June 14, 2018

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) met today for its monthly routine business meeting. During the meeting, five policies were discussed and approved. A brief description of each policy can be found below.

 

  • 2444.4 – Insurance of the State of West Virginia High School Equivalency Diploma and Option Pathway: This policy, formerly titled West Virginia High School Equivalency Diploma, was repealed and replaced to expand scope and clarify procedures for acquiring a high school equivalency diploma, the implementation of an Option Pathway in the high school/Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy and the use of high school equivalency assessment for credit recovery. The policy will be effective July 16, 2018.
  • 2322 – West Virginia Accountability System: Policy 2322, formerly titled Standards for High Quality Schools was repealed and replaced to include the accountability system outlined in West Virginia’s Consolidated Plan for Elementary and Secondary Education Act as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015). The new accountability system was approved by the U.S. Department of Education on January 10, 2018, and will be applied to all public schools in the state beginning with performance data from the 2017-18 school year. A total of nine comments were received; all related to section 4.1.b. Academic Progress, resulting in the reduction of student testing time with added language to compare the benchmark from the beginning of the year with the General Summative Assessment. The policy will be effective July 16, 2018.
  • 2340 – West Virginia Measures of Academic Progress: This policy was repealed and replaced to reflect changes in state code that no longer requires the state to administer statewide assessments to students in grades 9 and 10. Students in grade 11 will be administered a college- and career-readiness exam and will also receive their science score, which was previously administered in grade 10. Additionally, the WVDE will no longer administer a retake of the grade 11 college- and career-readiness test to seniors who did not meet the acceptable benchmark scores. Comments received during the 30-day comment period resulted in the addition of a fixed form test. This policy will go into effect July 16, 2018.
  • 2520.5 – West Virginia College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Wellness Education: This policy, formerly titled Next Generation Health Education 5-12 Content Standards and Objectives for West Virginia Schools, was repealed and replaced to incorporate Policy 2520.6: 21st Century Physical Education 5-12 Content Standards and Objectives for WV Schools and Policy 2520.55: 21st Century Wellness Pre-K -4 Content Standards and Objectives for WV Schools, making the policy more comprehensive. Comments received resulted in the addition of clarification regarding emotional changes that occur during puberty and adolescence. Policy 2520.6 and Policy 2520.55 will be repealed, and the more comprehensive Policy 2520.5 will go into effect July 16, 2018.
  • 2520.9 – West Virginia College- and Career-Readiness Standards for the Arts: Policy 2530.9, formerly titled 21st Century Dance Content Standards and Objectives for West Virginia Schools, was repealed and replaced to incorporate and replace Policy 2520.10: 21st Century Music Education Content Standards and Objectives for WV Schools, Policy 2520.11: 21st Century Theatre Content Standards and Objectives for WV Schools, Policy 2520.12: 21st Century Visual Arts Content Standards and Objectives for WV Schools, creating a more comprehensive policy and reducing duplicative language. This policy will go into effect July 16, 2018.

 

The Board also voted to place the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC) proposals on a 30-day public comment period. Twenty-eight proposals were submitted for consideration: 20 proposals removed the 9th grade from middle school; proposal 4 prevents acquiring temporary residence in another school zone for athletic eligibility; proposal 5 allows students coming from another sport to practice two less days; proposal 6 adds a new Emergency Action Plan to the Rules and Regulations handbook, proposal 7 allows physical exam to be completed earlier; proposal 9 allows schools to choose to play up to challenge their student-athletes and compete on a more competitive playing field; proposal 14 ensures that younger/inexperience student-athletes get game experience, and, proposal 25 allows eligibility participation limits to be counted by weigh-ins not matches. The Board chose to remove proposal 8, which would have created an all-private “AP” classification of schools.

To review WVBE policies, visit: http://wvde.state.wv.us/policies/.