CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After months of preparation, the West Virginia Department of Education announced Wednesday it will officially launch a review of its embattled math and English standards, which have come under fire in recent years for being based on Common Core.
At a news conference, following the West Virginia Board of Education’s regular monthly meeting, department and school board officials revealed a new standards review website that will be used to collect feedback from parents, teachers and other interested parties from across the state.
The review website will act as a “statewide town hall,” as Superintendent Michael Martirano has termed it, and will allow the public to review and comment on each of West Virginia’s 900 math and English standards.
To participate in the review, commenters must provide demographic information, which will be used to sort and weigh responses, which will be analyzed by West Virginia University researchers later this fall. Participants also must provide specific feedback on individual standards.
“This is a substantive work that gets us moving forward for the future of our kids,” Martirano said in June when he presented a review plan to the board, a claim he repeated Wednesday.
“I believe this is the most important work in our state right now…
