CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State School Superintendent Steve Paine says two large professional development sessions involving classroom teachers this summer will be used to celebrate teaching and do some goal setting with the momentum generated from the nine-day education workers strike.
Paine had originally planned a special summit to thank teachers but recently said that’s probably not going to happen.
“I’m not sure we’re going to be able to pull off a single event because of the lateness in terms of the planning schedules but what we really want to do is thank our teachers. I can’t recall a time when we’ve had superintendents and principals, service personnel, teachers, county school boards, the state board, governor and now the legislature all together,” Paine said.
So plans are to use that momentum in the professional development events, one in the northern part of the state and one in the southern part, to talk about future benchmarks, Paine said.
“I think it’s a great time for us to say, ‘Okay, here we are, we’re on a up-tick, now let’s talk about the goals of the system,'” Paine said.
Paine said one area of intense focus will be mathematics student achievement.
“Which we know has been a problem in West Virginia for 30 years,” Paine said.