Kentucky Teacher

The White House Rural Council recently announced the U.S. Department of Education’s new online community of practice group for rural schools.

Virtual communities of practice provide a platform for educators to connect to resources, tools, colleagues, experts, and learning activities, both within and beyond schools.

Rural school leaders and teachers can join this online community by logging-on here, creating an account and choosing the Rural Schools group. As membership grows, rural educators will be able to connect with peers in their home states and across the nation to exchange ideas and learn from one another. To learn more, click here.

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is pleased to annouce that the review process for the 2012 Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program RFA is complete.

Awards are now posted on the department’s website here.

Awards are contingent upon available funding and regions, districts and schools meeting all programmatic and budgetary requirements.

For information about the regions receiving funds or if you have budget-related questions, please contact Deanna Tackett at deanna.tackett@education.ky.gov or at (502) 564-5625. If you would like copies of your score sheets or have questions related to the application process, please contact Jason Kendall at jason.kendall@education.ky.gov or at (502) 564-2351.

On July 30 and 31, the Allen County school district will host a two-day institute featuring Harvey Silver, Ed.D., and content from his new book, Tools for Thoughtful Assessment.

Silver will present a variety of classroom-tested tools and techniques that teachers can use to address the critical components of assessment. Participants will learn:

• a variety of tools to help make the move from traditional evaluation to assessment for learning
• how to use these tools to assess before, during and at the end of instruction
• how to adapt these tools to meet specific assessment and instructional goals, such as developing clear learning targets, teaching students how to produce high-quality work and helping students monitor their own learning

Participation is open to personnel from any Kentucky school district. For more details, contact Rick Fisher, director of instruction for the Allen County school district.

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the American Chemical Society (ACS) are hosting a webinar on middle school chemistry.

It is the second of six webinars covering each of the six chapters in the ACS free middle school science teaching resource http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/.

The webinar, which is on July 26, is hosted by the NSTA Learning Center and covers the basic concepts of state changes between solid, liquid and gas.

The seminar will focus on student activities and molecular animations covering state changes that are immediately usable in the classroom and easily integrated into the existing curriculum.

Find out more and register for this free webinar here.

The state-led Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is seeking a second round of public comment on the Model Content Frameworks for English Language Arts (ELA)/Literacy as part of an on-going development process to ensure the frameworks meet the needs of educators, curriculum directors and school leaders.

In November 2011, PARCC released Model Content Frameworks to inform item development and to support implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). That release was based on multiple rounds of feedback, including a public comment period in August 2011. Now that the frameworks have been in the field for several months, PARCC is again looking for the education community to provide feedback on the frameworks in order to clarify any language or make any necessary corrections. Continue Reading

Gene Wilhoit

Former Kentucky Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit announced last week he is retiring as executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

Wilhoit plans to remain at CCSSO until a new executive director assumes the post.

Under Wilhoit’s leadership, states have increasingly worked together to address critical issues including higher standards for students, richer assessments of their learning, better tools for teachers and more accountability for schools to produce results.

Wilhoit plans to return to his home and family in Kentucky, but said he remains committed to the reform agenda.

“I’ll be leaving CCSSO but can’t walk away from the work I feel so passionately about. I am deeply invested in ensuring that the states have the support they need to advance the transformative work they have begun. Together we will advance work to ensure every student in this country receives the high-quality education they deserve,” he said.

Wilhoit served as Kentucky’s Education Commissioner from 2000-06.

Last week Gov. Steve Beshear signed Senate Bill 38 (SB 38), a measure aimed at providing a career pathway process for secondary education in Kentucky. Through a more rigorous academic focus on career and technical education (CTE), the bill provides for a career-based program of study to make students’ high school years more relevant to their futures as working adults.

SB 38 requires the Kentucky Department of Education to issue core content standards for career and technical education, assess student progress and develop new courses relevant to college and career readiness. It provides a process to assess at-risk students and provide evidence-based programs to help students learn, stay in school and be successful in their transition to postsecondary education or the workplace.

The legislation connects with Kentucky’s current focus on individualized instruction in order to best meet all students’ needs and goals and aims to help students see the direct connection between education and jobs. Continue Reading

By Amy Wallot
amy.wallot@education.ky.gov

Science experiments are underway every day in schools across Kentucky. Students enjoy the hands-on activities and teachers like to get in on the fun, too. This is a small collection of science I’ve seen happening over the past few months.

A small group of teachers recently gathered at the University of Kentucky for a climate science workshop. Middle and high school teachers participated in hands-on experiments and group discussions. The workshop was a joint effort between the UK College of Agriculture and the UK College of Education.

Students in Tawnya Boyd’s 7^th-grade science class at Deming School (Robertson County) tried to keep penguins made of ice from melting as part of a lesson on heat transfer, conductors and insulation. Students constructed small, house-like structures to fit the ice cube penguins in and placed them under heat lamps to test how long it would take the penguins to melt.

Egg candling is a favorite experiment of students in Joann Hall’s 6^th-grade science class at Roy G. Eversole Middle School (Hazard Independent). Students use an egg candler to observe the eggs until they turn into chicks as a lesson on life science. This year, students were surprised to find an egg containing two embryos.

North Hardin High School (Hardin County) science teacher Laura Lang checks the temperature difference between air and air enriched with CO2 during a climate science workshop at the University of Kentucky. Photo by Amy Wallot, June 14, 2012

Vint Collins, an 8th-grade science teacher at Leestown Middle School (Fayette County), talks to faculty member George Wagner (not pictured) during the climate science workshop at the University of Kentucky. Wagner led the experiments during the workshop. Photo by Amy Wallot, June 14, 2012

Jerri Dyer, a science teacher at West Jessamine Middle School (Jessamine County), measures melting ice during an experiment demonstrating the affects of soot on icebergs during a climate science workshop at the University of Kentucky. Photo by Amy Wallot, June 14, 2012

Seventh-grade students Dakota Moore and Jimmie King construct a model house for their ice penguin during Tawnya Boyd's science class at Deming School (Robertson County). Photo by Amy Wallot, May 14, 2012

Seventh-grade student David Kennedy places houses for penguins made of ice under heat during an experiment involving heat transfer, conductors and insulation at Deming School (Robertson County). Photo by Amy Wallot, May 14, 2012

Sixth-grade student Gavin Franks examines an egg with two embryos during JoAnn Hall's science class at Roy G. Eversole Middle School (Hazard Ind.). Photo by Amy Wallot, March 28, 2012