Kentucky Teacher

A new app for iPhones, iPads and iPods compiles content from the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) to enhance communications on education-related matters across the state.

The free KDE News app is available through iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kde-news/id540050869?ls=1&mt=8 The app is designed to provide users with immediate access to many items housed on the KDE website, including:

• Kentucky Teacher Magazine
• Messages to Superintendents and Teachers
• Headlines
• Education Commissioner Terry Holliday’s Blog
• Videos Continue Reading

The Kentucky Department of Education’s Division of Next-Generation Professionals has reopened the application period for the Minority Superintendent Internship Program (MSIP).

The MSIP consists of two initiatives — the Minority Superintendent Internship and the Minority Emerging Education Leader Internship.

The deadline for the re-opened application process is 4:30 p.m. ET on Monday, August 13. The MSIP application portfolio packet is available online here.

The successful MSIP candidates will begin the program on September 3.

MSIP is designed to identify and train a pool of highly-qualified and highly-effective minority superintendent candidates for Kentucky’s public school districts. The program provides qualified candidates with the opportunity for hands-on, mentored experiences with Kentucky superintendents and education leaders. For the purposes of this program, “minority” is defined to include underrepresented members of ethnic minority groups. Continue Reading

Kentucky tied for fifth place nationwide in the improvement of its students’ performance in assessments of reading, mathematics and science since 1992,  according to a report from Harvard University,

The report, Achievement Growth: International and U.S. State Trends in Student Performance, was produced by Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance and presented in Education Next, the program’s journal. It was designed to determine the extent of the United States’ progress toward closure of the international education gap and offers estimates of gains from 1995 to 2009 for the U.S. and 48 other countries. The report also looked at changes in student performance in 41 states between 1992 and 2011 and compares states’ rates of improvement, among other items.

Based on results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 4th- and 8th-grade reading, mathematics and science, Kentucky was noted as having a 2.7 percent gain (as an average of the standard deviation) from 1992 to 2011. This ranked the state fifth among 41 states that participated in NAEP during the same time period. Continue Reading

At the recent 51st Biennial National Association of the Deaf (NAD) conference, the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) was recognized for its efforts to ensure that former African-American students at the Kentucky School for the Deaf (KSD) received diplomas that were originally denied to them.

On Friday, July 6, the NAD Board of Directors recognized the KBE with a special resolution, praising the board for its action on behalf of African-American KSD graduates.

“I’m honored that the National Association for the Deaf recognizes the efforts made by the Kentucky Board of Education and the Department of Education to right a grievous injustice,” said KBE Chair David Karem, who was present during the event. “Providing former African-American students at KSD with their long-overdue diplomas was simply the obvious thing to do. The other board members and I are humbled by the appreciation and gratitude we’ve been shown.”

In August 2011, the board held a special ceremony on the campus of the Kentucky School for the Deaf to award diplomas to African Americans who were enrolled at KSD in the mid-20th century, but did not receive recognition for graduation.

Approximately 75 individuals were identified to receive diplomas. These individuals were enrolled at KSD between 1930 and 1955, but left the school without receiving official recognition of graduation or completion of courses.

The National Association of the Deaf is the nation’s premier civil rights organization of, by and for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in the U.S. The 2012 Biennial NAD Conference was held July 3-7 in Louisville.

In 1823, the Kentucky School for the Deaf (KSD) became the first state-supported school of its kind in the nation and the western hemisphere. KSD has a rich history of ensuring that deaf and hard-of-hearing children and youth in Kentucky have educational opportunities to develop their potential to become educated, life-long learners and productive citizens.

The school currently enrolls approximately 140 students, and the Kentucky Board of Education serves as the board of education for both KSD and the Kentucky School for the Blind (KSB) in Louisville.

As required by the United States Department of Education (USDOE), Kentucky is submitting guidelines for local teacher and principal evaluation and support systems and any amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act’s (ESEA’s) waiver Principle 3: Supporting Effective Instruction and Leadership.

This requirement is related to Kentucky’s receipt of flexibility under the ESEA/No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. The guidelines and proposed amendments will undergo peer review by USDOE this summer.

To see the document containing the guidelines and proposed amendments click here, and scroll to the the bottom of the page. The public is encouraged to comment, and comments may be sent to Mary Ann Miller at maryann.miller@education.ky.gov by close of business on Friday, July 6. Comments will be passed on to USDOE as well as considered by KDE as we finalize the amendments to Principle 3 during this summer’s peer review.

Ten alternative education programs have been selected as Best Practice Sites in an effort designed to recognize the work of educators and programs that serve at-risk students.

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) began the project in 2009 to highlight exemplary practices in A5 and A6 programs in public school districts. A5 programs are school district-operated and -housed instructional programs that provide services to at-risk students with unique needs, and A6 programs are district-operated instructional programs that are located in non-district facilities or schools that serve youth who are considered state agency children through the Kentucky Educational Collaborative for State Agency Children (KECSAC), the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Community Based Services and/or the Department for Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services.

 The programs were nominated in three categories:

• Category 1: Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
• Category 2: Culture, Support and Professional Development
• Category 3: Leadership, Resources/Organization and Planning Continue Reading

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

The following teaching and learning materials are available for free in the public domain and are provided by Kathy Mansfield, library media and textbook consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education, for consideration by educators to supplement the curriculum.

The resources may be customized, modified or combined with other materials according to their creative commons licensing.

Digital Textbooks

CK-12 Flexbooks

• This uses an open-content, Web-based collaborative model to provide online textbooks for K-12 students.
• Content can be edited by teachers and delivered via multiple devices

Flatworld Knowledge

• free and open college textbooks Continue Reading

Two Kentucky teachers were among 97 mathematics and science educators recently chosen to receive the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

The Kentucky recipients are: Andrea Higdon, a mathematics teacher from Crestwood, Ky., and Joshua Underwood, a science teacher from Mt. Olivet, Ky.

All of the chosen educators will receive their awards in Washington, DC later this month.

The Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching is awarded annually to outstanding K-12 science and mathematics teachers from across the country. The winners are selected by a panel of distinguished scientists, mathematicians, and educators following an initial selection process done at the state level. Each year the award alternates between teachers teaching kindergarten through 6th grade and those teaching 7th through 12th grades.

Winners of this Presidential honor receive a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation to be used at their discretion. They also are invited Washington, DC, for an awards ceremony and several days of educational and celebratory events, including visits with members of Congress and the Administration.

Lisa Gross, Director of Communications for the Kentucky Department of Education, poses with former interim and associate commissioner Kevin Noland after receiving the Kevin M. Noland Award during the Kentucky Board of Education meeting. Photo by Amy Wallot, June 6, 2012

Lisa York Gross, director of the Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Division of Communications, received the 2012 Kevin M. Noland Award from the Kentucky Board of Education today.

The award recognizes a KDE employee for significant service to Kentucky’s public schools and for providing inspiration for education. Nominations are made by KDE staff.

Gross received multiple nominations for the award, and one nominator praised her grasp of Kentucky’s increased focus on success for all students.

“She thoroughly understands and can explain the Unbridled Learning system, including how the assessment and accountability system will work, and looks at all of KDE’s publications and communication pieces to focus them on the goal of ensuring that all students are college- and career ready,” the nominator wrote. Continue Reading