Kentucky Teacher

Nine outstanding teachers from around the state – three elementary school teachers, three middle school teachers and three high school teachers – are semifinalists for the 2012 Kentucky Teacher of the Year award, the Kentucky Department of Education and Ashland Inc. announced today.

Winners of the Elementary, Middle and High School Teacher of the Year awards, as well as the overall 2012 Kentucky Teacher of the Year, will be announced at a ceremony in Frankfort on October 18, in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building.

Competing for Elementary Teacher of the Year are:

• Elizabeth Ann Fuller, J.B. Atkinson Academy, Jefferson County
• Amy Littlejohn, Caldwell County Elementary, Caldwell County 
• Rachel Losch, Dixie Elementary, Fayette County Continue Reading

Gov. Steve Beshear recently made several appointments to school- and youth-related boards, commissions and panels.

The governor appointed the following members to the Center for School Safety Board of Directors to serve for the remainder of the unexpired terms, which end July 27, 2012:

• James Evans Jr. of Beattyville is the superintendent of Lee County Board of Education. The appointment replaces Thomas T. Hanner.
• Donald I. Shively of Paducah is the assistant superintendent of Paducah Independent Schools. The appointment replaces Winfield S. Smith. Continue Reading

The registration process for the Nov. 10 Productivity Conference with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will open up to anyone outside of school districts, co-ops and associations on Oct.1.

To guarantee a district has slots for its team, participants must register by Friday, Sept. 30. After that date, the registration will be open to all other interested parties and for the expansion of school district and co-op teams already registered.

Go to here to register a team. For more information, contact David Cook at (502) 564-4201.

Kentucky is one of seven states recently selected to participate in the College Readiness Partnership (CRP).

The CRP is a collaborative effort between the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO). The partnership’s goal is to promote broad implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics and English/language arts (ELA), with a focus on those issues at the intersection of K-12 and higher education systems. The state leadership teams are comprised of individuals representing the membership of each of the three partner organizations.

Other participating states include Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Continue Reading

The American Museum of Natural History’s “The Horse” will be on exhibit at the Kentucky Horse Park Oct. 22, 2011, through Apr. 6, 2012.

The comprehensive exhibit aims to educate classes on all aspects of the horse, from its biology to its impact on society.

This exhibition is ideal for 3^rd- through 12^th-grade science teachers and directly correlates with much of the Core Content for Assessment. Social studies themes, such as history and world cultures, and art also are covered. The exhibit can make an informative and entertaining trip for students in middle and high school. Continue Reading

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has free resources for personal finance teachers that are interactive, engaging resources.

Resources include online courses on personal finance topics, such as responsible use of credit, credit reports, income and taxes, saving and budgeting, and the Federal Reserve System. Podcasts, interactive whiteboard applications and lesson plans also are available.

Teachers may register as many students as they wish for the online courses, anyone may download the podcasts, and the lessons and whiteboard applications may be downloaded.

Click here for more details or contact Mary Suiter at (314) 444-4662.

In an effort to increase youth readership, First Lady Jane Beshear announced her Top 10 Fall Reads as a part of the First Lady’s Reading Recommendations Initiative. 

Beshear introduced the Reading Recommendations program in the summer of 2009 and issues reading lists four times per year.

 2011 Fall Reading List

1. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, by Charles M. Schulz (ages 4-8)
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Conan Doyle (ages 13 and up)
3. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, by Linda Williams (ages 4-8)
4. Coraline, by Neil Gaiman (ages 9-12)
5. Go Away Big Green Monster, by Ed Emberley (ages birth – preschool)
6. The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin (ages 9-12)
7. Who Came Down That Road?, by George Ella Lyon (ages 4-8)
8. The Witches, by Roald Dahl (ages 9-12)
9. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (ages 13 and up)
10. The Heckedy Peg, by Audrey and Don Wood (ages 4-8)

The 2011 School Law Book supplement is now available. The supplement includes state laws enacted by the 2011 Kentucky General Assembly and relevant annotations, and is an addendum to the 2010 Kentucky School Law Book.

The supplement includes a new section entitled “Kentucky School Laws – Quick Reference” to aid in the search for statutes by subject. It also is designed with a cardstock flap to adhere to the back inside cover of the 2010 School Law Book.

Always remember to check the supplement each time you reference the School Law Book to ensure you are viewing the most recent statutory language.

For more information, contact Tina Drury at (502) 564-4474.

Discovery Education and the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation are challenging teachers to be involved in the fight against childhood obesity.
The Find Your Balance Challenge brings grades K-5 teachers and students together to create an action plan that addresses energy balance needs in their school community. Designed to reward student teams for taking steps to achieve energy balance, the challenge’s grand prize-winning class will receive a $30,000 grant from Sports Authority and other prizes. Two second-place schools will win $10,000 grants.

Continue Reading

The Kentucky Department of Education today released data related to schools’ and districts’ status under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act; results of the Kentucky Core Content Tests (KCCT); college/career-readiness data and information about achievement gaps.

This data is based on student test score results from the spring 2011 administration and other factors.

Detailed information on AYP, KCCT, college/career readiness and achievement gap data of each Kentucky public school and district is available through the Open House section of the KDE website. 

NCLB results

Data indicate that 42.6 percent — 489 — of Kentucky’s 1,148 accountable public schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the 2010-11 school year under the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Continue Reading