The U.S. Treasury Department recently released a new educator toolkit with lesson plans that teachers can use to help students prepare for the 2011 National Financial Capability Challenge which opens on March 7. The toolkit addresses five core competencies of financial education: earning, spending, saving, borrowing and protecting against risk. Continue Reading

The Library of Congress (LOC) has made available scanned and searchable images of newspapers from Kentucky, as well as other states, from 1860 through 1922 as part of their Chronicling America project. The newspapers from Kentucky include several from the central Kentucky area: Bluegrass Blade, Berea Citizen, Bourbon News, Winchester Sun and others.

The full database is available here and the Kentucky database is here. For more information, visit the Chronicling America website.

The Kentucky Center for School Safety (KCSS) now offers a section of their website dedicated to parent resources related to school safety issues. Topics covered include bullying, cyber bullying, Internet safety, suicide prevention and sexting.

Resources can be found here on KCSS’ website.

Green Teacher’s 2011 webinar series, designed for both non-formal and formal youth educators, offers 30 free webinars on various environmental education topics this year. Nearly 800 non-formal and formal youth educators filled out our online survey and helped us choose the topics for these webinars. Each session will feature a 20-30 minute presentation and 30-40 minutes for questions.

For more information, visit the website or contact Tim Grant at (416) 960-1244.

Dear Teachers,

I am excited to share with you a webcast and materials, designed specifically for teachers, on the proposed new accountability system and the new academic standards. The webcast will assist you in understanding how the new accountability system will work and the activities that should occur relative to implementing the new standards. Continue Reading

From the office of Gov. Steve Beshear

The Governor’s Task Force on Transforming Education in Kentucky (TEK) presented Gov. Steve Beshear with its final report, including 35 recommendations that the group believes would enable Kentucky to better prepare all of its students for success in the 21st century, on Feb. 21.

Gov. Beshear directed the task force – composed of parents, teachers, superintendents, education advocates, lawmakers, and business and community leaders – to help develop new strategies to ensure Kentucky has the curriculum, teachers, standards, organization and structure in place to prepare children for the 21st century while reinvigorating public and business support for education. Continue Reading

Connie Baynum, right, leads a practice for middle school students from Kenton County before a performance at Dixie Heights High School as part of the ASCENT Arts program Jan. 18, 2011. Photo by Amy Wallot

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Connie Baynum had a long day ahead of her. She was responsible for making sure that about 75 6th-, 7th- and 8th-graders from four middle schools learned the choreography, song lyrics and speaking parts to a play they were to perform later that night.

A bus was 35 minutes late on a day already crowded with much to do. Instead of crumpling under the stress, Baynum embraced the “show must go on” philosophy like a veteran thespian – which she is.

“In about 10 hours you will grace the stage with a wonderful message,” Baynum told the students. Continue Reading

Charlotte Webb works with students on their reading skills during the Academy, an after-school program at Middlesboro Intermediate School (Middlesboro Independent) Jan. 19, 2011. Photo by Amy Wallot

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Charlotte Webb, a 5th-grade teacher at East End Elementary School (Middlesboro Independent) has a student who started the academic year testing at a kindergarten reading level.

“When he tried to read he just repeated the word after I said it with the exception of a few sight words. When it came to written work, he couldn’t do it,” said Webb, who is in her 29th year of teaching at East End Elementary and 33rd overall. “We just took the winter MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) Test, and he scored in the middle of a 2nd-grade reading level. He is very confident, and where he was always looking at me to tell him the word, he is now decoding and reading fluently. Continue Reading

I recently sent a letter to Kentucky superintendents and board of education chairs asking them to pledge to increase the rates of college and career readiness in their high schools by 50 percent by 2015. This is critical to the success of our students, communities and the economy of the entire state.

Our legislative leaders are keenly aware of the need for progress in this area, as evidenced by the passage of Senate Bill 1 (SB 1) in 2009. SB 1 requires P-12 and postsecondary education leaders to produce a plan to reduce remediation of high school graduates entering college by 50 percent. Continue Reading

Highlands High School (Fort Thomas Independent) has won the state championship in the We the People…The Citizen and the Constitution civic education competition and will compete for the national title from April 30-May 2.

Ohio County High School was the runner-up in the competition. A team from Owen County High School also competed and a team from Chandler’s Elementary School (Logan County) participated as a showcase team. Continue Reading