Sizing Up Our Schools

Here in the Mountain State, at the end of the school day, more children than ever are stepping off the school bus and into chaos or poverty at home that impacts their learning. In fact, in a hypothetical classroom of 30 West Virginia children, five would have been born exposed to drugs, seven would live in poverty and 18 would be insured by Medicaid. One of the 30 would be uninsured. Ten of these children would live in a home where their parents lack secure employment, according to 2022 West Virginia KIDS COUNT survey data. State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt says the county schools are where the poverty buck stops.

“In many of our communities, the schools are the last pillar of stability because so many areas have struggled with the opioid crisis and poverty for years,” Blatt says. “No one understands the impact of socioeconomic disparities like our educators who see it every day in our classrooms.”

According to West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) statistics, 51.3% of the state’s children are eco­nomically disadvantaged; 6,142 of the 250,049 enrolled students across the state are in foster care and 13,530 are homeless. For many of these children, school is where the building blocks of well-being must be found.

Post COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s leaders and educators are peeling away at the layers of a complex mission with focused initiatives and passionate resolve to make life better for children in the Mountain State.

“The West Virginia Department of Education and our counties make sure children are fed and that their basic needs are met so teaching can occur,” Blatt says.

The initiatives are rooted in statistical data, much of which is provided by the annual WV KIDS COUNT survey.

“Knowledge is power,” says Tricia Kingery, WV KIDS COUNT executive director. “KIDS COUNT data launches conversations on the most pressing issues facing children and families across the state and creates opportunities to prioritize the needs of children in policy and investment decisions.”

In fact, the WVDE, with help from first lady Cathy Justice, moved the needle in the right direction concerning the number of students completing high school on time. The 2023 KIDS COUNT survey noted the improvement in the state’s numbers.

“We have further expanded Communities in Schools—a drop-out prevention program—to meet the basic needs of our students and families, so our teachers can focus on academics,” Blatt says. “This fall, 52 counties and 257 schools are participating in the state, impacting more than 100,000 students with extensive dropout intervention supports. Ninety-nine percent of our case-managed students are staying in school.”

The state is also addressing child hunger with the Feed to Achieve program, the result of Senate Bill 663, which is overseen by the WVDE. This program gives children nutritious food in school and outside the school day parameters. The WVDE’s Office of Child Nutrition, with help from Supply Chain Assistance funds and funding through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement, is increasing the amount of locally grown food available in school food programs. More than one in five children in West Virginia live in a food insecure household, which is defined by the WVDE as a household where it is difficult to find the money for food. More than 67% of students qualify for free or reduced meals.

COVID-19 left the Mountain State with 800 fewer educators, but state leaders are tackling the shortage with teacher prep programs and educator support. Forty counties have participated in the Grow Your Own Pathway to Teaching initiative, which gives college students a fast-track to a teaching degree.

The state also sharpened the public school focus on math and reading when the West Virginia Legislature passed the Third Grade Success Act. This legislation gives schools a multitude of tools to focus on early literacy and numeracy during that all-important benchmark third grade year, including additional personnel for first through third grades and multi-tiered systems of support and intervention.

State institutions of higher learning, impacted by declining enrollment numbers, are raising awareness at the high school level with several initiatives.

In 2011, nearly 55% of West Viginia’s graduating high school students were enrolled in a summer or fall technical or academic higher education program. In 2022, that number dropped to just above 46%, according to the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (WVHEPC). Sarah Armstrong Tucker, chancellor of the WVHEPC, says that drop can be put at the doorstep of one issue—COVID-19.

“After 2011, the college-going rate dropped to about 51%,” she says. “Fifty-one percent is not good enough for me, but we were there for six years. In 2020, after COVID, we dropped to 48% and then 45.9%. COVID was very destructive in students’ lives. It was very difficult for them to know what to do.”

Beginning this fall, the WVHEPC is offering high school students a jump start into classes and post-secondary possibilities with a dual enrollment system. Tucker asked the state legislature for funding, received it in July and pushed to get the laser-sharp, dual enrollment program up and running statewide.

“Higher education dual enrollment had become a case of the haves and the have-nots,” Tucker says. “Some counties could afford it, and others could not. Now anyone can take dual enrollment; you just have to choose a pathway that leads to a job in West Virginia.”

Tucker says there are 4,200 students enrolled in this year’s pilot program, with 16 higher education institutions participating. The possible pathways include nursing, teaching, social services, business, information technology,
welding, criminal justice, natural resources and aviation maintenance.

“We tried to be very intentional,” she says. “Dual enrollment has been haphazard in this state. In the new program, colleges partner with a high school and come up with a pathway. What program do they think could get students to matriculate into that college? Students are then enrolled both in college and high school.”

The program is rooted in promising data. Of the high school-level students who are taking advanced placement courses or participating in dual enrollment programs already in place, 87.2% are completing their higher education pathway.

The WVHEPC also brings students to campuses to envision what is possible for them.

“We provided plans for a handful of counties with the lowest college rates to send their students to colleges on buses,” she says. “The simple act of showing a kid a college campus opens their eyes to things they didn’t think were possible, whether it is a community college or a local baccalaureate institution. Also, we said all kids, not just honor students.”

West Virginia was one of only four states chosen for the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) federal grant in 2021. This was the third consecutive and largest grant awarded to the WVHEPC. The seven-year grant serves middle and high school students in 11 counties with a multitude of resources to help them prepare for and open the door to higher education. The $24.5 million grant will run through 2028 with a possible one-year extension.

“We have to give our students the understanding that there are jobs available for them in West Virginia—high-paying jobs,” Tucker says. “They just have to get some form of post-secondary education. I talk to high school students, and they say there is nothing here for them. That is simply not true anymore.”

Although the 2022 WV KIDS COUNT survey ranks West Virginia 42 out of the 50 states for overall child well-being, Blatt emphasizes that the state has the tools to change that number.

“One of the most effective ways to break generational poverty is education,” she says. “By providing education, training, financial and nutritional support and a little human kindness, we can break the cycle.”