– Or is it alternative school grabbed $100,000 too much each year??? According to the State Journal, the Kentucky Educational Collaborative for State Agency Children (KECSAC) was created in 1992 to provide extra funding for, “children who had been placed in day treatment facilities, group homes and residential programs by the Cabinet for Health and…
– And in Kentucky, too Says the New York Daily News, “Calling it the ‘Enron of American education,’ Comptroller William Thompson Tuesday accused the Education Department of manipulating data to boost graduation rates.” Yeah, but that’s New York City, you say. Well, right here in Kentucky we continue to get bloated high school graduation statistics…
The backlash to the new busing plan for Jefferson County Public Schools is generating increasing backlash. The Courier-Journal reports that the lawsuit started by two parents of five-year olds who were going to be bused 20 to 28 miles to school each day, one way, has now been joined by a third outraged parent. At…
The Middlesboro Daily News reports the Bell County Public Schools dramatically reduced their high school dropout rate in the 2007-08 school year. The problem here is that those dropout rates are notoriously inaccurate. This 2006 official audit says so. In fact, Bell County shows up in the audit as one of the most serious dropout…
– Says secret evaluation of superintendent violated Kentucky law The Kentucky Attorney General’s office has issued an opinion regarding the recent secret evaluations of Jefferson County Public Schools superintendent Shelly Berman, which we commented on earlier here and here. Says the A-G, Berman’s secret evaluation violates Kentucky law. For some compelling reasons why the local…
Back in the early days of KERA, another state, Maryland, ran a very parallel reform effort. Most of the same radical ideas that we were trying in Kentucky were also being attempted in Maryland’s schools. In fact, the two states even collaborated on reports about their testing systems because they were so similar. Now, it…
The Springfield Sun reports that the Washington County School Board has approved hiring a “School Administration Manager” for the district’s high school at a minimum (could be higher) starting salary of $39,846. Supposedly, this person will free up the school’s principals’ (news article shows plural) time for more important efforts. The new manager’s duties could…
Here is a great little ten-minute explanation of why developing real reading proficiency requires more than just teaching reading strategies. Real reading comprehension also requires familiarity with all sorts of academic and cultural content. If you have a child in school, be sure his or her teacher understands the very simple message in this great…
The Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington knows the fast way to stir up trouble. Their new report on teacher compensation is going to kick up a squawk with its comments that paying teachers more just because they have a master’s degree in education “makes little sense.” The Center argues that…
WAVE 3 Online reports “Parents say new student assignment plan leaves them nowhere to go.” A 90 minute bus ride for a five-year old that also requires this young student to negotiate three bus transfers is just one horror story example. If a parent did that on his or her own to a five year…