North Carolina is changing its high school assessments and will begin testing all of its juniors with the ACT college entrance test. This past year, nine states tested all, or nearly all, of their high school graduates with the ACT. This provides these states with valuable information about how well they are preparing students for…
A group of Kentucky education organizations has banded together to grab a bigger percentage of a very stressed state tax pot. These education folks are quick to point to some decay in one element of our overall education funding for schools while totally ignoring the reality that overall, taxpayers have made some pretty decent increases…
Former two-term Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts “Crit Luallen said the one area she didn’t get to thoroughly investigate was the efficiency of Kentucky’s 174 local school district administrations.” Ryan Alessi has the details on CN|2. Luallen’s comments are particularly ironic given a new audit released just before Christmas on Jefferson County Public Schools, the…
Will fund two worthwhile efforts The federal government may be sending us a message about our public education system – focus! The Courier-Journal announces in “Kentucky to get $17 million in federal aid for education reform” that Kentucky will receive $17 million in Race to the Top funding from the federal government to target in…
A front page article, “New test system criteria presented,” from the Fulton Leader (subscription) says the Fulton Independent School District’s school board heard about changes in Kentucky’s new assessment program on December 13, 2011. One topic was the new change to the rules for Kentucky’s state reading assessments. The newspaper reports: “Students with Individual Education…
The Jefferson County Public School District has published the report on operations in the central district office on line. Find that here. You can also listen to a half-hour discussion of the report here. and a follow-on discussion here. Here is a tip of the hat to Jefferson County’s new superintendent Donna Hargens for getting…
Shelby County Public Schools is turning to digital learning to recapture high school dropouts and help them finish their high school studies. The Sentinel news has the details in “Shelby County School Board: Shelby dropouts now have new way to finish.” Thanks to digital learning, students who need to work, or who just didn’t thrive…
Drifting from central mission Hiring displays nepotism-like biases A tough indictment of the Jefferson County Public School District’s central office was handed out today, and it substantiates many Bluegrass Institute concerns. The Courier-Journal’s “Audit calls for overhaul of JCPS central office” story has more details, but here are some highlights (lowlights?): • A total of…
The NY Times ran an anti-digital learning article on December 12, 2011 that has stirred up a hornet’s nest – mostly about Times reporting. You can read some of the better criticisms here.
Education Week just reported that Kentucky has lost out (again) on a Race to the Top federal education funding competition. This time it was for the Early Learning Grants. The RTTT Early Learning Grants, which will average around $55.6 million to each of the nine states that won the competition, will help develop improved early…