West Virginia University is collaborating with the West Virginia Department of Education to give parents, teachers and students a voice in the standards for K-12 education in the state—and they will have an opportunity to have that voice heard today (Sept. 1) at 6:30 p.m. at the WVU Erickson Alumni Center at the first of a series of seven town hall meetings.

The West Virginia Next Generation Standards evaluation website was launched July 8 as part of the West Virginia Academic Spotlight, which is an effort to review nearly 900 English and math benchmarks that outline what knowledge students should possess at different points of their educational progression.

West Virginia University is participating as a third party to research, collect, assess and analyze the data and put its finger on the pulse of public opinion across the state. The College of Education and Human Services and the Reed College of Media are leading the efforts to collect data and input from all 55 counties in West Virginia.

“West Virginia University is committed to high quality public education throughout the state, and the Academic Spotlight offers us a unique opportunity to demonstrate that commitment,” said Provost Joyce McConnell. “By partnering with the Department of Education on this initiative, we help ensure that West Virginia’s public education system is truly responsive to the needs of students, parents, and teachers.”

WVU will assess the data collected as part of the town hall meetings as a community review; an action plan will be developed as part of their findings and reported in early 2016 as part of a capstone class assignment for Reed College of Media students and reported back to the West Virginia Department of Education.

Parents and teachers have until Sept. 30 to review a series of questions and leave feedback to assess what works and where focus is needed at wvacademicspotlight.statestandards.org. The town halls will span throughout the month of September at various colleges and universities around the state.

Next Generation Standards were adopted in 2011 and were developed using input from more than 600 teachers and administrators all over West Virginia. They were implemented in West Virginia classrooms from 2011 to 2014. The community evaluation will give state residents the opportunity to share their thoughts on the standards now that they’ve had four years to measure their effectiveness.

The town hall schedule is as follows:

September 1, 6:30pm
West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV
The Erickson Alumni Center
Ruby Grand Hall

September 3, 6:30pm
Marshall University
Huntington, WV
Memorial Student Center
Shawkey Room – 2nd Floor

September 10, 6:30pm
BridgeValley Community and Technical College
South Charleston Campus

September 17, 5:30pm
Concord University
Athens, WV
Rahall Technology Building
Room 304

September 20, 5:30pm
Southern WV Community and Technical College
Logan Campus – Mt. Gay, WV
Building A, Room 111

September 22, 6:30pm
West Liberty University
Wheeling, WV
Academic, Sports and Recreation Complex (ASRC)
Boyle Conference Room

September 29, 6:30pm
Shepherd University
Shepherdstown, WV
Erma Byrd Hall
Auditorium – Room 117

-WVU-

hr/08/31/15

CONTACT: Geah Pressgrove, College of Media
Geah.Pressgrove@mail.wvu.edu; (304) 293-8868

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