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W.Va. school officials still to review Common Core

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Department of Education will conduct a review of the Common Core standards even though legislation requiring the state superintendent to do so failed to pass both houses before the session ended.

Superintendent Michael Martirano told the Daily Mail during an editorial board meeting last week that he and Board of Education members are determining a course of action, which may include conducting town hall meetings to discuss the standards and preparing parent resources that will address many of the concerns raised by the state’s lawmakers.

“We are going to do the majority of things addressed in their review bill,” Martirano said. “I asked them to let me do my job, so I’m going to do that.”

The bill, which ultimately failed in a conference committee on the last day of the 2015 legislative session, initially called for an immediate repeal of the standards when it passed the House. The Senate Education Committee amended the bill, downgrading it to a two-year review, a change House members would not agree to.

Through the course of the session, Martirano maintained there was no need to legislate the issue, which has become even more debated in the months since Republicans gained control of both Legislative chambers. Instead, he asked lawmakers to not make rash decisions that he said would have significant consequences.

“If they (the standards) had been thrown out, it would have disrupted everything,” Martirano said, adding that uncertainty over Common Core’s fate was stressful for teachers and education officials who have gone through three separate standard implementations in the past decade.

“Standards cannot be changed every few years

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