CHARLESTON, W.Va – The West Virginia Department of Education hopes it can take another step toward continued improvement this week with the West Virginia Impact Plus Coaching Initiative taking place over three days in Charleston.
The initiative assembles academic coaches from county school systems around the state to get up close and personal instruction on the state’s coaching model. “It’s allowing us to get everyone on the same page, and we’re going to be working to partner our coaches with regional literacy and numeracy specialists that we have around the state as well,” Dr. Erika Klose, Director of the Office of Academic Support at the WVDE, said.
The expansion of academic coaching around the state extends from the continued implementation of the Third Grade Success Act, which was deployed at full capacity on July 1. With positive results in the program’s rollout, officials view the addition of these coaches as the final piece of the puzzle.
“Literacy has just stagnated across the country, except for four states, and West Virginia is one of those. We are seeing growth and gains in our literacy scores, and it’s really exciting because we already know that it’s working and we know that coaching is going to be the last push,” Klose said.
Under the state’s model for academic coaching, coaches will work directly with classroom teachers to develop plans to build toward improved results for students. The conference this week allows for the WVDE to educate the coaches on exactly what the state wants them to do.
“They will literally be going into classrooms and partnering with teachers, looking at what’s going on with the students in the classroom, and figuring out what to do to best support those students,” Klose said.
This week’s conference is among the first professional development opportunities for academic coaches in West Virginia, and Klose hopes it brings long-term benefit. She wants coaches and teachers to feel a new degree of support from the state level.
“We just know that with these folks now in these positions, we will be able to best support our educators in such a way that they haven’t been supported before,” Klose said.
The West Virginia Impact Plus Coaching Initiative opened on Monday and continues through Wednesday.