What to teach in West Virginia

The subjects West Virginia requires

• reading
• language
• mathematics
• science
• social studies

Quoted from the statute or regulation cited on the law page. Requirements for Grades K–5 are listed where the state sets them, but this site teaches Grades 6–12, so only those are matched below.

Courses that cover them

West Virginia's list touches all four subjects taught here. Each course below is a full year.

Mathematics

English

Science

Social studies

Each is planned as a 36-week year of about 180 sessions, five a week — the year 20 of the 21 course guides set out explicitly. How long a session runs is yours to set.

The four high school years

West Virginia reviews the work each year, so the high school record matters twice: once for the annual assessment and again for whoever reads the transcript afterwards. A full sequence of these courses looks like this.

Four subjects across four years is 16 full-year courses. Credits, grades and the diploma itself are West Virginia's business, not this site's — what West Virginia says about diplomas and transcripts.

Evidence for the annual review

West Virginia asks for testing or evaluation, so the year has to leave a paper trail. These courses produce four things that serve as evidence, without any extra work:

• Printable lessons. Every lesson has a print view holding the full teaching text, worked examples and practice — dated pages for a portfolio.
• Exams with answer keys and marking criteria. Each course has a midterm, a final and a sample exam, each question carrying response criteria an evaluator can read.
• A 36-week pacing table. The parent guide for each course lists the week-by-week assignments, which is the planning document most evaluators ask to see.
• Exit tickets and checkpoints. Short written responses through each lesson, showing work over time rather than one test score.

Every year, for the previous school year, pick one: (1) a nationally normed achievement test (published or normed within 10 years), given by a qualified person, covering reading, language, math, science and social studies; acceptable means an average at or above the 4th stanine, or improvement over last year; (2) the public school testing program, taken at a public school in your county; (3) a portfolio reviewed by a certified teacher, who writes a narrative on progress; or (4) another assessment agreed with the county superintendent. If progress is not acceptable, start a remedial program. If it is not acceptable for a second year in a row, give the superintendent more evidence that proper instruction is happening. You only send results to the superintendent for grades 3, 5, 8 and 11.

Deadline: Results for grades 3, 5, 8 and 11 are due to the county superintendent by June 30 of the year the assessment was given.