West Virginia Department of Education removes some school districts from watch list | News, sports, jobs

CHARLESTON – A new report from the West Virginia Department of Education shows some counties are falling out of the “on watch” category because they are failing to meet student achievement and success indicators.

The Department of Education’s Office of Accountability released its annual report on the district’s licensing status and accreditation and presented it to the state Board of Education on Wednesday.

The Office of Accountability reviews all districts annually, examining the balanced scorecards and efficiency indicators for the operational effectiveness of the district’s school system.

“As a state, we are charged with providing a thorough and efficient education for our children in West Virginia, and these two data sets provide county-level information related to those two standards, thoroughness and efficiency,” said Alexandra Criner, director of the Office of Accountability .

Last year, 49 of 55 districts were considered “on watch” for failing to meet one or more standards in the following areas: English Language Arts (ELA) achievement and programming, mathematics achievement and progress, English language learner progress, attendance, Behavior, four-year and five-year graduation rates, students on track to graduation, and postsecondary achievement.

In this year’s report, the number of counties classified as “on watch” fell to 41 counties. There are 11 counties under observation for failing to meet ELA performance standards and 17 counties are under observation for failing to meet math performance standards.

However, Criner said the challenge facing most of the counties monitored is school attendance, defined as the percentage of students missing more than 10% of the school year. Criner said there have been some improvements compared to the last school year report, but attendance remains an issue.

According to the report, 22 counties are on attendance control and another 20 are considered in need of assistance, meaning the counties have failed to meet attendance standards for two years in a row. According to Criner, 91% of counties under observation last year saw a decrease in chronic absenteeism in 2024. No county was listed as requiring “intensive support” for failing to meet attendance standards, meaning the county has now experienced declines for three years in a row.

“Attendance was one of our key indicators from last year that showed there was an issue with chronic absenteeism that really needed to be addressed,” Criner said. “When we look at the number of districts that are either receiving support or paying attention, it is clear that many of our efforts in this area have paid off.”

Criner said all districts that were classified as “support districts” last year and have reduced their chronic absenteeism rates will continue to receive support rather than not being downgraded to “watch districts.”

“The reason they don’t transition back into wakefulness or get fully approved despite progress is because once you’re in a designation and you work out a plan to meet the requirements of that designation, you stay there until They partially meet the standard for this indicator,” said Criner. “As long as this improvement works, we will not increase the level in this regard. We will give districts time to implement these plans and make improvements with the expectation that they will report better data each year.”

No counties were rated as “supportive” or “intensively supported” in achieving the ELA. When it comes to math achievement, 65% of districts monitored last year saw gains this year, and 22% of districts rated “support” last year saw gains in math achievement. But seven counties made no progress in math and received an “intensive support” designation.

County operational effectiveness examines 11 indicators in a county, including career and technical education, child nutrition, county educational agency effectiveness, facilities, federal programs, finance, human resources, special education, state mandated data collection, transportation, and general pre-kindergarten readiness.

Thirty-five of 55 counties were identified as needing assistance with one or more county operational effectiveness indicators. Three districts need support in general preparation for preschool children. Three counties need support for their career and technical training. Two counties need support for the effectiveness of their members on the county board of education. Eight counties require financial support. Five counties require assistance from federal programs.

Districts consistently listed in the Needs Support category based on the district’s operational efficiency or the Support and Intensive Support indicators will receive greater support from the Department of Education, including action plans to make needed improvements. The state education agency can also order the department to intervene directly in the counties, as was the case in Logan and Upshur counties.

Most districts fell into the “Needs Support” category for special education and staffing, with 21 districts needing support for special education and 15 districts needing support for staffing. However, Criner said the staffing data depends on information that counties feed into the state’s Education Information System (WVEIS).

“They reflect the number of teachers enrolled in a core course – math, science, language arts, social studies – and certified in that area. It relies heavily on accurate data entry,” Criner said. Just because we have a district that is currently identified as needing staff support does not necessarily mean that they have non-certified teachers in those positions. It may be due to incorrect coding in the WVEIS system.”

But Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, told members of the State Board of Education Wednesday that the county’s school systems are in desperate need of teachers and staff.

“We have a shortage of teachers, support staff, bus drivers, cooks and carers. You name it, we have these shortages,” Lee said. “We don’t have enough advisors. We don’t have enough social workers in our schools.”

Micky Blackwell, executive director of the West Virginia Association of Principals, criticized the West Virginia Legislature’s recent special session, which seized over $500 million in excess tax revenue and passed a 2% personal income tax cut, partially funded by $27 million was paid for through savings from the division of the former Ministry of Health and Human Resources. Blackwell said if there is additional money, it should be put toward education.

“If they take that $20 million and put it into schools, into administration and into counselors, we would be serving the children of West Virginia who will grow up to be our future taxpayers,” Blackwell said. “So please, let’s all get together. We know January is approaching, and let us begin making plans now to support our school leaders and each other as well, and to support our legislators to help them recognize what our schools need.”