In her testimony on Monday, November 10, 2014 before the Kentucky Legislature’s Interim Joint Education Committee, Louisville parent Lynn Rippy says the public school system incorrectly categorized her adopted African-American son as having an IQ of only 100. But, Rippy didn’t accept that. Once she enrolled him in a private school that met his needs,…
The past two days saw major charter school action in Frankfort, Lexington and Louisville with extended testimony to the Kentucky Legislature’s Interim Joint Education Committee and Charter School Town Hall events, as well. There was compelling commentary from both experts and Kentucky parents who understand how the current, one-size-must-fit-all public education system in this state…
Charter Schools would work MUCH better! As I blogged a few days ago, there was a lot of hoopla several years ago when teachers union supporters in the Kentucky General Assembly passed an anti-charter school, bait-and-switch bill to create “Districts of Innovation” instead (House Bill 37, signed into law on April 11, 2012). At that…
There was a lot of hoopla several years ago when teachers union supporters in the Kentucky General Assembly passed an anti-charter school, bait-and-switch bill to create “Districts of Innovation” instead (House Bill 37, enacted 2012). At that time, supporters of the bill claimed it would do just about everything good that charter schools were doing…
The Black Alliance for Educational Options and the Kentucky Charter School Association will host Town Hall meetings next week in Lexington and Louisville about how Kentucky could close its achievement gaps. Part of the answer includes creating charter schools in the Bluegrass State, and experts will be on hand to explain how that could work.…
Less than a month after I posted my first blog critical of Kentucky’s plan to revise the state’s social studies standards, the Kentucky Department of Education has issued a news release announcing the process to change the state’s social studies standards is on hold until the public had a chance to provide input! According to…
Regular readers know that I am concerned about a very inadequate proposal to revise Kentucky’s social studies standards. As Kentucky’s 2011 History Teacher of the Year Donnie Wilkerson points out, the proposed social studies standards are “devoid” of any substantive content. Numerous important things we would want all Kentucky children to know about, such as…
The Sentinel-News from Shelby County reports that Shelby County schools Director of Finance Greg Murphy has stepped down from his position in the latest development following the discovery of the embezzlement of nearly $600,000 from the school district’s substitute teacher funds. The newspaper also reports that the person charged in this case, Benita Anglin, appeared…
A WHOLE LOT! I’ve been looking through the state’s current Kentucky Core Academic Standards for social studies (online in this document along with all the other subject standards). I wanted to see what material currently required statewide in social studies courses isn’t even mentioned in the draft proposed standards that were presented to the Kentucky…
Most white-black math and reading gaps are up statewide, as well According to comments in an October 28, 2014 Herald-Leader article, “Fayette school board approves recommendations to eliminate achievement gap,” the Fayette County Public School District’s newest Equity Scorecard showed, “…the achievement gap had widened, with lower numbers of distinguished and proficient students on the…