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Paula Kaufman: Japanese teachers’ lament instructive to Americans
By Paula Kaufman
American teachers often complain about overwork and a test-crazed culture. I agree that we are heading in the wrong direction, but while things could be better for our teachers, they could also be worse. Japan is case study of what could happen when a country slips too far in one direction.
In many regards, the Japanese education system works. Literacy rates are some of the...
Fayette school bond supporters sense hope in election
By Ryan Quinn, Staff writer
The abrupt January closure of Collins Middle School’s seventh-and-eighth-grade building has fueled an effort to pass Fayette County’s first bond in more than 40 years despite continuing opposition to consolidation.
The closure forced the school to send about 400 students elsewhere after also seeing its band building and gym shuttered due to structural issues in the previous...
Serena Starcher to step down as Fayette superintendent
By Douglas Fritz, WVNSTV.com
The West Virginia Board of Education is looking for a new superintendent of schools in Fayette County. Dr. Serena Starcher has announced she will be stepping down from the position after June 30, 2015. She was appointed to the position after Keith Butcher took over as superintendent of Nicholas County.
Dr. Starcher was appointed as the interim superintendent in July 2014...
Report: W.Va. among three states continuously cutting higher ed funds
By Ashton Marra, West Virginia Public Broadcating
A report released this month by the national Center on Budget and Policy Priorities looked at states across the country that cut their higher education budgets in the wake of the 2008 economic downturn.
Three of 50 states did not make cuts to their systems during that time, North Dakota, Wyoming and Alaska.
The report says now...
Commentary: Lawmakers must let educators teach students
By Paul Hodges, For The Charleston Gazette
Here we go again! I was very distressed when I read in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph about Sen. Bill Cole’s intentions to continue pushing for repeal of the Common Core State Standards in West Virginia.
When I first began to talk to teachers concerning Common Core, or as it is known in West Virginia, Next Generation Standards, I heard a frequent refrain, “...