CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Board of Education voted to establish eight Regional Compacts to provide professional development of Next/Gen Content Standards and Objectives.

Instead of centralized instruction, the compacts allow each RESA to now be responsible for working with their member districts to design and delivery of professional development for teachers of English language arts and mathematics in the West Virginia Next Generation Content Standards.  The West Virginia Department of Education also will provide funding for all 55 districts as each RESA conducts this work over the next year. In addition, the West Virginia Department of Education will provide staff to train RESA-based trainers as the work unfolds over the next few months.

“The Next Generation Standards will help our schools move beyond test-prep instruction to ensuring we prepare our students for college and career success,” said state Superintendent Jim Phares. “By providing this professional development regionally, we are granting teachers greater access to the help they need to customize their classroom instruction to improve student achievement.”

The RESA compacts illustrate one way the West Virginia Board of Education is working to decentralize the delivery of professional development services to better meet local student, school and district needs.

For more information, contact the Office of Communication at (304) 558-2699.