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By Mackenzie Mays
The Charleston Gazette
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded West Virginia $21 million to help prepare students for college and the workforce.
The Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant will support college planning and readiness services across 10 counties in the state, serving 17,000 students over the next several years, according to the state Higher Education Policy Commission.
The GEAR UP...
By Samuel Speciale
Charleston Daily Mail Staff
It has only been a week since Michael Martirano became state superintendent, but the schools chief already has his sights set on improving student achievement in West Virginia.
In a Daily Mail editorial board meeting Friday, Martirano said he wants to see drastic improvements, but acknowledges that change doesn’t happen overnight.
“I’ve always said it’s a journey, not a sprint,” he said. “But we have to think with the...
By Mackenzie Mays - The Charleston Gazette
Nearly one in three public school students in West Virginia missed at least five days of class last year without an excuse, according to data from the state Department of Education. That marks those students as truant, which could mean fines, court hearings or even jail time for parents.
A handful of school districts in the state had more than half of their students miss at least five unexcused days during the 2013-14 school year, with...
By David Gutman
The Charleston Gazette
More than one in four kids in West Virginia lives in poverty. That’s nearly 100,000 kids.
One in three West Virginia kids under the age of 5 lives in poverty.
Those numbers come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey, which showed a statistically significant increase in child poverty in West Virginia for the first time since at least 2009.
In West Virginia, 27 percent of kids and 33 percent of...
By Staff reports
The Charleston Gazette
The state Department of Education has paid more than $63,000 for legal counsel in response to former state superintendent of schools Jorea Marple’s lawsuit, according to documents from the West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance Management.
A Freedom of Information Act request was made by the West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse last week inquiring about the Department of Education’s fees in Jorea Marple v. West Virginia...