Kentucky Teacher

Gov. Steve Beshear, along with the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet and Kentucky Workforce Investment Board (KWIB), announced recently that Kentucky is among the first states to be accepted into the national ACT Certified Work Ready Communities Academy.

Membership in the academy will help Kentucky be a national leader in developing the local workforce skills necessary to meet current employer demands and attract businesses to the state in the future.

“This national program represents a commitment made to existing and potential employers by an entire community – its elected officials, schools and business groups,” Beshear said. “It says to them, ‘if you invest in Kentucky, you will have the skilled workers you need.’”

A leadership team from Kentucky representing workforce development, education and economic development will participate in the academy during the next 12 months. ACT, which is usually associated with educational testing, is establishing a national baseline for state workforce standards that each state can build on through its Certified Work Ready Communities program. The academy gives Kentucky leaders the opportunity to collaborate with other state leaders on workforce development strategies. Read the full story

More than 63 percent of Kentucky’s public high school 2010 graduates have enrolled in college – the highest percentage on record, the Kentucky P-20 Data Collaborative announced recently.

The P-20 Data Collaborative used a comprehensive set of data to calculate the rates, which revealed that of the more than 43,000 public high school graduates in 2010, 63.1 percent enrolled in some form of higher education.

The Kentucky High School Feedback Report includes individual reports for 228 public high schools in the state and is based on 2010-11 college enrollment data, not surveys of students. Reports are not provided for alternative programs, but students from those schools are included in the district-level figures.

“The overall rates appear to show improvements statewide in college-going, which is excellent news,” said Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Secretary Joseph U. Meyer. “Reports like these illustrate the importance of our education agencies working together as a collaborative to provide actionable information back to schools allowing teachers and administrators to make improvements that will better prepare our future generations to be successful in college.” Read the full story

By Education Commissioner Terry Holliday

At the August Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) meeting, my annual evaluation was completed. Over the past month I have seen that many local boards and superintendents are completing the same process. The KBE has also expressed an interest in local board evaluations.

Over the past two years I have mentioned the issue of superintendent evaluations on numerous occasions at speeches and in my weekly blogs. This is a perfect time for local boards and superintendents to look carefully at the goals and measures for superintendent evaluation and local school board self-evaluation of key processes. Read the full story

Overall results from the 2011 administration of the ACT to Kentucky’s public school juniors and public school graduates show improvements in all subject areas and higher percentages of students ready for college-level coursework. See the news release for more information.

Jon Erickson, ACT, Inc. Education Division interim president, releases the 2011 Condition of College and Career Readiness Report and data from the nationwide ACT administration for 2011 graduating seniors at the Jessamine Career and Technology Center (Jessamine County) in Nicholasville. Photo by Amy Wallot, Aug. 17, 2011

Overall results from the 2011 administration of the ACT to Kentucky’s public school juniors and public school graduates show improvements in all subject areas and higher percentages of students ready for college-level coursework.

“Kentucky has taken bold steps by measuring all students against the rigorous standards of college and career readiness,” said Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday. “While this may have moved these measurements downward in the short-term, it is the right thing to do for our students and will pay great dividends over the long run. Our students have high goals, and we must offer them the preparation they need to be successful.”

“The ACT is an important tool that we use to determine college readiness and a student’s ability to take credit-generating courses,” said Council on Postsecondary Education President Robert King. “These results are encouraging because we see important improvement in each of the tested areas. The more ready incoming students are, the higher the likelihood they will graduate from college.” Read the full story

ACT’s new video contest is calling on students to tell their friends why they should take the ACT. Winning entries could win thousands of dollars in scholarship money.

The contest encourages students to think creatively as they make plans to attend college. Participants must be U.S. high school students who plan to apply for admission to a U.S. two-year or four-year institution in 2012 or 2013.

The top 10 videos will appear on the ACT student website where students from across the country will have the chance to vote on their favorites. The student with the winning video will receive a $5,000 scholarship to the college of his or her choice and the winning video will be featured on the ACT website. Second- and third-place winners will receive $2,500 and $1,000 scholarships, while others finishing in the top 10 will receive $500 scholarships.

Winners will be selected based on creativity, visual appeal and overall impact. Important contest dates and deadlines:

• Submissions are due by Sept. 11, 2011.
• Online voting: Sept. 26 – Oct. 9, 2011
• Winners announced: Oct. 10

For more information, visit actstudent.org/videocontest.

The QualityCore Instructional System is a valuable tool for teachers, instructional coaches, and school and district leaders involved with high school Algebra II, Biology, English II and U.S, History classes. End-of-course assessments will be given in those classes for the first time in the 2011-12 school year.

The QualityCore Instructional System includes resource materials and a test builder that may be used for development of instructional materials to enhance instruction.

Read the full story

Kentucky has selected ACT, Inc. as its vendor for end-of-course (EOC) examinations for the state’s public high school students.

The contract period is from May 9, 2011, to June 30, 2012, and is for a total of $5,486,700.

Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), enacted in the 2009 Kentucky General Assembly, requires a new public school assessment program beginning in the 2011-12 school year. The legislation allowed, with approval by the Kentucky Board of Education, an EOC assessment program at the high school level. Read the full story

Results from the 2010 administration of the ACT to Kentucky’s public school juniors show improvements in all subject areas and higher percentages of students ready for college-level coursework.

Overall, Kentucky juniors improved their average composite ACT score from 18.2 in 2009 to 18.5 in 2010. Scores improved in English (17.3 in 2009 to 17.8 in 2010), mathematics (18.2 to 18.3), reading (18.4 to 18.9) and science (18.5 to 18.7). Read the full story

Average ACT scores for Kentucky’s 2010 public high school graduates were mostly constant from those in 2009, although more students met college-ready benchmarks in mathematics and science according to the Kentucky Department of Education and the Council on Postsecondary Education. Read the full story