W.Va. Leaves District Better Than It Found It

By David J. Hoff

West Virginia has relinquished the reins of a struggling school system, leaving behind a rare state-takeover success story: a state-hired superintendent in charge of a system with higher test scores and better management and buoyed by local acceptance.

The state school board last month ended its oversight of the Logan County district, granting the local school board power to direct curriculum and personnel for the first time since 1992. Last year, the state board returned control over budget and the school calendar to the local board.

Student test scores rose dramatically and the dropout rates fell in the county's three high schools under the state's supervision. In addition, the 7,100-student district cleaned up an administrative mess that had left almost a third...