Education Week reports that Kentucky will be one of the very last three states, along with Connecticut and Mississippi, to report graduation rate data broken out by subgroups such as races. Education Week has the full story here (subscription may be required). Kentucky dragged its heels for years on doing better graduation rate reporting and…
WAVE-3 just interviewed the major mayoral candidates in Louisville about the city’s insane busing plan. Even the most wishy-washy response made it clear that none of the candidates favors trapping kids on buses for two hours a day. All seem open to the need for changes. Sometimes, the right choice is so obvious that it…
The Louisiana Department of Education publishes an annual report on the ACT performance of each graduating class. The report breaks the scores and number of ACT test takers down to the individual high school level. That allowed me to take a look at how charter schools and regular public schools in Hurricane-Katrina-ravaged New Orleans performed.…
Are some Kentucky schools teaching college track courses in name only? I’ve already blogged about the fact that Louisiana tested almost all (98%) of its high school graduating class of 2010 on the ACT college entrance test, which nearly equals Kentucky’s 100 percent testing rate for its 2010 graduates. Thus, comparisons between Kentucky and Louisiana’s…
Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday is taking a realistic, and optimistic, outlook about what Kentucky’s education system now will need to implement Senate Bill 1 (2009 Regular Session) after the announcement two days ago that Kentucky had not won any money in Race to the Top, Phase 2. The commissioner told yesterday’s meeting in Frankfort…
Part 2I posted Part 1 of this blog thread several days ago, and I think it would be worthwhile to summarize some things we’ve heard, so far, from reader comments and other discussions. • Informants indicate busing problems extend beyond the three schools elementary schools that the Jefferson County Public School System officially identified. For…
From Penney Sanders The always insightful friend of the Bluegrass Institute, master educator Dr. Penney Sanders, has posted her reaction to Kentucky’s loss of Race to the Top, Phase 2. It’s a good read.
The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s August 25th Newslink e-mail laments the state’s loss of as much as $175 million in the Race to the Top education funding competition. The Chamber pulls no punches, laying blame for that loss on the legislature’s failure to implement charter school legislation as part of our Race to the Top…
The Courier-Journal reports on a live WHAS announcement today that Kentucky Senate President David Williams and state Sen. Dan Seum of Louisville will prefile a bill to insure that parents can send their children to the school nearest their home so long as that school does not have special entry requirements. Clearly, the busing mess…
Kentucky Public Radio reporter Tony McVeigh reports that in his reaction comments to Kentucky losing Race to the Top money yesterday, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear also remarked about charter schools, “I think that’s an issue that will be discussed in the future. And as I’ve said, I think if it’s used properly, it can be…