The Lexington Herald-Leader rightly calls for more openness in the University of Kentucky’s budget meetings. (They could also have added the need for more openness in the General Assembly’s budget process.) Budget negotiations — whether at the capitol or in a university board room often get complicated and messy, which is precisely the explanation that the university cites…
Earlier reported allegations of cheating on COMPASS tests at Louisville’s competitive magnet Male High School have now expanded with new allegations of improprieties, this time during ACT college entrance testing. The Courier-Journal reports in “Male principal David Mike reassigned in ACT inquiry” that former Male principal David Mike has been removed from his position at…
A new report on the quality of teacher preparation programs across the country has been released by the National Council on Teacher Quality. There is also a focused report just on Kentucky. The news isn’t so good. According to the Herald-Leader: “Among the 37 Kentucky programs that were fully evaluated, 10 elementary and 10 secondary…
Wants Common Core out, too Louisiana’s governor Bobby Jindal just issued an executive order taking his state out of the Common Core State Standards testing program known as the Partnership of Assessments for College and Career Readiness (PARCC). In his press conference announcing the order, Jindal also says he will push for his legislature to…
The sad story of school staff members stealing from students keeps expanding. We wrote several weeks ago about instances of school district personnel accused of arrogantly and unlawfully taking money from public school funds. In one case, a federal conviction resulted. Another case is currently under an indictment. Now, the Pioneer News reports in “Woman…
A new survey conducted for NBC News and the Wall Street Journal by Hart Research Associates/Public Opinion Strategies reveals some surprising information about how the nation thinks about its public school system in general and provides an interesting hint about what the people who do know about Common Core really think about it. Several things…
We are hearing a lot from some Kentucky educators about how great the Common Core State Standards are. That includes this recent piece, “Educators say Kentucky is on the right track with Common Core standards,” by Herald-Leader intern reporter Matt Young. His article ran a few days ago on June 15, 2014 in the Herald-Leader…
Two recent examples of government secrecy show that Kentucky is a long way from having the kind of transparency in its government institutions that will bring real accountability to taxpayers footing the bill: Not only are the double-and-triple dippers in Kentucky’s public pension system protected from public scrutiny, so are its investment practices. The Kentucky…
Monday’s meeting of the Kentucky Legislature’s Interim Joint Education Committee brought some very interesting revelations. Some of those interesting comments came during questions and answers between Kentucky Senator Katie Stine and Gene Bottoms, the Senior Vice President of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). Listen here to learn that if you think non-college bound students…
WKMS, the NPR station at Murray State University, posted “Kentucky Education Commissioner Weighs In on Next Generation Science Standards” yesterday. This article helps torpedo the myth of local control over school curriculum in Kentucky. In the article – which deals with outcomes from the Next Generation Science Standards that Kentucky’s governor adopted despite a negative…