CONTINUED
ON THE WEB
JENNIFER JETT PREZKOP
The Education
Collaboration
Connecting the
Pieces for Prosperity
Education is like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The varying sizes and
shapes of the pieces represent the tools and resources available to
teachers and students. When those pieces are worked together,
the result is a well-rounded education system in which all
students are prepared for success by addressing the challenges.
The Mountain State’s education system is no stranger to
challenges. Both K-12 and higher education struggle with
attendance, program relevance and degree completion on top
of the social and emotional challenges of a struggling economy
and opioid epidemic. The difference today is the partnership that
has developed between both educational segments, thanks to
Dr. Steven Paine, the West Virginia Department of Education’s
superintendent of schools, and Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker,
chancellor of the West Virginia Community & Technical
College System (CTCSWV) and interim chancellor of the West
Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (WVHEPC).
This dynamic duo is pushing for change in West Virginia
that will alter the face of education. By creating an interagency
leadership team, Paine, Tucker and their collective staffs are
delving into the problems of today—such as the low number
of individuals who attain high school diplomas and higher
education degrees, unfavorable math scores in a STEM-driven
world and the immense teacher shortage—while anticipating the
challenges of tomorrow like up-and-coming degree programs and
how to address West Virginia’s insufficient skilled labor force.
As individuals, these two education leaders are implementing
changes and promoting tools and opportunities to help students
be successful in school and in life like dual credit programs
in high school, career pathways and more affordable higher
education. Together, driven by their shared passion for the
success of all students and the state as a whole, they are fitting
the pieces together for the prosperity of all West Virginians.
42
WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
Dr. Steven Paine,
Superintendent of Schools,
West Virginia Department
of Education
WVE: Tell us about your background in education.
SP: My teaching career began in Clarksburg in a status
offender facility known today as Pressley Ridge. The kids were
basically incarcerated for chronic truancy, and a couple of them
were in there for attempted murder, armed robbery and breaking
and entering. I then worked in a social studies classroom before
serving as an assistant principal, principal and curriculum director
in Upshur County. I had been a district superintendent of
schools in Morgan County for five years when Dave Stewart,
the then-state superintendent of schools, called and asked me
to be his deputy superintendent. Dave stayed another two
years, and then the board hired me as superintendent in 2005.
WVE: What are your responsibilities as state
superintendent?
SP: My role is the general supervision of all the schools in
the state.
WVE: Tell us about the challenges you see facing
K-12 students today.
SP: The first is socioeconomic status. Education is so much
a function of socioeconomic background, and in West Virginia,
we need to work really smart and really hard for those kids