Kentucky Teacher

C. Ed Massey

Boone County Board of Education member C. Ed Massey was named the 65th president of the National School Boards Association (NSBA) at the association’s Annual Conference in Boston recently.

David A. Pickler of Tennessee’s Shelby County school district was elected president-elect and Anne M. Byrne of New York’s Nanuet Union Free school district was elected secretary-treasurer by NSBA’s 150-member delegate assembly.

Massey has served on the Boone County Board of Education for 16 years and is a former president of the Kentucky School Boards Association. Massey was first elected to NSBA’s Board of Directors in 2008, serving as a Central Region director representing school board members in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. In 2010, Massey was elected secretary-treasurer and in 2011 was elected president-elect.

In his one-year term as president, Massey plans to focus on NSBA’s service to its state associations. Read the full story

Kentucky college professors recently learned about new approaches to teaching public school students mathematics, literacy and writing skills at a conference organized by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

Faculty members from 25 state universities, private institutions and community colleges heard from Kentucky teachers from Kenton and Fayette counties who are working with the Mathematics Design Collaborative and Literacy Design Collaborative, piloting efforts to improve teaching and learning.

The Prichard Committee has worked to coordinate the districts piloting these new mathematics and literacy efforts in Kentucky, which were funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“These new strategies have shown great promise for giving students a deeper understanding of math concepts and connecting writing to challenging thinking in science, social studies and language arts classes,” said Stu Silberman, executive director of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

The seminar, funded by the Council on Postsecondary Education and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is part of a state-backed program to update postsecondary leaders and educators on the impact of overhauled academic standards that K-12 students are expected to learn as part of Senate Bill 1. 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

Kathleen Reutman Bryant received the third annual Dr. Johnnie Grissom Award (Strive for Achievement Through Instructional Equity) from Kentucky Board of Education chairman David Karem and Education Commissioner Terry Holliday during Wednesday's KBE meeting. Bryant is executive director of Student/Community Services for the Boone County school district. Photo by Amy Wallot, Dec. 7, 2011

Kathleen Reutman Bryant received the third annual Dr. Johnnie Grissom Award (Strive for Achievement Through Instructional Equity) from the Kentucky Board of Education on Wednesday.

Bryant is executive director of Student/Community Services for the Boone County school district. She was nominated by Karen Cheser, Boone County’s assistant superintendent for Learning Support Services.

“There are few educators in Kentucky today as passionate about helping all children as Kathleen Reutman Bryant,” said Cheser in her nomination letter, “and none as tirelessly and quietly persistent in working as an advocate for their needs.”

Kentucky Board of Education Chair David Karem presented the award.

“In her current position, Kathy goes above and beyond in many ways, such as finding resources for the growing number of homeless students; ensuring that limited funds are spent on the neediest students through Title I; and championing the rights of the youngest students, even before they come to school,” Karem said. 

The Dr. Johnnie Grissom Award is presented annually to an individual or group with outstanding accomplishments to help all students achieve at high levels through instructional equity and to closing the achievement gap. Read the full story

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

Education Secretary Arne Duncan speaks during the Improving Productivity in Kentucky Schools and Districts conference in Louisville, Ky. Photo by Amy Wallot, Nov. 10, 2011

Starting next year, Kentucky school districts can make money by saving money as part of a recognition program launched by the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE).

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday announced the program, called Performance Efficiencies Recognition for Kentucky Schools (PERKS), during the Improving Productivity in Kentucky Schools and Districts conference in Louisville this month.

The program will recognize up to five school districts that have found innovative ways to improve productivity and efficiency in the areas of finance, transportation, facilities, budget and information systems.

Each recognized district will receive a minimum of $5,000 each, although Holliday said he would eventually like to see the annual PERKS awards reach $25,000 each. Read the full story

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

Kimberly Shearer, an English teacher at Boone County High School, speaks with a reporter after being named Kentucky Teacher of the Year. Photo by Amy Wallot, Oct. 18, 2011

Getting students college and career ready should be of utmost importance to today’s educators, according to Kentucky’s 2012 Teacher of the Year Kimberly Shearer.

“The skill sets that the kids are going to need to be successful after high school, they’ve changed, and the learner has changed,” said the Boone County High School English teacher, who has seen technology and the global market change in just the eight years she has been teaching. “So I think, as teachers, we need to make sure we’re not teaching our students isolated pockets of information, but that we’re actually teaching them skill sets that are transferable, not just to other classrooms, but to the college classroom and the workplace.

“When we talk about getting students college and career ready, it’s a shift in our instruction. It’s changing how we teach and how we assess them, and we’re making sure that they have these skill sets that they’re going to need to be successful,” she said.

Shearer, who will represent the state in the 2012 National Teacher of the Year competition, was named the 2012 High School Teacher of the Year and the overall Teacher of the Year at an Oct. 18 ceremony held at the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort by Ashland Inc. and the Kentucky Department of Education. Read the full story

The Elementary School Teacher of the Year Elizabeth Ann Fuller, Kentucky Teacher of the Year Kimberly Shearer, and the Middle School Teacher of the Year Jenni Lou Jackson pose with their awards during the 2012 Ashland Inc. Teacher Achievement Awards. Photo by Amy Wallot, Oct. 18, 2011

Kimberly Shearer, an English teacher at Boone County High School, has been named Kentucky Teacher of the Year.

The announcement was made today at a ceremony held at the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort by Ashland Inc. and the Kentucky Department of Education. Gov. Steve Beshear; Secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Joseph Meyer; Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday; and Ashland Chairman and CEO Jim O’Brien were on hand to make the presentation.

Elizabeth Ann Fuller, a 3rd-grade reading and writing demonstration site teacher at J.B. Atkinson Academy in Jefferson County, was named 2012 Elementary School Teacher of the Year. Jenni Lou Jackson, an 8th-grade language arts teacher at Corbin Middle School in the Corbin Independent school district, was named 2012 Middle School Teacher of the Year. Read the full story

Teresa Brewer jokes with 3rd-grade students about the meanings of peak and peek, suggesting that maybe some of them peek at their Christmas presents, at Campton Elementary School (Wolfe County) Feb. 1, 2011. Photo by Amy Wallot

Teachers talk about what made them want to get into the profession

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

The U.S. Department of Education recently launched the TEACH network, an effort to recruit and usher in the next generation of teachers. TEACH also strives to raise awareness of the teaching profession and enhance the public perception of what it means to be a teacher. The TEACH.gov website has numerous resources for people interested in the teaching profession.

At TEACH.gov, those interested can learn what it’s really like to be a teacher and get the tools needed to launch a career in education.

The website has valuable information on career paths, preparation programs, financial aid incentives, licensing and certifications, job listings, and more.

Three Kentucky public school teachers, Teresa Brewer, Paul Decker and Jordan Black, each knew at different times in their lives they wanted to become teachers. Read the full story

Karen Witemyre, a science teacher at Ockerman Middle School (Boone County) was recently named a winner of the Great Science Teacher Video Contest at the USA Science & Engineering Festival.  The contest is sponsored by ENGINEERING.com and Dassault Systemes. Read the full story

Longtime Boone County Board of Education member and former Kentucky School Boards Association (KSBA)  President Charles “Ed” Massey is the new secretary-treasurer of the National School Boards Association (NSBA). Massey was chosen by members of the NSBA Delegate Assembly in voting recently on the eve of the 2010 NSBA national conference in Chicago.

Massey’s nomination had been endorsed by the KSBA Board of Directors and the nine-state NSBA Central Region delegates. Earlier in the year, the NSBA nominating committee considered Massey and several other candidates before recommending his selection to the Delegate Assembly. Read the full story