We always get questions about how Kentucky stacks up against other states on the ACT whenever new scores come out (the 2014 scores were released yesterday). Unfortunately, several issues make it a little tricky to answer this request, so I explain later in this blog why I look at the performance of only white students,…
The ACT college entrance test scores for Kentucky’s high school graduates of 2014 released today, and a trend of slow increases in scores continues, as shown below. However, the data also hint that there was a notable increase in students who took the ACT in 2014 with aggressive testing accommodations. That might have some impact…
Regarding Kentucky’s waiver from No Child Left Behind requirements, Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday says: “I believe the current waiver process represents a major federal intrusion into the rights of each state to develop, implement, and manage the public education of the state.” OK, so why is Kentucky officialdom going along with the feds?…
Finally, MRI research techniques for learning get applied to math But, we have to go to an overseas newspaper to learn about it! It’s no surprise – Many parents already instinctively know it: students need to drill and practice to develop skill in math. But, what is new is that science is now backing that…
Bluegrass Institute President Jim Waters talks public charter schools and right-to-work Thursday morning at 9:05 a.m. on the Leland Conway Show on Louisville’s 84WHAS at 9 a.m. today. Listen live online here. And be sure…
(LEXINGTON, Ky.) – The Bluegrass Institute today releases an important report about Kentucky’s Unbridled Learning school accountability program. “Kentucky’s Unbridled Learning School Assessment Program: Can we trust what it’s telling us about schools?” authored by Bluegrass Institute staff education analyst Richard Innes highlights important performance issues missing from the state’s newest assessment program. The report…
I wrote a couple of weeks ago in “Are new standards enslaving the Gettysburg Address?” about a growing squabble over the newly revised Advanced Placement course in US History. Since then, things deteriorated to the point where the Republican National Committee has condemned the new AP US History course, charging it: “reflects a radically revisionist…
Can Jefferson County even afford these new school ideas? Last night the Jefferson County Board of Education selected two models to be the district’s first “Schools of Innovation” under Kentucky’s “Districts of Innovation” law. Collectively, the choices were disappointing. Jefferson County has the state’s largest concentration of “Persistently Low-Achieving” high schools – 10 of them.…
The Kentucky Legislature’s Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee held a hearing today on the operation and problems with the recently revised federal free and reduced cost school lunch program. While this program is intended to help needy kids, the new, one-size-must-fit-all rules are creating major problems for Kentucky state educators who are trying to make…
If you have not taken time to read our major charter school debate with UK professors Wayne Lewis and Martin Solomon, you owe it to yourself and Kentucky’s children to take some time to do so. The professors provide a good introduction into the issues of establishing charter schools in Kentucky from the viewpoint of…