One of the big problems with the Common Core State Standards isn’t so much with the statements themselves, but rather this shock to the education system re-opened a door to failed Progressive Education teaching theories that didn’t work in the past and are causing just as much trouble today. Common Core did nothing to prevent…
An educational Tsunami took place yesterday when Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association (NEA), published an online letter to his union’s three million members slamming the current direction of the Common Core State Standards. Van Roekel is reacting to overwhelming pushback from his own rank and file union members about the increasingly…
BIPPS’ Richard Innes will discuss education in some of Jefferson County Public Schools most troubled schools and what can be done to improve them. These schools, currently classified as “Priority Schools,” were initially called “Persistently Low-Achieving Schools.” Priority Schools are among the very lowest performing schools in the entire state of Kentucky, and Jefferson County…
One of Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s priorities is to expand availability of preschool programs in the commonwealth. If there was good evidence that preschool really worked, I’d favor that. The sticky problem: persistent evidence from a huge number of studies on the federal Head Start preschool program that any benefits gained disappear by the third…
The harsh laws of economics honor no man, especially politicians. The Associated Press is reporting that a new report out from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that a federal proposal to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would result in the loss of roughly 500,000 jobs across the nation by 2016.…
The Kentucky Department of Education released the 2013-14 school term results from the ACT, Inc.’s EXPLORE and PLAN readiness tests. These tests, which are given to eighth and tenth graders, respectively, near the beginning of each school year are aligned to the ACT college entrance test to give students a good idea if they are…
Kentucky seems to be getting some pretty good bang from the buck from its state auditor’s office. Just yesterday there was a major news conference about corrupt activities the Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts discovered in the financial office of the City of Covington. The former finance officer there bilked the taxpayers to the tune…
There have been 44 school shootings since the deadly assault 14 months ago at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. There was a school shooting nationwide, on average, every other day last month. Four teachers at Newtown were murdered standing in front of their children while shielding them with no means of defense. Action must be…
One of Jefferson County’s lowest performing schools is the Valley High School. It landed on Kentucky’s Persistently Low-Achieving Schools (PLAs) list in early 2010 – in the very first round – as one of the lowest 5-percent performers in the entire state. Under the ReStaffing school improvement option selected after the school was identified, the…
Kentucky Tonight’s February 3, 2014 show was all about Charter Schools. The debate was cordial, but lively. Along the way, some “interesting” issues were raised. Around 10-1/2 minutes into the show, host Bill Goodman asked about the difference between charter schools and Kentucky’s “Districts of Innovation.” The Districts of Innovation bill (House Bill 37) was…