Yesterday the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) released the testing results from the fall for the PLAN and EXPLORE testing in Kentucky. These two tests are coordinated at the grade appropriate level with the ACT college entrance test and use similar Benchmark Scores to show if students are on track to be successful in college…
While Kentuckians have to listen to excuses about why our state won’t move forward with innovative education solutions, Louisiana’s governor is displaying leadership and taking measures to empower education professionals with the authority they need to make significant reforms in their school systems. From the Pelican Post: The existing law includes language that prohibits school…
With the announcement of a new administrative cabinet in the Jefferson County Public School system comes the unhappy news that Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) Associate Commissioner Dewey Hensley will be leaving state service to return to his former school district. Hensley’s new post will be as Chief Academic Officer in the reformed Jefferson County…
They should have seen it coming. By the time the Livingston Central High School was added to the list of Persistently Low-Achieving Schools (PLAs) in Kentucky, the program was no longer a secret. In fact, the PLAs program had already completed two cycles of school selections. Livingston had to know they were getting close. In…
This is how the Associated Press describes the story … Tanya McDowell, the Bridgeport mother accused of fraudulently enrolling her son in a Norwalk school and stealing more than $15,000 in educational services from the district, has pleaded guilty. McDowell was sentenced to 12 years in prison, suspended after five, and must pay back up…
Some of you who are not regular readers of this blog probably crossed your eyes over this headline. “How can you read kids a reading test,” you probably asked yourselves. Well, this is Kentucky, where just about every radical education fad has its day. Back in the early days of KERA, in the interests of…
Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday provides a brief but interesting overview of Kentucky’s new public school assessment and accountability program in this Ledger-Independent article. What remains to be seen is how well Kentucky’s new assessment and accountability program follows through on reducing the achievement gaps that have continued to plague the state for decades.…
Talk about bad timing! The education community is screaming that they are not getting enough money. Now, along comes this headline – Kentucky will become second state to sanction high school bass fishing. It’s not April first, so who gets to finance those bass boats, the travel, etc.? Do inner city Louisville kids get to…
Last monday I filmed a great Educational Forum in Louisville at the Quinn Chapel AME Church. The guest speaker was Dr. Howard Fuller, from the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO). He came to help us push for public charter schools in Kentucky! We think that this will open the door for real CHOICE in…
Yesterday we looked at some National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Grade 4 mathematics data for students eligible for the federal school lunch program (a poverty measure) for charter schools versus non-charter schools. The data was broken down by race and was obtained from the NAEP Data Explorer. Now, let’s see how eighth grade students…