Common Core Story Archives - Page 2 of 8 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

The 10 Biggest Stories from West Virginia's 2016

What were the top stories in West Virginia from 2016? We searched our archives from the past year and compiled this list of the most popular stories.

As we cap off 2016, West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s producers and programs share their most memorable moments of the year. Find each of our Best of 2016 posts at wvpublic.org/term/best-2016.

10. Chlorine Leak from Axiall Corp. Sends Two to Hospital, Evacuates Communities

Two people were transported to hospitals for inhalation injuries, others were treated at the site of a reported chlorine leak in Marshall County.

9. Governor Tomblin Signs Budget that Taps Reserves

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed that took $147.5 million from the state’s $922 million Rainy Day Fund to cover a projected shortfall.

8. Blankenship Gets One Year in Prison, One Year Supervised Release, $250,000 Fine

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was sentenced to the maximum one year in prison and another year of supervised release for his role in a conspiracy at the company to skirt mine safety standards.

7. Ohio Man Arrested in Connection with Huntington Overdoses

An Akron, Ohio man was arrested connection with a rash of overdoses in Huntington. Emergency crews responded to 26 overdoses in a four-hour span and two people died in connection with the same batch of heroin distributed in the city.

6. W.Va. Medicaid Doctors Put on Alert as State’s Cash Flows Dwindle

More than 24,000 doctors across West Virginia who accept Medicaid were put on alert Monday that the state may not be able to “continue to process claims at the same consistent level.”

5. PEIA Board Approves $120 Million in Cuts for Second Time

the state Public Employees Insurance Agency, or PEIA, Finance Board voted unanimously to reinstate benefit cuts, affecting health care costs for some 230,000 West Virginians.

4. Common Core, School Calendar Bills Vetoed

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed two education bills, one that would have repealed Common Core aligned standardized tests in the state and a second that would have allowed county boards to schedule fewer then 180 days in their school calendars.

3. West Virginia Senate Approves ‘Brunch Bill’

Senators unanimously passed a bill that would move the start of Sunday alcohol sales from 1 p.m. to 10 a.m.

2. Election 2016

From the primary elections in May to the general election in November, election stories were constant sources of headlines in 2016. Here were the top posts:

Live Blog: 2016 West Virginia Primary

10 Takeaways from the W.Va. Primary Election

‘Trump Digs Coal’ at Charleston Rally

Election 2016: West Virginia Goes For Trump, Justice Wins, State Legislature Remains with GOP

1. June 2016 Flood

Heavy flooding in West Virginia during June claimed 23 lives, destroyed more than 4,000 homes and businesses and resulted in 10 counties being declared federal disaster area. Through statewide coverage and individual stories, this disaster produced the most compelling stories of 2016

Flooding in Richwood: Image Gallery

Greenbrier Resort Opens Doors to Flood Victims

‘I Almost Gave Up’: Flood Survivor Remembers the Voice Who Saved Her

Inside Appalachia: West Virginia’s 1,000 Year Flood

You’ve now experienced 2016 through West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Make sure to follow @wvpublic on social media and sign-up for our email newsletter to keep up with 2017’s stories.

W.Va. Public Schools Are Now Being Graded

The West Virginia College and Career Ready Standards are being implemented for the first time in West Virginia schools this fall and so is a new system to grade the schools themselves.

Lawmakers were updated about the implementation of both the new standards and the accountability system during an interim meeting at the Capitol Monday. The system measures the performance of individual schools and gives them an A through F grade based on a variety of factors.

83 percent of a school’s performance is based on growth and student proficiency. The remaining 17 percent is based on non-performance items like attendance, graduation rates, and passage of dual-credit and AP courses.

West Virginia Board of Education member Lloyd Jackson says the grades the schools receive are directly tied to the standards taught in the classroom.

“We can’t constantly be changing our standards,” Jackson said, “Our assessments need to be aligned and they need to be consistent. Our accountability system has to operate over a number of years to be the kind of indicator of growth we want to see, and yes, we have to build capacity in those schools, but in order to know where to do that is to pin it on the results of our system as I’ve outlined to you.”

Jackson says the 2015-2016 grades for schools will be released in the next few months.

Us & Them: Hello Mary Lou!

Mary Lou Bruner, who made headlines with her wild accusations about President Obama is running for Texas State Board of Education. If elected, she’ll be responsible for guiding the nation’s second largest public school system. Could she influence the content in textbooks used across the nation?

From West Virginia Public Broadcasting and PRX, this is “Us & Them,” the podcast where we tell the stories about America’s cultural divides.

Subscribe to “Us & Them” on Apple Podcasts, NPR One or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Below, you can listen to Trey’s complete interview with Mary Lou Bruner.

Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @usthempodcast or @wvpublic, or leave a comment on Facebook.com/usthempodcast.

This episode is part of a series made possible with financial assistance from the West Virginia Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

And if you enjoyed this episode, join our community and sustain “Us & Them” with a pledge of support.

Common Core, School Calendar Bills Vetoed

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has vetoed two education bills, one that would have repealed Common Core aligned standardized test in the state and a second that would have allowed county boards to schedule fewer then 180 days in their school calendars.

House Bill 4014 started as a repeal of the state’s Common Core-based education standards, but the state Board of Education approved their repeal in December, replacing them with the West Virginia College and Career Ready Standards.

As it moved through the legislative process, the bill became a repeal of any standardized tests aligned with Common Core. The bill also created a review panel that includes higher education professors or deans to suggestion changes to the current standards to the state board.

In his veto message, Tomblin said requiring the board stop using its current summative assessment in such a short timeframe “discounts the time and consideration” needed to find a replacement. He says it could also disrupt the ongoing implementation of the state’s A through F grading scale for schools.

Tomblin says that revisions to assessments and standards may be warranted in the future, but the state should ensure the stability of its school system by giving the current changes and means of measurement more time to take hold.

The governor also vetoed a bill that would have removed the requirement that county Boards of Education provide 180 separate days of learning and also limited the school operating dates to between August 10 and June 10.

In his veto message, Tomblin said 180 separate days of learning ensures students will be ready for college or a career after high school and school systems should be prepared to properly deal with weather or other emergencies by building flexibility into their calendars.

Tomblin said limiting school systems to operation between August 10 and June 10 also would have reversed legislation he approved in 2013, which gave counties more control over their calendars.

Lawmakers Complete Action to Common Core Repeal Bill

Editor’s Note: For the latest updates on the final day of the legislative session, be sure to keep checking our live blog.

Updated Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 7:28 p.m.:

Members of the Senate have concurred in the House amendments to House Bill 4014 after voting 27-4 during a Saturday evening floor session.

With the concurrence and passing vote, the bill now heads to Governor Tomblin for further consideration.

Original Story: The House of Delegates has agreed to adopt the Senate’s amendments to a bill that would repeal the state’s Common Core education standards and aligned standardized tests.

Delegates, however, further amended the bill to remove the requirement to submit high school students in grades 9 and 10 to a standardized test. The House also removed the requirement for the West Virginia Board of Education to develop a policy setting accountability measures for testing.

As amended, the bill still requires the repeal of the Smarter Balanced Assessment, the standardized test aligned with Common Core.

The bill as amended in the Senate requires the deans of the West Virginia University and Marshall University departments or colleges of English, math and enginering appoint a commission to review the state’s current education standards and suggest changes to the state Board of Education.

The Board voted to repeal Common Core in December and replace it with the West Virginia College and Career Ready Standards. The commission, made up of West Virginia teachers, principals and professors in the fields of English, math and science would be overseen by the chancellor of the Higher Education Policy Commission.

Senators also included an amendment that would keep the current science standards in place, allowing them to take effect in July of this year, but would make those standards subject to the review of the commission.

If the Senate agrees to the House’s additional amendment, the bill will move on to Governor Tomblin for consideration.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story reported the House removed all high school testing requirements. The Hous eonly removed those requirements for 9th and 10th graders. Eleventh graders will still be submitted to a standardized test.

W.Va. Senate Advancing Education Standard Review

State Senators have made changes to a bill that, as approved by the House, would repeal the state’s Common Core education standards and aligned standardized tests.

Senators on the Education Committee accepted amendments to the bill during an evening meeting Monday.

As approved by the committee, the bill still requires a repeal of Common Core based education standards, but those standards were repealed by the state Board of Education in December and replaced with the West Virginia College and Career Ready Standards.

The bill requires the Senate President and House Speaker appoint a commission to review the current standards and suggest changes to the state board. That commission would be made up of content experts in the fields of English, math, and science and would be overseen by the chancellor of the Higher Education Policy Commission.

It also removes the provision that would allow students to opt out or refuse to take a standardized test.

The bill will be reported to the full Senate today and could be up for a vote by Friday.