Sounding more than a little like us, a weekend article from the Ledger-Independent admits it, a full quarter of a century after the passage of the now legendary Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, major school problems have not been fixed in this state. Of course, school folks are quick to blame others like the…
Here in Kentucky, students have to accept a preordained party line In a stunning development that caught many by surprise, the West Virginia Board of Education has added an interesting feature into its new adoption of standards for science. WSAZ-3 reports that in West Virginia: “…students will be allowed to use scientific models to draw…
I first wrote about problems with new additions to Kentucky’s Unbridled Learning school accountability program – known as the “Program Reviews” – some time ago. These problematic additions are self-scored by schools and thus are ripe for inflation in the same way Kentucky’s old Writing Portfolio element in the now defunct Commonwealth Accountability Testing System…
This article ran in the Washington Post’s education blog a few days ago. It adds interesting perspective to what seems to be a growing discussion around the country about parents opting their kids out of state tests. As I wrote a few days ago, this seems to be a potential issue in Kentucky, as well.…
Florida’s state tests apparently include a statement each student must sign that says the student will not discuss anything about the tests with their parents. Understandably, that is creating pushback, even from a fourth grader. If the same is happening here in Kentucky, I’d like to hear about that.
I got an alert that the Kentucky Department of Education sent an advisory to all superintendents in the state that parents opting their children out of Kentucky’s Core-Content-based curriculum and tests is not allowed. However, when I tried to locate the full message on line, I was only able to access the overview of the…
I first found out about the AMC 8 test in this Herald-Leader catch-all web article. The relevant Herald-Leader bullet item starts out saying: “Austin Li and Mingxi Mao of Winburn Middle School earned the mark of distinction on the AMC 8, a 25-question, 40-minute multiple-choice math exam that promotes the development of problem-solving skills….(emphasis added).”…
New “Diagnostic Reviews” of what is happening in four troubled Jefferson County Public Schools have been released, but the findings seem inconsistent. While the principal in only one school, Doss High, has been recommended for removal, test data for another school seems essentially the same, and just as dismal. Overall, one is left wondering if…
Kentucky’s still part of a vanishing breed Alabama just became the 43rd state with a charter school law. Meanwhile, here in Kentucky some union-backing House legislators vainly continue to try to make the traditional public school system work for disadvantaged kids with essentially nothing more than traditional ideas. After nearly 25 years of the Kentucky…
The Washington Post’s education blogger reports that Pearson publishing is actively looking through social media, looking for what it considers to be compromises of its tests. Information in the Post’s blog indicates students are being disciplined for commenting in the web about the PARCC tests that Pearson creates. There could be a Kentucky connection with…