An editorial from The Charleston Gazette
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kentucky — partly a troubled coal state like West Virginia — is producing better-trained high school graduates, thanks to tough new Common Core requirements. The Wall Street Journal reports:
“The college and career readiness rate increased to 63 percent from 54 percent in 2013, and fewer schools were dubbed as needing improvement … . Kentucky now boasts a high school graduation rate of 87 percent, topping the national average, up from about 75 percent when Common Core was adopted.”
Bravo. We hope West Virginia teens likewise show better learning and knowledge under the strategy to improve U.S. education. We can’t understand why certain Mountain State legislators are trying to kill it.
For decades, industry leaders and other experts complained that American high school graduates were unfit for modern careers. Youths lacked basic learning skills. Those who entered college required intensive remedial courses.
In response, the nation’s governors and education experts drafted Common Core, setting standards that all students in all grades should master. It was designed to upgrade U.S. learning levels, and make them equal in all states.
The Obama administration was so impressed that it awarded extra federal funding to states that adopted the tough new standards.
But some West Virginia lawmakers tried to destroy the plan this year…