Education

Expeditionary education refers specifically to learning associated with exploration and hands-on experiences. An expeditionary learning school planned for Cabell County has already undergone some changes even before the doors open.

The original plan was to have the middle school ready to become an expeditionary school that would combine the two local elementary schools, Geneva Kent and Peyton, by August 2015.

The VH1 Save the Music 2014 Fall Tour will visit select West Virginia Middle Schools over the next couple of days.

The VH1 Save the Music Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education in public schools. The foundation will tour West Virginia schools that have received musical instruments from the foundation for the 2014-2015 school year.

Thursday:

The actor whose most famous part came as “The Fonz” on Happy Days just made a trip to West Virginia to talk to school children about growing up with dyslexia.

Henry Winkler was in Jackson County Thursday to discuss what he dealt with as a child with dyslexia and the books he now writes based on his life. The children’s novels are titled, “Hank Zipzer: The World’s Greatest Under-Achiever.” The novels provide a comedic way of illustrating to kids to not stop trying.

The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission kicked off an initiative in Charleston Tuesday meant to push college students across the state to finish their degrees on time.

The ‘15 to Finish’ campaign’s main goal is to encourage students to take 15 credit hours a semester in order to finish their 4-year-degrees in four years.

An event in Southern West Virginia was designed to give students a sense of place and pride. Athens Elementary hosted Appalachian Heritage Day on Friday.

Some presentations included home remedies, historical monologs, and more.

Sixty years ago this week, two Marion County Schools - Dunbar High School and Fairmont Senior High School - met for the first – and last – time on the football field. Local historians say it was the first gridiron meeting in West Virginia of an all-black school and an all-white school. It came amid the tensions surrounding that year’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling on school segregation.

While it’s no longer politically correct to use racist, or gender-related remarks that stereotype groups of people, what about negative West Virginian or Appalachian stereotypes?

Appalachians are commonly stereotyped as white, lazy, tobacco smoking, overall-wearing, poor farmers with poor dental hygiene, no indoor plumbing, and no shoes.

So how does that influence the pursuit of an education? Well it depends on the individual Appalachian mindset. The conversation about the connection and possible impact continues with this second report.

Students in ten West Virginia counties are going to receive extra help preparing for college and career training programs.

The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission will receive a $21 million grant to help students in the state. The U.S. Department of Education announced today that the Commission will be awarded the “Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs or GEAR UP grant. It’s the second GEAR UP grant the HEPC has received. Jessica Kennedy is the Assistant Director of Communications for the HEPC.

Two West Virginia higher education institutions got some great news this month from the federal government.

Concord University was once again named among the best colleges in the region by an influential report.

U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges annual report was released earlier this week. Concord University was ranked in more than one area.

Concord University ranked fifth in the Best Regional Colleges South. The Regional Colleges category focuses on schools that focus primarily on undergraduate study.

The rankings are based on criteria that measure academic quality.

There is American football, there is golf, and there is the original football, which Americans call soccer. Now there is FootGolf – a combination of soccer and golf. Pipestem Resort State Park is the only place to play it in West Virginia

Soccer teams from Concord University plan to use the course on Thursday, but according to a release, they won’t be playing soccer.

Members of the state’s education community met Monday at Marshall University to discuss how to take the next step in public education in the state.

Can West Virginia’s public education system be fixed? That was the question that was asked Monday on Marshall’s campus. Charleston attorney Charles McElwee called together administrators and policy makers to discuss how change can be made in the public education realm. McElwee said the current system which follows old outdated standards isn’t working.

The West Side in Charleston is one of the largest urban neighborhoods in the state. Within sight of the Mary C. Snow West Side Elementary School are vacant lots and abandoned buildings. This neighborhood is besieged with many problems like childhood poverty and high crime rates. It’s also a neighborhood that suffers from negative stereotyping—a place where good people and good projects are often overlooked.

The Randolph County Board of Education has called a special meeting for Tuesday evening to address structural problems with the Harman School. The facility suffered a roof collapse over the July 4th weekend. 

A plaster ceiling caved into a classroom, bringing with it two tons of debris.  A post-collapse inspection of the school, built in the 1950s, determined it is not safe for use.

It’s been a busy year for Berkeley County’s Erin Sponaugle, West Virginia’s 2014 Teacher of the Year. Aside from teaching fifth grade at Tomahawk Intermediate School near Hedgesville, West Virginia, Sponaugle has traveled across the state and country representing her profession.

“It’s been life changing and life defining," Sponaugle said.

Beckley could become the third largest city in the state if plans to annex some communities go through. State roads are in poor condition and contractors who work on these roads worry about the federal funding shortfall.  And Adrian Wright began his barbeque business in Charleston on a street corner.  Now he owns his own restaurant.

Local elementary and middle school teachers in and around the Martinsburg area attended a NASA Teachers Workshop, Wednesday, hosted by STARBASE Martinsburg. Going on its twelfth school year, STARBASE has hosted these workshops each summer to better prepare educators in the ever-evolving field of science and math. But the question is, with all the demands teachers face during the school year, can they effectively take the time for these new resources in their own classrooms?

Ashton Marra reports on the preliminary findings from federal investigators about the January chemical spill that contaminated drinking water in nine counties.  In Pennsylvania, residents in one town believe gas drilling is contaminating their drinking water.  Clark Davis reports from Matewan as residents work to turn their town around and you'll want to try yoga after young Ian Gardner in Hinton tells you all about it.

http://www.alleghenyfront.org/

Gov. Tomblin appointed 22-year School Building Authority veteran David Sneed to head the agency this week.

Sneed served as the SBA’s chief of architectural services from 1990 until 2012 when he left for a position in the private sector, but Tuesday he returned to the state organization.

  A grant is equipping West Virginia geography and science teachers with tools to help better educate young people about watersheds. For one teacher, the chemical spill that left more than 300-thousand without usable water was a wakeup call of just how important this program really is.

Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power are asking the state Public Service Commission to approve a 17 percent rate hike for their West Virginia customers. Gov. Tomblin appoints a new head to the state School Building authority. A Marshall University player uses his failure to be drafted in the National Football League as motivation to make it in the pros in Canada and a southern West Virginia educators is teaching her students about the important connection between clean watersheds and clean drinking water.

One Virginia man spreads the gospel of green.

There are fireflies in Pennsylvania that blink together.

More women are taking on the role of farmer.

A Tennessee writer has fond memories of hunting frogs.

New River Community and Technical College and the state Board of Education are partnering to offer students a pathway to careers in automotive technology.