Lawsuit alleges it does One of the state’s most successful and talented lawyers, Teddy Gordon, just filed a lawsuit against the Jefferson County Public School District (JCPS) that immediately received major coverage in the Courier-Journal under the headline “’Anarchy’ alleged at JCPS middle school.” Some of the incidents supposedly taking place at the Crosby Middle…
BIPPS Board of Scholars member visits’ Tennessee Charter Schools What are charter schools really like? Bluegrass Institute Board of Scholars member Gary Houchens tells about his recent visit to two Nashville, Tennessee charter schools in his blog. Gary’s blog is well worth a “click.”
Outgoing chair of the Jefferson County Board of Education, David Jones, who lost his bid for reelection to the board in November, made his assessment of what is coming to the Jefferson County Public School System (JCPS) very clear in his December 16, 2016 Op-Ed in the Courier-Journal. Says Jones of November’s school board races:…
As the Huffington Post just reported, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which often is billed as the “gold standard” for education testing, is making a major transition from its former paper-and-pencil testing format to a new, digital administration. However, the NAEP’s transition to digital testing has many thoughtful observers holding their breath. Click…
In “UNCLEAR, Charter law likely, but what then?” (Subscription), the editors at the Paducah Sun show they understand that when charter school legislation comes to Kentucky, it will be important for the state to have more than one type of authorizer (such as a college) allowed to authorize charters. If only local school boards are…
Education Week reports that “Alabama Officials Admit to Lying About Graduation Rate.” In an apology announcement the Alabama Department of Education says: “The Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) is involved in a review of recent graduation rates by the Office of Inspector General, which resides within the United States Department of Education (USDE). The…
One of our long-time, major concerns with public education in Kentucky has always been the very low proportion of teachers compared to the total number of staff members in the state’s public school system (See one old example in our original Bang for the Buck report on school efficiency which I authored a decade ago…
The Prichard Committee is at it again with a new edition of their Top 20 by 2020 report series. Once more Prichard is improperly ranking National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) white students in Kentucky against lower performing racial minorities in other states, trying to make the Bluegrass State’s educational performance look better than it…
I wrote a couple of days ago about an interesting back and forth that took place on Monday’s Kentucky Tonight show (which you can see by clicking the video link below). During the show, Kentucky Senator Gerald Neal kept pushing Maryland as having an exemplary charter school program with a law Kentucky should emulate. Towards…
During Monday’s Kentucky Tonight show about charter schools, some comments were made about Kentucky’s Districts of Innovation (DOI) program. Some anti-charter folks have tried to claim DOIs eliminate the need for charter schools, but secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Hal Heiner quickly challenged that notion on the show. Most tellingly, Sec. Heiner…