Kentucky Teacher

Terry Holliday

The 2012-13 school year has been a busy one for Kentucky public education. Educators have undertaken a number of initiatives and realized some major achievements as we work to transform schools into vibrant, engaging and innovative places that equip Kentucky’s children with the knowledge and skills they will need to succeed in a 21st-century world.

I am grateful for the commitment shown by so many in this state – from educators and lawmakers to parents, community groups and business leaders. All of you have responded to the call for change and done your part to ensure ALL Kentucky’s students are college/career-ready when they graduate high school. Teachers, principals and staff who work in our schools day in and day out are on the front lines of this work.

They have set high, clear expectations for their students and fostered a climate that encourages student engagement and active learning. They have learned to use formative assessment to modify their teaching and differentiate instruction to meet individual student needs. They have worked to make the content rigorous and meaningful for students. And they have partnered side-by-side with the Kentucky Department of Education and other stakeholder groups to develop and field test a new statewide educator evaluation system, the Professional Growth and Effectiveness System (PGES).

I appreciate all their hard work, and I hope everyone will take the time during National Teacher Appreciation Week, May 6-11, to thank teachers and educators who have had a personal impact on them, their families and their communities. We still have a lot of work ahead of us in Kentucky, and a kind word and acknowledgement of a job well done will go a long way toward keeping our teachers focused and motivated as they prepare for the 2013-14 school year. Continue Reading

Terry Holliday

Throughout the commonwealth, educators are working diligently and with a sense of urgency to ensure ALL Kentucky’s students are college/career-ready when they graduate high school. They know it is an economic imperative not only for their students but also for our state.

Together, we have made great strides this past year, as we worked to transform our schools into vibrant, engaging and innovative places that equip Kentucky’s children with the deeper knowledge, stronger critical thinking skills and the entrepreneurial spirit they need to succeed in a 21st-century world. But our work is far from complete – and there are always opportunities for educators, parents, community members and the business community to join us in our efforts.

March brings one of those opportunities with Operation Preparation, a community-based advising activity designed to help 8th- and 10th-grade students plan for life after high school. While this was a weeklong event in 2012, this year the entire month of March has been designated for Operation Preparation. Continue Reading

Terry Holliday

No matter how busy my schedule gets as Kentucky’s education commissioner, I am always interested in receiving feedback. That’s one of the many reasons I meet regularly with staff, connect through social media and visit schools around the state. The comments, questions and ideas I receive from all of these and many other activities are invaluable, and I believe help Kentucky continue making gains in its pledge to ensure every child is college and career ready.

That is why I am such a big supporter of the TELL Kentucky survey which was first administered in 2011. TELL stands for Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning – the actions we are seeking to optimize in our schools.

Next month, March 4 through March 29, every certified staff member in Kentucky’s public schools will again have an opportunity to use this anonymous, Web-based survey to voice their perceptions of the teaching and learning conditions in Kentucky schools.

The survey, which is voluntary and confidential, will query certified staff about working conditions in areas such as leadership, facilities, resources, professional development, empowerment and time.

The results will be used by school-based decision making councils, schools, districts, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) and numerous other organizations to improve the working conditions in our schools and districts. Continue Reading

In a special video edition of Commissioner’s Comments, Education Commissioner Terry Holliday welcomes Kentucky educators back to school after winter break, and thanks them for all their efforts involving the Kentucky Core Academic Standards and college and career readiness. He also highlights several resources that teachers can use in 2013 to help boost student achievement and close learning gaps, from the state’s online School Report Cards to formative assessments available through the Continuous Instructional Improvment Technology System (CIITS).

(Note: Video plays in IE9 and Firefox. It also will play in Chrome using the following plug-in:  http://www.interoperabilitybridges.com/wmp-extension-for-chrome).

Commissioner Terry Holliday

The release of Unbridled Learning accountability results last month was met with a flurry of newspaper stories, board presentations, parent workshops and a lot of discussion.

As expected, early reports seemed to focus on the overall drop in proficiency and the new state-provided percentile rankings for schools and districts. A few accounts rightfully noted the dramatic increase in the percentage of high school graduates who are college and career ready.

So, now that the dust has settled, the real work begins.

The online School Report Card provides a wealth of information that provides educators the opportunity to examine what is working – and conversely, not working – in our schools and districts. It shows how our students are performing, where achievement gaps exist and whether our students are on track for college/career-readiness, among other things. This is valuable data and we cannot allow it to sit idle on a server or in a file on a computer desktop. Continue Reading

Commissioner Terry Holliday

Positive change is underway in Kentucky’s public schools. But as the K-PREP scores released last week show us, we as educators are going to need to take even more dramatic steps if we are going to move our students and our schools forward.  

Small, incremental changes like block scheduling, computers in the classroom and a new curriculum are not going to be enough. Those are tools that can help us, but they, in and of themselves, are not going to produce the type of school transformation that is going to energize and engage Kentucky students and get them ready for college and career.

We need to think differently and creatively to make our schools successful. We need to be thinking in terms of big, systematic changes that include ideas such as personalized learning, performance-based assessment and authentic student voice.

Having met just last month with the Next-Generation Student Council, I can tell you students in our state are not short on innovative ideas on how to improve their schools. I also know from my school visits around the state that Kentucky teachers are true innovators, continually finding and trying new ways to make their classrooms more about learning, not just teaching. If schools and districts are serious about innovation, then these two groups – students and teachers – must be an integral part of the plan.   Continue Reading

Commissioner Terry Holliday

With more jobs requiring at least some postsecondary education or training, college and career readiness is driving major changes that are taking root in Kentucky public schools.

The implementation of more rigorous academic standards that are aligned with the concepts and 21^st century skills students need to know to succeed in college and the workplace plays an important role in that shift. But just making classes harder, so to speak, isn’t the only step we need to take to truly transform education in Kentucky.

Research shows that if schools create safe, supportive, and respectful learning environments that personalize young people’s learning experiences, they can help them achieve more academic success and better prepare them for life after high school. A comprehensive advising program that includes both academic and non-academic programs and for which responsibility is shared through a school is key to making this happen.

A strong advising program can result in reduced retention rates, decreased truancy and behavioral issues, increased test scores and graduation rates, as well as improved interpersonal relationships and greater college/career readiness.

Kentucky’s Advising Toolkit and Transition Toolkit can help districts create comprehensive advising programs. Continue Reading

Commissioner Terry Holliday

The Kentucky Department of Education will release the results of the first Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress (K-PREP) next month.

I know there is great anticipation – and maybe anxiousness – about what the results will reveal.

Kentucky educators are drawn to teaching by the belief they can make a positive difference in students’ lives – and you are.

So, it is difficult to be on the receiving end of what may be seen as bad news. Yet, we know for many of our schools that will the case with this first round of K-PREP results.

Science and social studies scores should be in line with past scores since the tests were based on the 2007 Kentucky Core Content for Assessment 4.1.But that’s not the case in English/language arts and mathematics.

Kentucky’s adoption of the more rigorous Common Core State Standards and K-PREP assessments tied to those standards, will lead to proficiency rates among students that are lower than what we’ve seen previously in the Kentucky Core Content Tests (KCCT). Continue Reading

In a special video edition of Commissioner’s Comments, Education Commissioner Terry Holliday welcomes Kentucky teachers back to school, and thanks them for their continued efforts to ensure students are college and career ready. He also offers encouragement to teachers as they await the release of K-PREP results in October.

(Note: Video plays in IE9 and Firefox. It also will play in Chrome using the following plug-in:  http://www.interoperabilitybridges.com/wmp-extension-for-chrome).