We used to call them “Persistently Low-Achieving Schools,” but that sounded too negative. So, the state’s educators renamed them “Priority Schools” when Kentucky got its waiver from No Child Left Behind (NCLB). They are still the same schools, and for sure they need close tracking. After all, they were the bottom 5-percent performers in Kentucky…
Is this related to testing problems? A January 31, 2014 letter from Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and the state’s education leaders again focuses national attention on the Bluegrass State’s implementation headaches with the Common Core State Standards. For sure, as the leading state for Common Core implementation, headaches here are better developed than anywhere else…
Nation’s eyes again focus on Kentucky’s issues regarding Common Core State Standards A January 31, 2014 letter from Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and the state’s education leaders is again focusing national attention on the Bluegrass State’s implementation headaches with the Common Core State Standards. National attention to Beshear’s letter came quickly. Education Week posted an…
Real cases of student data compromises reported There is real, growing concern about the way sensitive personal data is being collected and stored on government computer systems. Already in the new Kentucky legislative session, House Bill 5 has been introduced to tighten rules for collection and security of personal data across all state agencies. This…
The classic main theme from Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” serves as appropriate background music while perusing this column about the first week of the 2014 session of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Good: Pension reform is not dead. After exaggerated claims about the feeble pension-reform bill passed during…
“Kentucky’s pension records are not subject to the open records law,” wrote Lowell Reese in Sunday’s Courier-Journal “They are shrouded in secrecy.” Reese, publisher of Kentucky Roll Call, also authored “Future Shock,” a series of Bluegrass Institute reports on Kentucky’s public-pension crisis. The final of those reports offers 16 solutions for lawmakers to consider in fixing the…
The new Quality Counts education report has been released by Education Week, and the inevitable spin is on from the Kentucky Department of Education in their News Release 14-003. The first table in the department’s press release shows Kentucky’s ranking in the various areas Quality Counts examined between 2011 and 2014. The table below extracts…
We are off in a new year, and the education landscape is already looking “lively.” The year started right off with me getting that “where did I see that name come up?” feeling. This feeling was triggered by the Herald-Leader’s January 2, 2014 article, “Danville superintendent leading the way away from standardized testing.” The newspaper…
Jefferson County math scores on federal testing look problematic New scores for major urban school districts from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) were released today, and it looks like more trouble for Louisville and Jefferson County. I put this first table together using the NAEP Data Explorer statistical significance test tools. It shows…
And, the “system” never caught it! Several years ago, the Bluegrass Institute started warning the citizens of Kentucky that oversight of the public school district superintendents in Kentucky was highly problematic. Local boards of education in too many cases were handing out annual superintendent evaluations that just didn’t jibe with the performance in their school…