West Virginia Executive Fall 2019 | Page 44

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