Kentucky Teacher

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday, left, Gov. Steve Beshear and ACT, Inc. recognized Hazard Community and Technical College President Dr. Stephen Greiner, Layfette High School (Fayette County) senior Devin O’Neil Morton, Murray High School (Murray Independent) Principal Teresa Speed and Citi Vice President of Public Affairs Crystal Gibson for their college and career readiness efforts during a press conference this week at the Capitol.
Photo by Amy Wallot, April 15 , 2013

Gov. Steve Beshear and Education Commissioner Terry Holliday teamed up with ACT, Inc. this week to celebrate Kentucky’s progress toward the goal of college- and career-readiness for all students and recognize those who embody or advance the state’s commitment to preparing students for success.

“From preschool to career, getting students ready to take the next step is vital not only to their future but Kentucky’s future,” said Gov. Beshear. “Our ability to create and maintain an energetic and highly trained workforce depends on that preparation. Education is the single-biggest factor in determining long-term success for our state – whether success is defined by the quality of life for our people, the stability of our economy, or the competitive strength of our business sector.”

The event was part of the ACT College and Career Readiness Campaign that celebrates achievement and creates awareness around the goal of college and career readiness for all.

Kentucky is one of seven states (others are Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, North Carolina and Wisconsin) invited to participate in the national campaign’s inaugural year. Read the full story

To better understand how using data improves the entire school system ACT is asking superintendents and principals to take part in a survey on how they use data.

There is a survey for superintendents and one for principals. If you have not yet completed the questionnaire, superintendents are asked to click on the link below labeled “superintendents” and principals are asked to click on the one labeled “principals. The survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. All responses are confidential; no individual, school or district will be identified.

Superintendents’ link: https://www.srs.act.org/se.ashx?s=04BD76CC06B08673

Principals’ link: https://www.srs.act.org/se.ashx?s=04BD76CC06B086EB

Any questions about the survey can be directed to Raeal Moore, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate at 512-470-5529 or via e-mail at raeal.moore@act.org.

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Sophomores Patrick Berry and Tori Wall present the website they created about cold fusion to their teacher Jessica Bevins in the computer lab in the Eagle Studio at Madison Southern High School (Madison County). Photo by Amy Wallot, July 17, 2012

Madison Southern High School (Madison County) isn’t doing just one thing to raise rigor and increase test scores. The school has a handful of initiatives going on that have helped it make great strides recently.

“All these initiatives put a strong focus on academic success on a personal level,” said Erin Stewart, community education director for the Madison County school district.

Heading into its second year, the Eagle Studio initiative has a direct focus on 21st-century learning and college and/or career readiness, and is probably the best example of school collaboration, according to former student life director Josh Williams, who now is an assistant principal at Camp Taylor Elementary School (Jefferson County).

Nearly 150 sophomores attend the Eagle Studio each year. The studio consists of English, geometry, world civilization and earth/space chemical science classes, each taught by one of four teachers who are responsible for running the studio and creating lessons. Read the full story

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Senior Marina Vitatoe paints a ceiling tile during an independent study with art teacher Linda Ishmael at Deming School (Robertson County). Vitatoe was planning on attending Morehead State University to study graphic design on a partial art scholarship. Photo by Amy Wallot, May 14, 2012

During the 2011-12 school year, Kentucky districts answered the call when challenged by Commissioner Terry Holliday and the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) to sign the Commonwealth Commitment.

Every district agreed to move 50 percent of their district’s high school graduates who are not college- and/or career-ready to college- and/or career-ready between 2010 and 2015.

To get a firm grasp on what schools were doing to facilitate this pledge and bring it to fruition, KDE staff members visited seven schools that have made significant strides toward student success in college and/or career readiness.

These visits consisted of interviews with teachers and school administrators and focused on how they were implementing a college- and career-readiness agenda.

Todd Baldwin, who formerly worked as a research and policy analyst at the time of the site visits, but who is currently an executive strategic advisor for the Office of Next-Generation Learners, said identifying promising practices around increasing college and career readiness and graduation rates was the main intent of these site visits. Read the full story

Overall results from the 2012 administration of the ACT to Kentucky’s public school juniors and public school graduates show improvements in all subject areas.

The overall composite scores for both juniors and graduating seniors increased slightly from 2011 to 2012.

“These data are part of Kentucky schools’ and districts’ College/Career Ready Rates, and the increases show that our administrators and teachers are focused on the ultimate goal of preparing students for life after high school,” said Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday. “While the increases in scores are small, they indicate an intensified emphasis on college/career readiness.”

Kentucky’s Unbridled Learning accountability model includes a college/career readiness component, through which schools and districts will be held accountable for the percentage of students who are considered ready for college and/or careers. Read the full story

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