National Public Radio is starting a series on school funding across the US, and the local affiliate station in Louisville, WFPL, just ran an article titled “Louisville Is Behind The Curve In Public School Funding,” which draws some data from the nationwide series. But, is Louisville (actually the Jefferson County Public School District [JCPS]) really…
The Bluegrass Institute is saddened at the death of one of our commonwealth’s – and country’s – fallen heroes. Lowell D. Reese, a Kentucky native and founder of Kentucky Roll Call, a public-affairs publishing company in Frankfort, passed away on April 15. Reese, who fought for his country as a battalion commander on the…
If you have not been paying attention, the majority enrollment in US public schools has changed. Formerly, whites comprised the majority of enrollment across the nation – but, no longer! Now, children of color make up the majority enrollment in the nation’s public schools, and that makes the opinions shared by parents and families of…
The producer from the Brian Thomas show provided us a recording of Dick’s interview yesterday about a new college entrance test called the Vector A.R.C. test, and here it is:
Regular readers know from an earlier blog that there was a beta test administration of the new Vector A.R.C. college entrance test during the recent home school conference in Cincinnati. Now, Julie West at Vector A.R.C. shares reactions of some of the students who took the test. To put it mildly, there is a lot…
Bluegrass Institute staff education analyst Richard Innes will talk about the new Vector A.R.C. college entrance test with 55KRC talk show host Brian Thomas at 8:05 am Eastern Daylight Time tomorrow. The Vector A.R.C. (Assessment of Readiness for College) is a new test intended as an alternative for the SAT and the ACT. Both of…
To begin, the Bluegrass Institute has always been a fan of the AdvanceKentucky program to get more Kentucky kids into and successful with Advanced Placement courses. Over the past half-decade the total number of successful AP students earning college creditable scores of 3 to 5 on the AP exams has risen notably in Kentucky. Most…
Education Week reports that a new study conducted by a team of researchers from Georgia State University, Vanderbilt University, and Mathematica Policy Research shows “Charter School Graduates More Likely to Stay in College, Earn Higher Salaries.” While the study is a first step into this long-term impacts area, the reporters claim: “This early evidence of…
The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science is a special Kentucky public high school operating on the campus of Western Kentucky University (WKU). It allows really superior high school age students to take college-level courses at WKU. Gatton is a selective school of choice, nominally open to all Kentucky students; however, actually getting in is…
I recently wrote about the claim that Algebra II supposedly is a high school graduation requirement in Kentucky but large numbers of Kentucky’s high school students are getting diplomas even though only a small percentage are scoring proficient or more on Kentucky’s Algebra II End-of-Course exam. For example, in 2015 Kentucky reported its “on time”…