Kentucky Teacher

Teachers and administrators can join international experts and practitioners as they showcase successful practices for implementing standards and effective assessment practices at the Meeting the Challenge: Implementing Standards and Assessment Practices conference.

This event will be July 16-18 in Lexington, and early-bird registration has been extended to May 25.

Pre-conference sessions provide an in-depth focus on implementing Highly Effective Teaching and Learning (HETL), focusing on the standards, assessment, literacy and leadership for effective change. Conference sessions provide a variety of curricular, instructional and leadership strategies for educators at all levels to assist in providing high-quality instruction to students, improving their learning and ensuring they are college- and career-ready.

A maximum of 450 participants can participate.

Go to http://www.uky.edu/p12mathscience for more information.

By Ken Draut
Ken.Draut@education.ky.gov

Transformative Assessment in Action: An Inside Look at Applying the Process by W. James Popham might be the best testing book I’ve read in 25 years.

Written in 2011, Popham outlines how to apply the process of formative assessment to a classroom. There are no silver bullets in improving education, but this book is worth its weight in gold.

Popham provides a more formal definition of formative assessment in an earlier work, but reminds us formative assessment “is a planned process in which teachers or students use assessment-elicited evidence to improve what they’re doing.” Formative assessment is not a test; it is a planned process resulting in instructional changes that help students learn. Notice one of the key words is “planned.” The formative process is well thought out and systematically collected, and then the data is used by the teacher to make improvements in instruction. The most important thing about formative assessment is “what goes on inside a teacher’s head” as the teacher reviews the data collected from a variety of methods. Instructional ideas and adjustments are keys to making formative assessment one of the most powerful tools.   Read the full story

Kimberly Shearer

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the 300s section of my school library. As part of my practicum experience for my Rank I in library science, my supervising librarians gave me an assignment to update some of the career titles in our library.

As I went through the many outdated career books from the 1990s this past week, I realized how many careers have come into existence since I was in high school. I also realized what a strange predicament today’s educators are in. We are preparing our students for 21^st-century careers, but many of these careers don’t even exist yet. How do we make sure we are providing our students with the skill sets they will need, when their future career opportunities are unknown? And how do we navigate our instruction at a time when test scores are being used as the primary gauge for effective learning and instruction? It is an overwhelming situation. Teachers want our students to be college- and career-ready, but we are forced to assess students in ways that do not align with 21^st-century skill sets.

Kentucky’s adoption and implementation of the Common Core Standards is certainly the first step in preparing our students for the 21^st century. The Common Core Standards emphasize critical thinking, collaboration, information literacy and a host of other important, transferable skill sets that will empower Kentucky students to be successful in both college and today’s global workforce. The Common Core Standards also empower teachers to be innovative in their instruction, as we are now tackling Read the full story

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

Jessica McPherson helps 4th-grade students Keaton Emmert and Morgan Comer with an assignment on equivalent fractions at Gamaliel Elementary School (Monroe County). Photo by Amy Wallot, Feb. 2, 2012

Gamaliel Elementary School (Monroe County) earned its 2011 National Blue Ribbon School honor for helping students achieve at high levels and for making significant progress in closing achievement gaps.

Despite the recognition and being on the right track, administrators were willing to gamble with a big change in the school’s grading system, not wanting to be complacent with recent success.

Gamaliel Elementary wiped out grades for the 2011-12 school year for grades K-5. Instead, the school has opted for standards-based report cards.

“Our focus is strictly on student mastery of the Kentucky Core Academic Standards,” Principal Christie Biggerstaff said. “Teachers are delivering content and are constantly assessing to ensure student mastery.”

Student- and parent-friendly report cards  focus on learning targets. Mastery of learning targets is reported as mastery, partial mastery or non-mastery.

“Instead of getting a grade in math, all math learning targets are listed to show parents which targets their child has mastered, which are partially mastered and which are  not mastered,” said teacher Felisa Brooks. Read the full story

Editor’s note: Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), enacted in the 2009 Kentucky General Assembly, requires a new public school assessment program beginning in the 2011-2012 school year. Kentucky Teacher is doing a series of stories explaining the Unbridled Learning: College/Career Readiness for All assessment and accountability system this month. This article focuses on high school assessment. A future story will focus on accountability. The system is subject to United States Education Department approval and may be changed prior to adoption.

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Sophomores April Luttrell, Micah Coppage and Destiny Davis listen to Chris Carter teach about different cells types at Ohio County High School. Photo by Amy Wallot, Dec. 8, 2011

Following English II, Algebra II, Biology and U.S. History classes, high school students will take end-of-course assessments that will be used in the new Unbridled Learning: College/Career Readiness for All assessment and accountability system – and count as part of their grade.

This is the first time Kentucky public school students’ performance on the state’s assessment and accountability tests may affect their grades. The end-of-course assessments for high school students may count at least 20 percent of a student’s overall course grade or school districts will have to explain why not.

Commissioner Terry Holliday told Kentucky Board of Education members in April that Kentucky was the only southern state that didn’t use end-of-course tests. Board member Roger Marcum, a former teacher, principal and superintendent, said a lack of student accountability has caused complaints for a long time among educators.

The idea for using end-of-course tests is that all Kentucky students will have the four courses during their high school careers, said Rhonda Sims, a director in the Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Assessment and Accountability. Read the full story

Editor’s note: Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), enacted in the 2009 Kentucky General Assembly, requires a new public school assessment program beginning in the 2011-2012 school year. Kentucky Teacher is doing a series of stories explaining the Unbridled Learning: College/Career Readiness for All assessment and accountability system this month. This article focuses on middle school assessment. Future stories will focus on high school assessment and accountability. The system is subject to United States Education Department approval and may be changed prior to adoption.

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Cole Kaminski reads "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen during Julie Wadlington's 6th-grade reading class at Lyon County Middle School. Waslington tests the students after every two chapters for reading comprehension. Photo by Amy Wallot, Nov. 15, 2011

Kentucky’s previous assessment and accountability system was based on the idea of getting students, schools and districts to “proficiency.” But proficiency was an abstract concept, Kentucky Department of Education Associate Commissioner Larry Stinson said – and it left something to be desired in practicality.

“We have way too many students who would qualify to graduate, but they’re not ready to do anything,” he said. “So we were looking for a way to say, ‘If you are graduating from high school in Kentucky, you have some skills that you can use at that next level.’ And this is the way to go about it.”

So the state is defining proficiency based on college and career readiness, he said, and the ACT is the capstone measurement for determining it. The ACT provides an extremely strong research-based prediction of college readiness and plays a major part in Kentucky’s College/Career Readiness indicator. That is why all 11th-grade students take the ACT. The ACT PLAN test, given to all 10th-grade students in Kentucky, provides a direct connection from its scores to a predicted ACT score, thus linking early high school work to college readiness. Read the full story

Editor’s note: Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), enacted in the 2009 Kentucky General Assembly, requires a new public school assessment program beginning in the 2011-2012 school year. Kentucky Teacher is doing a series of stories explaining the Unbridled Learning: College/Career Readiness for All assessment and accountability system this month. This article focuses on elementary school assessment. Future stories will focus on middle school assessment, high school assessment and accountability. The system is subject to U.S. Department of Education approval and may be changed prior to adoption.

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Cavin Wallace answers questions about prepositions in Heather Brumley's 5th-grade class at Taylor Elementary School (Bracken County). Photo by Amy Wallot, Dec. 6, 2011

Despite significant changes to Kentucky’s public school assessment and accountability system beginning this spring, the foundation remains the same as its predecessors, one of its architects says.

“I think the whole design from the very beginning of looking at education reform in Kentucky was about, ‘Let’s develop well-rounded kids – kids that have exposure to knowledge and experiences that emphasize important things like reading and math, but also have these other key things,” said Rhonda Sims, a director in the Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Assessment and Accountability.

The new assessment system has many specific similarities to the old system, too, she said. For instance, just as it has for nearly the past decade, the new accountability system will continue to test every student in grades 3-8 in reading and mathematics every year, Sims said.

“Reading and math are foundational skills,” she said. “They are certainly key foundational subjects for work in science, for work in social studies, for overall work on things like ACT, PLAN and EXPLORE.”

Students also will be tested in science and social studies once in elementary school and once in middle school, which meets federal requirements, Sims said. Read the full story

Susan Meadows sits with Christopher Empson and a small group of students practicing writing and scissor work during her preschool class at Caldwell County Primary School. Photo by Amy Wallot, Nov. 15, 2011

By Tracy Goff-Herman
tracy.herman@education.ky.gov

With the continuing national recession, Kentucky’s revenue situation hasn’t improved. 

As such, the General Assembly’s focus will likely be on maintaining current funding levels, plugging holes and, when possible, restoring funding to pre-recession levels.

In anticipation of the upcoming session, the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) has finalized its list of budgetary and legislative priorities. The Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) focus will be on supporting and obtaining adequate funding for these strategic priorities.

There are four foundational items in KDE’s budget request. They are the programmatic policies that will enable the commonwealth’s education system to prepare students to be college- and career-ready. They include:

Funding for school improvement: This $13.3 million request would provide funding to assist non-Title I, low-performing schools. Schools and districts would use the funds to pay for efforts aimed at promoting student academic growth, reducing dropout rates and improving graduation rates.  Read the full story

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Associate Commissioners Ken Draut, Dewey Hensley and Felicia Cumings-Smith speak to the Kentucky Board of Education regarding the new assessment and accountability system. Photo by Amy Wallot, Dec. 7, 2011

If approved by the U.S. Department of Education, Kentucky schools and districts will have an annual improvement goal under a revised version of the state’s Unbridled Learning assessment and accountability system.

Under previous versions of the plan, schools would have received a score and been placed in one of three categories: needs improvement, proficient or distinguished. But they would not have had an annual improvement goal for accountability. However, waiver guidelines from federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act regulations requires the state enact annual measurable objectives (AMOs) for schools and districts.

Staff from the Kentucky Department of Education briefed the Kentucky Board of Education on the requirements of the waiver during the board’s Dec. 7 meeting.

In addition to AMOs, other changes caused by the waiver include new designations for schools and districts based on how they perform under the requirements of Unbridled Learning; inclusion of student growth as a component of the state’s teacher and principal evaluation system; and removing specific accommodations for students with special needs previously allowed during testing of reading and mathematics.

The new accountability model includes student data from testing, gap, growth, college/career readiness and graduation rate (Next-Generation Learners); principal and teacher effectiveness (Next-Generation Professionals); and Program Reviews (Next-Generation Instructional Programs and Support). Scores from each of the three areas ultimately will be totaled for an overall score. Read the full story

Kimberly Shearer

A minute per question. That’s the time I was given to answer 120 multiple-choice questions on my Praxis test this morning.

This spring, I’ll be graduating with my Rank I in Library Media Education, and the Praxis test is just one part of the certification process. A minute per question is actually more time than my juniors have for each passage on the ACT Reading test, and as I frantically bubbled my Praxis answer sheet, I suddenly felt very close to my students. 

Part of that closeness came from my frustration. Two years of my life were suddenly reduced to 120 multiple-choice questions. The evidence of my Rank I coursework and its effects on my instruction couldn’t be found in the pages of that test booklet. Sure, I could rattle off Dewey classes, taxonomies and tips for creating a library budget, but where were the blogs that my Rank I classes helped me create with my English III students? Where were my students’ persuasive digital stories or their annotated bibliographies?

The ways I’ve grown as a teacher, the ways my Rank I education helped my students — none of it was there. The lasting results of my coursework all existed outside of what a standardized test could capture. But the clock was ticking, so I kept bubbling. Read the full story