Education Week reports that Kentucky is one of 17 states that still have not submitted acceptable plans to implement the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and will now get more time to do so. As EdWeek puts it: “State departments and the boards that oversee them have been grappling with how best to comply…
And, why does Kentucky seem poised to ignore the best approach again? It’s a deep, dark secret – largely hidden for nearly half a century – something it seems most educators don’t want you to know. Project Follow Through, the most expensive and expansive education research project ever undertaken, clearly identified one, best-performing teaching approach…
Editor’s note: The Bluegrass Beacon is a weekly syndicated statewide newspaper column posted on the Bluegrass Institute website after being released to and published by newspapers statewide. “Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed,” wrote 18th century English writer Daniel Defoe in “The Political History of the Devil.” “As certain…
This week’s Bluegrass Beacon column responds to one particular aspect of a recent missive by Ronda Harmon, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Councils, in which she labels those of us questioning the effectiveness of the School-Based Decision Making (SBDM) approach toward governing schools as “public school opponents.” There’s also little evidence to…
“Education commissioner: State ‘up a creek’ if charters don’t get funded” Insider Louisville
Editor’s note: The Bluegrass Beacon is a weekly syndicated statewide newspaper column posted on the Bluegrass Institute website after being released to and published by newspapers statewide. Former House Speaker Jody Richards recently announced he would not seek re-election this year. Richards, D-Bowling Green, who went to Frankfort the year Jimmy Carter was elected president,…
As I wrote yesterday, there are comments floating about that Kentucky should delay funding charter schools due to the state’s general financial pinch. But, if the goal is better education, I don’t think that is a very good idea. Yesterday I pointed to evidence from the National Assessment of Educational Progress that charter schools do…
We are hearing a lot lately from some quarters that Kentucky needs to delay funding charter schools. I think that is a mistake, especially for the kids who could benefit, and recent test results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in eighth grade math backs me up. I…
Kentuckians hear it all the time. The state supposedly has made dramatic improvement on things like “National Tests” since KERA began. For example, the Prichard Committee proclaims that Kentucky ranks “8th in fourth-grade reading,” which is actually where the state ranks if you only look at overall 2015 scores for fourth grade reading from the…
It was probably a surprise statement for many during last night’s Kentucky Tonight show on KET, which included Bluegrass Institute president and CEO Jim Waters. At 37 minutes and 40 seconds into the online version of the show, Brigit Ramsey, who now heads the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, stated that Kentucky’s teacher salaries now…