Third Grade Success Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

State Superintendent Discusses New Position, Goals

Earlier this month, Michele Blatt became the West Virginia superintendent of schools following the retirement of David Roach in June. She is the third person to hold the position in less than two years. Chris Schulz caught up with the superintendent at the INVEST Conference in Morgantown earlier this week to discuss her new position.

Education Reporter Chris Schulz caught up with the superintendent at the INVEST Conference in Morgantown earlier this week to discuss her new position.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Schulz: Superintendent, first of all, tell me, how are you feeling?

Blatt: I’m really excited about this opportunity to lead our state, and so grateful to the [West Virginia] Board of Education that put their faith in me to do this job. I have an amazing support system at the department and around the state that I know together, we’re gonna do some really great things.

Schulz: Can you tell me a little bit about what it is that you’re doing here in Morgantown?

Blatt: This is our second statewide conference that we’ve held, called INVEST. It is to begin the implementation of House Bill 3035, the Third Grade Success Act, to start training our teachers and principals on the implementation of the Science of Reading components. And also start with the Unite with Numeracy work around the math skills and things so that our students can be successful by the time they leave third grade.

Schulz: How is the implementation of the Third Grade Success Act going, and how does it feel to now be at the helm?

Blatt: We’ve got a great plan in place. Like I said, this is our second statewide conference, so we’ll have hit approximately 1,200 teachers and principals this summer. We also have a wonderful plan in place to do implementation teams across the state. We’ll be starting in August and September, going out and training county teams that can then work with each of their schools. And then we’ll also be able to provide the support and follow-up. So it’s always been important to me that the department’s seen as a support place, and that they can provide the resources and things that our teachers need so that they can reach the students.

Schulz: The issue of staffing has come up. I don’t remember the number off the top of my head of how many paraprofessionals are supposed to be coming into first grade classrooms this year alone, to say nothing of second or third grade in the coming years. But how is the department addressing that right now?

Blatt: We put out some guidance early on as to the different options and things that were available, and the [state] legislature gave us some flexibility. They could hire early childhood classroom assistants, aides, paraprofessionals, or interventionists, because we knew that would be an issue. But in a call last week with superintendents, we learned that they’re not having trouble filling those positions, but they’re losing all their special education aides. So that’s where, in some conversations with the legislature and other things, we’re gonna have to really start figuring out how to meet that need as well.

Schulz: More broadly, you know West Virginia is still dealing with over 1,000 vacancies in certified teaching positions. Now that you are leading the department, now that you’re leading education in the state, do you have any plans or working on anything to try and address that issue?

Blatt: Well, we have a lot of programs in place that just started in the last year or so. We have Grow Your Own teaching pathway, and that is also starting to incorporate the pathway for aides and our high school students to come out and meet that demand. So we’re doing a lot of work with our universities, doing a lot of alternative certification pathways, so that we can make sure that we’re doing all we can from the state level to recruit and retain our teachers.

Schulz: One of the concerns when we hear about alternative educational pathways is that foundation of the profession of teaching. I know that you have a very long career in education. What can you say to that, and what are you seeing in these alternative programs that makes you confident that these people are going to be ready to teach in the same way as a traditionally trained teacher?

Blatt: Well, there are several different pathways, whether it’s from the state level programs that our university or counties are allowed to have their own. Part of that is they’ve already received the content based on the career, something they’re coming from. But there’s various ways that depending on which program they select, they do receive the pedagogy and some of the classroom management and behavioral skills that they need to operate in the classroom.

Schulz: What are you most excited to be working on right now?

Blatt: I think just making sure that our teachers in our schools [and] our staff have the resources they need to meet the needs of our children. We focus a lot on academics, and that’s the most important thing, to make sure that we can get our kids ready to read and do math by third grade, but we have so many children across this state that their basic needs aren’t met.

And making sure that we’re putting supports in place to help our teachers so that they can be able to teach our students, and making sure that everyone understands that for some of our students, schools are the only place that they feel safe and loved, and get two or three meals a day.

Schulz: Can you tell me a little bit more how that will be happening? I know that your predecessor was talking a lot about expanding Communities in Schools, for example.

Blatt: We’ll be in 52 counties this fall for Communities in Schools. We also have many other projects in place through different programs, working with our counselors and things. Communities in Schools has made an impact across the state because it has put a site coordinator in every school to focus on those basic needs, and then allow them to free the teacher up to actually focus on the academic side of it. There’s a shortage of those, of counselors and behavioral specialists and things as well, but there’s several different grants and things that we’ve worked on with different agencies to really address that need as well.

Schulz: I’m curious if you can help our listeners a little bit to understand the differentiation between deputy superintendent and superintendent. What has been the biggest change for you so far?

Blatt: I think the biggest change is just the realization that I’m the one that’s responsible for all of our schools, and making sure that everything that we do is going to meet the needs of our students, going to get them where they need to be academically. And that there’s just a lot of opportunities, but it’s a little scary at times to think about that. All of those schools and everything are depending on me. But again, I just continue to think about the great staff we have at the department and then across the state and those that are willing to do what it takes to meet the needs of our students.

Schulz: I know that one of the topics that came up at the last [state] Board of Education meeting was the two current special investigations into school systems. What really struck me was this discussion about implementing new procedures for maybe catching these issues early. Is that something that you’ve been working on?

Blatt: Yes, we’re really looking to see what we can do proactively to catch some of those issues that we found. Each office at the department is in charge of a certain section of those county effectiveness indicators. And they’re looking to see how they can tighten those up or strengthen those to catch some of those situations earlier.

Schulz: Could you tell me a little bit about that conversation that you had with the superintendents in the state last week?

Blatt: It was a matter of looking at all the requirements and things that are out there. We talked a lot about the professional development that’s required, or the required trainings and things that are required either in state or federal code or policy, and really trying to think about how can we make sure that we have enough time with our teachers and staff, to really train them on the things that they need, and provide them what they need to be successful, especially as we implement this Ready Read Write initiative.

Schulz: As a career educator, do you have any thoughts on how much is being asked of our educators these days?

Blatt: There’s an immense amount of work being asked of our educators, of aids. As I mentioned earlier, so many of them are responsible for taking care of these kids. We have over 7,000 kids in foster care that aren’t getting their basic needs met. So when you think our teachers are no longer just responsible for teaching, reading, writing and math, they’re also responsible for teaching these kids a lot of times how to behave in the classroom, providing them with clothes, providing them with extra resources on the weekend, so that they have food on the weekends. And in so many cases, our teachers are not only teachers, but their counselors and nurses and so many other things for the students in their classroom.

Schulz: You are, by my account, the third superintendent that the state has had in as many years, maybe less. And I just wonder, how does that impact your outlook on the position and what you hope to accomplish?

Blatt: We’ve had a lot of turnover over the last several years in superintendents. One of the things that I think a lot about is, what can I do to kind of study the system? There’s no way we can continue to meet the demands that the communities and the legislature and the governor and others have for us if there’s a constant turnover in leadership, and we’ve had a lot of that turnover. So one of the things I think about is, what can we do to all work together and keep everyone moving in the right direction for our kids and do it for the long-term?

W.Va. Teachers Learning To Teach Science Of Reading

Hundreds of southern West Virginia teachers gathered in Charleston this week, learning how to best improve student literacy.

Hundreds of southern West Virginia teachers gathered in Charleston this week, learning how to best improve student literacy by implementing the West Virginia Department of Education’s (WVDE) “Ready Read Write” initiative.

Grade school teachers at the state’s Invest 2023 education symposium are getting back to the “science of reading” basics. The initiative comes from a body of research going back 40 years that incorporates five pillars, known as the “fab five” – phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, that prove how the brain learns to become a proficient reader and writer. The program focus will be initially on kindergarten through 3rd grade studies.

The effort comes from new legislation titled the Third Grade Success Act. House Bill 3035 was passed in answer to West Virginia reading and math test scores that were among the lowest in the country. Some educators, like Senate Education Committee Chair, and fourth grade teacher, Amy Grady, R-Mason, said it would take years for West Virginia teachers to learn a new method. Nearly all the teachers we talked to said the “Ready Write Read” science of reading initiative was already in place and just needed an across-the-board boost. The math initiative is called “Math4life, UNITe with numeracy.”

Webster County kindergarten teacher Jenny Cogar said the read and write program doesn’t reinvent the wheel but builds background knowledge and vocabulary for her rural students.

“They might not have the experiences that other students that might live in the cities might have,” Coger said. “I think it will help with not only reading scores but give them the skills that they’re going to need later on in life.”

A row of teachers in “Ready, Read, Write” class. Randy Yohe/WVPB

Greenbrier County fourth grade teacher Todd Warnick said implementing the science of reading will raise instructional levels, similar to his previous North Carolina school’s reading and writing instruction.

“The program we used was exactly where we’re at today, five years later,” Warnick said. “I saw good results there. I’m glad to see the state moving that way because we saw students that were reading ahead of grade level. And it was a wonderful experience to see these developing readers become good readers with the science of reading that we were using at that time.”

Nicholas County fourth grade teacher Delia Tinney said the program will be easily implemented because it makes sense.

“Students need to write to be able to read,” Tinney said. “It’s something that a lot of teachers do. It just now has a name.”

West Virginia Department of Education “Ready Read Write” coordinator Kelly Griffith said the best practices initiative is in contrast to ineffective practices that may still be existing, because of remnants of other reading movements. She says there may be a learning curve for some teachers, but all teachers are getting the needed training.

“The goal is to make sure that our teachers have the resources and the tools that they need for best and most effective practices with the science of reading,” she said.

Griffith said with three to five years of “fidelity” (to reproduce similar results) of 80 percent or higher, “Ready Read Write” will have an impact on students.

Legislators Learn Challenges For Teachers With The Third Grade Success Act

Legislators learned that it may take teachers years to be fully prepared for the implementation of the state’s new early childhood literacy requirements.

With House Bill 3035 and the Third Grade Success Act set to become law next month, the Joint Standing Committee on Education heard a presentation on the science of reading during interim meetings at Marshall University Monday.

Toni Backstrom, strategic state solutions manager at Lexia Learning, explained to the lawmakers that their goal of increasing reading proficiency is possible, but it will take a lot of work and specifically support for teachers.

“Research and science show us that 95 percent of students can learn,” she said. “I don’t say that lightly. A number of our students will struggle, they will need additional support and intervention. But if our teachers have the expertise, they can meet every one of those students where they are when they step into the room and get them on that trajectory to success.”

Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, who is a teacher, said teacher training and professional development will likely take years.

“Our teachers are so used to professional development being a one day thing. We have an eight hour day and schedule the kids are off and we have professional development that day and it ends that day,” Grady said. “For this to be expanded, I think that’s going to be our challenge, is the mindset of ‘Okay, it’s not something I’m learning in one day. It’s something that I am using and continuing to learn over the course of a few years and even still doing it after that as well.’”

Delegates Reflect On Passed, Failed Legislative Session Initiatives

Several lawmakers called the just completed legislative session historic, while others are left with concerns over a focus on major economic development rather than helping working West Virginians.

Just moments after he struck the final midnight gavel ending the 60-day session, Speaker of the House, Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, said passing the Third Grade Success Act was among the biggest priorities lawmakers accomplished. The speaker followed that thought with a profound overall session assessment.

“I’ll go so far as to use the word historic,” he said. “So in these last 60 days, we have divided and made more accountable the largest entity of state government in DHHR [West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources]. We have passed the largest tax cut and put more money back in the pockets of West Virginians than any legislature ever in history. We have restructured and reformed the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) and put it on a secure footing for the next generation of public employees and school teachers. And we’ve done all that while giving pay raises to our public employees and putting teachers aides in all first, second [and] third grade classrooms in West Virginia without raising $1 of taxes.”

From the Democratic side, House Minority Whip Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, said while debate was less abrasive and more congenial than sessions past, he thought the allocations of a more than $1 billion state budget surplus were tilted too far away from the working class.

“We shouldn’t have had PEIA premium increases,” he said. “I mean, we have record surpluses and now we have record PEIA increases, tell me how that happens? We found a way to give pay raises to legislators, which I certainly do not support, pay raises to the governor, pay raises to everybody, and we’re gonna give increases to the PEIA recipients. It’s the one thing that they’ve held on to for years. We gave away hundreds of millions of dollars to potential projects and we ignored those who are actually here. They’re actually working and had been in West Virginia for many years raising their families. And we told them, ‘you’re getting the increase.’”

A year ago, members from both sides of the aisle dealt with troubles with foster care, a crisis CPS worker shortage and a Department of Health and Human Resources in disarray. House Health Committee Chair Amy Summers, R-Tyler, said the reorganization of DHHR, along with new initiatives and leadership, will lead to better outcomes for the health and welfare of the state’s most vulnerable residents.

“I’m just excited that we’re on a new path, we are going to come up with some solutions,” Summers said. “We feel that the DHHR division is really going to give us more insight and direction into those departments. I’m just excited about everything that’s happened this session and we’re going to continue to work hard. It’s just the first step. We’re going to continue to work hard to evaluate all of those different issues that we have during the interims that are coming up.”

House Minority Leader Doug Skaff, D-Kanawha, said while tax cuts and pay raises were welcomed by working West Virginians, he and others from both parties have grave concerns over slighting the crisis in state corrections – a 33 percent employee vacancy rate and more than $40 million spent on stop-gap National Guard jail and prison support.

“I wish we would have put more focus on public education and more focus on getting a cost of living adjusted for our retirees, and the one thing that we didn’t do is our costs in our jail system or in the corrections are just continuing to be a mess,” Skaff said. “You’ve got to focus on not kicking the can down the road with record surpluses. You can still do more until there’s no vacancies out there. I say, let’s keep working harder, we gotta fill all those public employee positions that are out there because they take care of our people of West Virginia. I’m glad we’re finally, after years, giving some of the money back to the West Virginians, and I’m okay with that. But I just think we need to get our house in order first before you give out the rest of the money.”

House Technology and Infrastructure Committee Chair, Del. Daniel Linville, R-Cabell, said he was disappointed in a lack of progressive legislation passed from his committee.

“There’s several pieces of cutting red tape or several pieces of legislation that did that in regards to infrastructure development,” he said. “There’s also been some bills relative to broadband that just didn’t make it across the finish line. It’s always a struggle, but we want to make our state the fastest place to deploy all infrastructure, especially in this inflationary environment.”

Nearly every delegate WVPB spoke with said much of the legislation passed was just a first step. Now, we will see in what direction those steps may head.