The Kentucky Kids Count 2010 County Data Book was released recently, and I’m still looking over the data tables as there may be some good information here. However, one set of data in the book is definitely wrong. On page 2, the new report says, “From the 2002-03 school year to the 2008-09 school year,…
How many kids got sent all over creation during Jefferson County Schools’ opening day? It’s kind of amusing. The Courier-Journal doesn’t seem to be able to get its numbers straight about the number of kids who got home really, really late on the chaotic opening day of schools in the newspaper’s own home town. On…
Recently the Mercatus Center was invited to testify before the interim joint committee on state government in Frankfort about the virtues, best practices, and challenges of transparency in government. Representing the Mercatus Center was Jim Musser, Director of Economic Education. You can view the entire presentation below… Some key points from the presentation: Transparency is…
They are already heading down that road, but some don’t know it GPS car navigation units are great. Can’t read a map? No problem – a GPS can give you step-by-step voice directions to get you to your destination. It can even nag you if you make a wrong turn. It’s too bad there isn’t…
Bluegrass Institute supporters are invited to attend a press conference sponsored by the Associated Builders of Kentuckiana (ABC) and the Coalition to Protect Kentucky Jobs (CPKY)this morning from 9:30AM-10:30AM at ABC Kentuckiana Headquarters, 1810 Taylor Avenue in Louisville. Jim Waters, Bluegrass Institute vice president of policy and communications, will offer brief comments about the Employee…
Education Week reports that Kentucky will be one of the very last three states, along with Connecticut and Mississippi, to report graduation rate data broken out by subgroups such as races. Education Week has the full story here (subscription may be required). Kentucky dragged its heels for years on doing better graduation rate reporting and…
Here are some links for your Tuesday! 1. Russ Roberts of George Mason University hosts a podcast called EconTalk. It is a free download once a week and covers a variety of economic topics and guests. Check this out! 2. Hmm…spy satellites used on United States citizens? What’s the justification for this? Tough sell to…
WAVE-3 just interviewed the major mayoral candidates in Louisville about the city’s insane busing plan. Even the most wishy-washy response made it clear that none of the candidates favors trapping kids on buses for two hours a day. All seem open to the need for changes. Sometimes, the right choice is so obvious that it…
The Louisiana Department of Education publishes an annual report on the ACT performance of each graduating class. The report breaks the scores and number of ACT test takers down to the individual high school level. That allowed me to take a look at how charter schools and regular public schools in Hurricane-Katrina-ravaged New Orleans performed.…
Are some Kentucky schools teaching college track courses in name only? I’ve already blogged about the fact that Louisiana tested almost all (98%) of its high school graduating class of 2010 on the ACT college entrance test, which nearly equals Kentucky’s 100 percent testing rate for its 2010 graduates. Thus, comparisons between Kentucky and Louisiana’s…