or grades 5 to 8. Whether it be social studies, English, science or other areas, a certified teacher should be able to teach any course in their field of certification.

This situation is multiplied many times over as certification tends to narrowly limit what subjects and what grade levels are included on the certificate. In a small school, it is important to have teachers certified in more than one subject area. Certification procedures used in prior years enabled graduates to teach in major and minor fields — thus enabling them to teach in at least two areas. The teaching certification in two areas seems either to have been discontinued or not encouraged. The state Board of Education, in conjunction with the colleges, are equal culprits in destroying smaller schools and are major advocates for consolidation.

Transporting hundreds and even thousands of students on a daily basis does not improve, in any way, the education of our students. It would be far better to have one or more teachers to travel from school to school on a half-day basis or even on a semester basis to improve the curriculum offerings.

I firmly believe that initiating the following recommendations in our school system would result in a viable and successful alternative to school consolidation in West Virginia, one of the most rural states in the nation:

| Relax the narrow certification requirements.

| Share teachers (including the specialized teachers) locally and statewide.

| Utilize the Internet (a great resource) for distance learning for classes that traditionally have small enrollments.

Providing the best schools to meet the needs of our students is a goal that must be achieved in Fayette and all counties.

Edwards, of Fayetteville, was Fayette County schools superintendent for 14 years.

By Keenan Cummings

Clarksburg Exponent Telegram

Harrison County schools are putting stimulus money to use by offering innovative technology for students and faculty, officials said.

As teaching continues to evolve, technology becomes more and more a centerpiece in the everyday classroom.

And through the stimulus funding, Harrison County will bring a new world of opportunities to its students, Technology Coordinator Jim Eschenmann said.

“It’s a very exciting project, and this is the biggest technology project we’ve done with the board since I’ve been here. It will open up new doors and learning opportunities for students, and it’s only limited by the teacher’s imagination,” he said.

Through a mixture of the $1.8 million in stimulus funding allocated toward technology, and state funding, the county will be able to provide an additional 1,086 computers for both students and teachers, mobile computer and iPod labs, 368 projectors, 330 iPod Touch media players, 259 white boards, 89 mini-slates, 286 document cameras, 13 large format printers and 290 wireless access points throughout all the county’s schools, Eschenmann said.

“Through this money we will be able to have wireless networking in all of the county’s schools,” he said. “Most of this we had already planned. But the stimulus money has allowed us to complete a project, which would have been five to 10 years, in a one-year period.”

The majority of the technology will be traveling to the elementary school level, with the expectation that all of it will be put into place by early January, Eschenmann said.

But many teachers already have begun using some of the equipment on a daily basis.

“We can bring the world into our classroom,” said Karon Freeland, fifth-grade teacher at Adamston. “It’s just so interactive. Technology is the future and will eventually become the standard.”

Freeland uses the interactive white boards to project lessons or math problems, research and show students different countries, and to reconstruct events.

“It’s not just sitting down at a desk and copying it down,” she said. “They can see it, and they want to learn that way.”

Cheryl Skinner teaches second grade at Lumberport Elementary and has more than 25 years of experience in teaching. She is a big proponent of the equipment and has noticed more interest from her students.

“I use it every day. It keeps the children more interested, and when you see the children getting excited, you get excited,” she said. “It’s especially helpful to the visual learner.”

Jenna Williams, a third-grade teacher at Lumberport, agreed.

“It motivates the students and engages them,” she said. “They don’t just have to watch me, they’ve already seen a lot of it and they are really excited to learn this way.”

Through the use of a document camera, digital projector and a computer, Skinner has been able to show videos, have story books read to the children from online and provide visual support for her lesson plans, she said.

Teachers are also provided with real-time results from their students from online quizzes and assessments, Skinner said.

“And we’re still waiting on our mobile labs, iPod labs and smart boards,” she said. “It’s just an exciting time.”

Nutter Fort Elementary has already installed two mobile computer labs and two iPod labs, said Samantha Michael, technology integration specialist at the school.

The mobile computer labs allow teachers to take computers into their rooms so they can use them at their desks, Michael said.

“The computers have both Windows and Macintosh operating systems so the students can do anything,” she said.

The iPod labs have quickly become a favorite within the school, Michael said. The labs consist of one computer that is synched to 30 iPods. Teachers can offer applications such as grammar rules, president review, math facts, periodic tables and the most popular of all, podcasts, she said.

In fact, one teacher already has recorded a podcast of her students reading a book, Michael said.

“They are very interested. Most of the days the iPod labs are checked out,” she said. “By learning this material, it will allow teachers to present their material in many different ways.”

But teachers have to first learn how to use the equipment. On an individual basis teachers are being trained on how to operate the technology, with an additional countywide training session scheduled after all of the equipment has been installed throughout the county, Eschenmann said.

Still the teachers are up to the challenge.

“A lot of teachers are new to technology, but are willing to learn,” Williams said. “We’ve all been really supportive of one another, and once it’s all in place, we will work as a support for one another.”

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