Kentucky Teacher

The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet (EEC) has kicked off its second-annual “Capture the Earth” middle school digital photography contest for all Kentucky students in grades 6-8.

This year’s competition centers on the state’s 2012 Earth Day theme of “Celebrating Kentucky’s Forests,” in recognition of the 100^th anniversary of the Kentucky Division of Forestry.

The “Capture the Earth” photo contest is open to all Kentucky middle school students. Judges will look for originality and creativity, photo composition, and how well the photo represents the Earth Day theme of “Celebrating Kentucky’s Forests.”

Students should include a brief paragraph explaining the photo and how it represents Kentucky’s Earth Day theme of “Celebrating Kentucky’s Forests.” 

Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Len Peters asked students to be creative and to keep in mind that forestry is more than just trees.

“Kentuckians benefit from forests in numerous ways: forests provide clean air and water, and jobs making products from our timber resources and in caring for our forests to ensure their health and sustainability,” Peters said. “Students need to keep in mind that cities have ‘urban forests’ that provide a canopy for our city streets and downtown businesses. So there are many possibilities for taking creative photographs that show the story of Kentucky’s forests. Students in every area of Kentucky can participate.” Continue Reading

More than 6,000 students, educators and parents gathered at the seventh annual Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) State Championship on March 22 at Rupp Arena and the Lexington Convention Center.

P-12 students from across the state showed what they know and can do with technology in arts, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and many marketable career skills by participating in 42 different STLP learning categories.

The event empowers students to use technology to problem-solve, create content, learn and achieve. Thousands of adults supported this 21st-century learning event as chaperones, mentors and judges. Read stories written by cyber-reporting students about the exciting event at http://jcps.jefferson.kyschools.us/cybergazette/.

Out of nearly 500 projects, three schools were named Best in State in Project Showcase. The three schools will attend the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE) Conference in San Diego, Calif., June 23-26, representing STLP as Student Showcases.

Best in State

• Oakview Elementary (Ashland Independent)
• James E Bazzell Middle (Allen County)
• Woodford County High Continue Reading

McGraw-Hill Education has launched the STEM Innovative Educator Awards to recognize and reward teachers who are finding innovative ways to reach today’s students.

The awards, known as the STEMIEs, will acknowledge teachers who are pioneering effective techniques to engage their students in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

Teachers can enter by submitting a two-minute video, a short essay and a lesson plan that demonstrates an innovative lesson or other project from their classroom. First place will receive $15,000, second place gets $5,000, and third place wins $2,500, plus McGraw-Hill will grant an additional $2,500 in other awards. In addition to the judging panel, members of the general public will have the opportunity to vote online for their favorite video. Applications will be accepted through May 31.

For more information about the STEMIEs, go to www.mheonline.com/stemie.

The Kentucky Historical Society is seeking teachers to serve as judges for the Kentucky History Day contest April 28. Judges will help determine who will represent Kentucky at the national contest this summer.

The Kentucky Junior Historical Society (KJHS) is a youth program that runs throughout the school year in which participants explore Kentucky’s history through service-learning and research projects, field trips to historic sites and academic contests.

The year is capped off by an annual meeting and state History Day contest in April, the winners of which compete in the national contest in College Park, Md., each June.

Those interested should contact Cheryl Caskey at (502) 564-1792, ext. 4461 by April 5 to participate.

The annual Kentucky History Education Conference for K-12 teachers will be held at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History in Frankfort on July 12.

This year’s topic is Turning Points in History.

Among others, presenters will include: Eric Jackson and Burke Miller from Northern Kentucky University; David Hamilton from the University of Kentucky; and Scott New as Daniel Boone.

Accomplished women’s and Civil War historian Caroline Janney, of Purdue University, will offer this year’s keynote speech. Concurrent sessions on primary source activities, classroom applications and instructional strategies also will be offered.

The cost of the conference, which includes lunch, refreshments and teacher materials, is $50 or $45 for Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky Association of Teachers of History and Kentucky Council for Social Studies members. A special rate of $35 is available for pre-service teachers. Continue Reading

Elkhorn Crossing School (Scott County) will host a free professional development Game Design Jam July 9-11 presented by the Learning Games Network, a non-profit spin-off of the MIT Education Arcade that seeks to bridge the gap between research and practice in game-based education.

The Game Design Jam will introduce teachers to new instructional resources and work with them to develop coaching strategies that can be used to guide students through research and creative game design processes.

The deadline to apply is April 30.

For more information or to get an application, e-mail gdtk@learninggamesnetwork.org or contact Keith Barnes at (502) 869-8047.

Kentucky will join 39 other states and U.S. territories in the Real World Design Challenge (RWDC), an education initiative that is designed to increase the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce.

The Frankfort High RWDC team (Franklin Independent) won the state-level challenge, and the team will represent Kentucky in the national challenge on April 20-23 in Washington, D.C.

Ten Kentucky teams began the state-level challenge, and Frankfort High completed all components successfully. Other schools with teams were Conner High (Boone Co.); Christian Co. Career and Tech Center; Corbin Area Technology Center; Danville High; Bryan Station High (Fayette Co.); Glasgow High; Monroe Co. High; Taylor Co. High; and Union Co. High.

“The Real World Design Challenge partnership helps address the growing industry demand for workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM),” said Ralph K. Coppola, director of the Real World Design Challenge and senior director of Government and Strategic Education Programs for Programs at Parametric Technology Corp. “The Real World Design Challenge bridges the needs of the industry with the future of education. It teaches innovation, creativity, collaboration and other 21st-century skills using the expertise that industry, government and higher education have been perfecting for decades. With this real-world approach to learning, we can keep our workforce strong and ensure America’s prosperity for the future.” Continue Reading

GEAR UP Kentucky announced last week that 29 schools have been selected to participate in a new $26.9 million college-readiness grant award.

The announcement was made earlier at a launch rally at Holmes High School in Covington.

GEAR UP, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, anticipates serving 10,000 Kentucky students from low-income schools over the life of the six-year federal grant. The program serves entire cohorts of students and follows them throughout high school.

To read a press release on the rally and also see a list of GEAR UP Kentucky schools listed by county, click here.

 For more information on the program, visit http://gearup.councilonpostsecondaryeducation.org/.

To support schools in meeting the mandates of 2009’s Senate Bill 1 and the Commonwealth Commitment to College and Career Readiness, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has developed the Persistence to Graduation Tool (PtGT, or Dropout Early Warning Report).

The PtGT is an early warning indicator system for identifying students who may be “off track” for graduation and is imbedded in the Kentucky Student Information System (KSIS), Infinite Campus.

The PtGT provides critical student-level data to identify specific students in need of additional intervention or support.

Student-level data are collected and weighted for the following areas: number of days absent; grades retained; credit earned; credits attempted; migrant; LEP; homeless; gender; age; age equivalent; truancy; behavior; suspensions; expulsions; and eventually academic data about grades and assessment performance. The report provides a complete list of students based on the weighting of indicators and the filtering functionality built into the tool.

The tool was piloted in Barbourville, Paducah and Russell independent school districts in the summer of 2011 to gather feedback before the actual launch. KDE launched this report to all districts in July 2011. Continue Reading

The Kentucky Department of Education is requesting a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education from the requirement in Section 421(b) of the General Education Provisions Act to extend the period of availability of FY 2010 School Improvement Grant (SIG) funds for the agency and all of its school districts to Sept. 30, 2013.

The requested waiver and extension of time will increase Kentucky’s ability to implement the SIG program effectively in eligible schools in order to improve the quality of instruction and improve the academic achievement of students in the federal designations of Tier I and Tier II schools.

See the letter of request here. Comments on this waiver request may be sent to Donna Tackett by close of business on April 6.