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…
“Education commissioner: State ‘up a creek’ if charters don’t get funded” Insider Louisville
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…
Each legislative session brings its own attempts – usually born out of frustration – to address real problems in ways that just wind up growing government’s size, scope and cost. It’s indicative of sledgehammer-to-ant syndrome. Rather than kill ants and address the specific problem, this approach knocks down the entire house. Obamacare an example Perhaps…
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…
Events have rapidly unfolded since we first commented on a serious threat to open government in the state of Missouri. The threat is a notable one for Kentuckians because it could play out in our own backyard. The Kansas City Star reported on December 7 that Missouri’s governor – and his staff – had downloaded the app Confide…
We hear a lot of excuses from some of our educators that one reason Kentucky’s education system fares rather poorly is because we have a lot of students in poverty, far more than most other states. Really? Well, this is another case where our educators might not be very up to date with their statistics.