Graduating students who can compete in the digital age is imperative but remains an uphill battle in the absence of a strong national technology policy, empowered education leadership, and ongoing dialogue involving business, community, government, and educators. Meantime, in pockets around the country, some states, districts, and schools are…

Economic changes and the machinations of the treadmill of production have dramatically reduced the number of jobs provided by extractive industries, such as mining and timber, in the United States and other affluent nations in the post-World War II era. As the importance of these industries to national, regional, and local economies wanes,…

West Virginia Governor Arch Moore discusses past and present changes in the Appalachian Region and in West Virginia spurred by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Changes in West Virginia's tax structure, job creation, economic diversification, and public energy facilities are noted as efforts to prepare for the future. (NEC)

This article profiles Helen J. Post-Brown, director of Sunbeam Child Care Center in Fairmont and president of West Virginia Childcare Centers United, and explains how Post-Brown faced the obstacles when managing a child care business. In the fall of 1980, Post-Brown started Sunbeam as a small preschool with 12 children. Over the years, Sunbeam has…

West Virginia's leaders--elected officials, business leaders, administrators of benevolence funding--attended the symposium held by the Education Task Force of West Virginia. Recommendations resulting from the symposium were: (1) to urge and support plans that focus on the individual student as the object of all reform efforts; (2) to support…

A report recently released by the Center on Education Policy reveals that the four-year-old No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has indeed served to shine a light on the importance of professional development for K-12 educators. Beyond that basic fact, though, any real broad-based impact on the training of educators remains inconclusive. While the…

Discusses the importance of high school basketball in rural West Virginia and what it felt like to win and to lose. Reflects on how playing team sports builds character, and suggests that, although life goes on regardless of game outcomes, it is still difficult to think of high school basketball as just a game. (LP)

The rural economy has performed badly during the 1980s. While the recession of the early 1980s was responsible for much of the trouble, the slow rural recovery demonstrates the fundamental hurdles facing the rural economy. Central among these are economic disadvantages, including remote locations isolating rural producers from their markets, low…

This plan for implementing the redesign and refocus of vocational education in West Virginia includes a mission statement and five other major sections covering career orientation, secondary vocational education, adult education, modernization, and personnel development. The career orientation program includes developmental guidance, student…

This paper explores the range of ways in which school districts are using Title I funds for early education through kindergarten and examines how the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has impacted those investments. It also makes recommendations for local education agencies (LEAs) interested in creating Title I-funded early education…

West Virginia's school improvement plan, emphasizing learning outcomes, mandates excellent education for all students. Following an executive summary, this paper discusses, first, the conflict between excellence and equity in educational reform, and West Virginia's intent to resolve that conflict; second, the legal foundations of the master plan,…

The West Virginia Board of Education and state superintendent of schools directed the preparation of this document as the result of a court opinion (Pauley v Bailey) holding that the system of financing West Virginia public schools was unconstitutional, and requiring the development of a master plan for a thorough and efficient system of…

Examines the effects of institutionalized appropriation and colonization on mountain cultural artists, arts, and arts education in West Virginia. Interview excerpts convey the conflict between institutional representatives and mountain cultural artists regarding questions about authenticity, artistic intentions, marketing, and who should teach…

Describes four major federal programs supporting the education, recruitment, and professional development of minority dental faculty; the Association of American Medical Colleges' project to support minority health occupations faculty training; and an ongoing West Virginia University faculty affirmative action program. Also offers personal…

Characteristics of part-time faculty, the legal position of part-time faculty, faculty development for part-timers, and other concerns are addressed in four papers. Thomas A. Emmet mentions the activities of some higher education associations with regard to the part-time employment issue and identifies 10 considerations for practices for these…