H. B. 4669
(By Delegate Tabb, Williams, Paxton, Beach,
Crosier, Swartzmiller and LongSPONSOR)
(Originating inDATE the
Committee on Education)
[February 26, 2004]
A BILL to Bill Titleamend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §18-2E-3f, relating
to providing for establishment of special five-year
demonstration professional development school project; making
certain findings; providing certain powers and duties of state
superintendent with respect to project; requiring reports; and
excluding requirement of specific appropriations. Title Language
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That Enacting Sectionthe code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-2E-3f, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2E. HIGH QUALITY EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS.
§18-2E-3f. Special demonstration professional development school
project for improving academic achievement.
(a) The Legislature makes the following findings:
(1) Well-educated children and families are essential for maintaining safe and economically sound communities;
(2) Low student achievement is associated with increased
delinquent behavior, higher drug use and pregnancy rates, and
higher unemployment and adult incarceration rates;
(3) Each year, more students enter school with circumstances
in their lives that schools are ill-prepared to accommodate;
(4) Ensuring access for all students to the rigorous
curriculum they deserve requires effective teaching strategies that
include, but are not limited to, utilizing a variety of
instructional approaches, utilizing varied curriculum materials,
engaging parent and community involvement and support in the
educational process, and providing the professional development,
support and leadership necessary for an effective school; and
(5) The achievement of all students can be dramatically
improved when schools focus on factors within their control, such
as the instructional day, curriculum and teaching practices.
(b) The purpose of this section is to provide for the
establishment of a special five-year demonstration professional
development school project to improve the academic achievement of
all children. The program shall be under the direction of the
state superintendent and shall be for a period of five years
beginning with the two thousand four - two thousand five school
year. The intent of this section is to provide a special
demonstration environment wherein the public schools included in the demonstration project may work in collaboration with higher
education, community organizations and the state board to develop
and implement strategies that may be replicated in other public
schools with significant enrollments of disadvantaged, minority and
under-achieving students to improve academic achievement. For this
purpose, the state superintendent has the following powers and
duties with respect to the demonstration project:
(1) To select for participation in the demonstration project
up to three public elementary schools with significant enrollments
of disadvantaged, minority and under-achieving students, with
similar school calendars and within a reasonable travel distance to
a college or university with a teacher preparation program to
facilitate frequent on-site collaboration;
(2) To require cooperation from the county board of the county
wherein a demonstration project school is located to facilitate
program implementation and avoid any reallocation of resources for
the schools that are disproportionate with those for other schools
of the county of similar classification, accreditation status and
federal Title I identification;
(3) To make decisions with respect to the employment,
promotion and transfer of personnel employed at a demonstration
project school to reflect any special qualifications and additional
duties that will be required by virtue of the demonstration
project, notwithstanding the provisions of sections seven-a and eight-b, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code: Provided,
That all such personnel shall retain all rights, privileges and
benefits under said sections with respect to other positions in the
county for which they meet the qualifications;
(4) To direct the department of education, the center for
professional development and the regional educational service
agency to provide any technical assistance and professional
development necessary for successful implementation of the
demonstration school programs, including, but not limited to, any
early intervention or other programs of the department to assist
low performing schools;
(5) To collaborate and enter into agreements with colleges and
universities willing to assist with efforts at a demonstration
school to improve student achievement, including, but not limited
to, the operation of a professional development school program
model: Provided, That the expenditure of any funds appropriated for
the state board or department for this purpose shall be subject to
approval of the state board;
(6) To require collaboration with local community
organizations to improve student achievement and increase the
involvement of parents and guardians in improving student
achievement;
(7) To provide for an independent evaluation of the
demonstration school project, its various programs and their effectiveness on improving student academic achievement; and
(8) To recommend to the state board and the county board the
waiver of any of their respective policies that impede the
implementation of demonstration school programs.
(c) The state superintendent shall make status reports to the
legislative oversight commission on education accountability and
to the state board as requested by those bodies and may include in
those reports any recommendations based on the progress of the
demonstration project that he or she considers either necessary for
improving the operations of the demonstration project or prudent
for improving student achievement in other public schools through
replication of successful demonstration school programs. The state
superintendent shall make a recommendation to the Legislature not
later than its regular session, two thousand ten, for continuation
or termination of the program, which recommendation shall be
accompanied by the findings and recommendations of the independent
evaluation and these findings and recommendations shall be a major
factor considered by the superintendent in making his or her
recommendation.
(d)Nothing in this section shall require any specific level
of appropriation by the Legislature.
§18-2E-3f is new, therefore strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.