West Virginia

Our West Virginia Hub partners at the the Center for Education Research and Practice in Appalachia (CERPA), housed in the School of Education and Counseling, work collaboratively with educators, leaders, and policymakers to strengthen schools and communities across the state. 

Through shared decision-making with partners of practice, the Center for Education Research and Practice in Appalachia leverages community and university strengths and capacity to collaboratively establish and realize a vision for what is possible across West Virginia’s schools and communities. This vision aligns with the WVU School of Education and Counseling priorities for supporting rural schools, teachers, and communities. 

The aims of the WVU School of Education and Counseling involve :

• Responding to the state’s teacher staffing shortages through:

  • “Take Me Home”: Creating opportunities for preservice teachers to return home to complete their teacher-in-residence training to rebuild community connections needed to respond to rural teacher staffing shortages.

     

• Grow-Your-Own/Paraprofessionals-to-Teachers: Developing flexible program offerings to support practicing paraprofessionals working in schools to earn their bachelor’s degree and teacher certification, building capacity in local communities.

   

• WV Teacher Dashboard: In partnership with the Appalachian Regional Education Lab and the West Virginia Department of Education, building an interactive dashboard based on teacher satisfaction research that helps educators, leaders, researchers, and policymakers better understand the nuances of West Virginia’s teacher shortages. 

   

• Supporting rural teacher pedagogy through communities of practice:

  • M3T: Supported by NSF, Mountaineer Mathematics Master Teachers (M3T) is collaborative, teacher-led improvement of mathematics teaching and learning across West Virginia. Math Teacher Leaders recruit and lead Local Improvement Teams and Grade-level Improvement Teams of teachers who join together across district lines to improve mathematics teaching and learning across the state. Since 2020, more than 300 teachers from 37 districts, led by 42 Math Teacher Leaders, have improved math teaching and learning for over 30,000 students  in grades 6 – 12.

     

• Social Studies for Rural Students: Supported by the Benedum Foundation, Social Studies for Rural Students is a critical community of practice with rural elementary teachers across West Virginia schools designed to support the infusion of social studies content into rural classrooms that is responsive to local needs and promotes equity through the use of picture books.