Kentucky Teacher

Gov. Steve Beshear yesterday ceremonially signed House Bill 207 that unites the state’s two Career and Technical Education (CTE) systems under the guidance of Kentucky’s Department of Education. The goal is to create a unified, more relevant and efficient system to educate and prepare students for the world of work in a real-life setting.

“Our students need an education system that provides job-training and learning opportunities that will prepare them with the skills today’s businesses require,” said Gov. Beshear. “Recognizing the valuable role that CTE plays is an essential part of building a viable, competitive workforce.”

The legislation, which codifies an executive order signed by Gov. Beshear in August 2012, is part of a larger effort to prepare students for a wider range of career options through high-quality CTE programs. There is a statewide movement to make these programs more accessible earlier, more academically rigorous and better aligned with postsecondary requirements and employer needs.

For example, the Kentucky Board of Education has adopted a college and career readiness measure that includes an academic component and a technical skill component. The Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) offers dual credit opportunities so that high school students can earn college credit. Kentucky provides funds from the Carl D. Perkins CTE Basic Grant to encourage secondary and postsecondary institutions to develop innovative career pathways.

“Career and technical education directly connects learning and jobs for our students and provides them with engaging real-world opportunities so that they can transition to higher education or Read the full story

Students from Warner Elementary School (Jessamine County) tour the Capitol in Frankfort.
Photo by Amy Wallot, March 7, 2013

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

The 2013 legislative session was a so-called short session, lasting only 30 days, but it was packed with action on education bills, many of which support the state’s efforts to ensure all students graduate high school college- and career-ready.

Several of the bills that were passed also were priorities for the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE).

Among those were Senate Bill 97 which, like similar legislation that stalled in previous sessions, raises the compulsory student attendance age from 16 to 18.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg, allows local school districts to adopt a policy to raise compulsory school age attendance from 16 to 18, beginning with the 2015-16 school year. The policy must apply to all students residing in the district, even if they attend school in another district under a non-resident contract. Additionally, local school boards must certify to the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) that their districts have programs and supports in place to meet the needs of students.

If 55 percent (96 of 174 districts) of all Kentucky public school districts adopt a local policy to raise the compulsory attendance, then a Read the full story

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

Meghan Jones, a student at the Barren County Area Technology Center, participated in the Community Service Day held in conjunction with the 2012 Kentucky Leadership and Training Institute. KLTI is held yearly and provides leadership training opportunities for members of SkillsUSA Kentucky, an organization comprised of students enrolled in skills trades programs in technical education centers and high schools throughout Kentucky.
Photo by Tim Thornberry

With the start of the New Year, the beginning of the 2013 Regular Session of the General Assembly is at hand. This is not a budget session, but rather a short, 30-day session that traditionally focuses on policy issues that do not impact the budget.

Still, two fiscal issues are looming that likely will have significant long-term financial implications, state employee pension funds and tax reform. 

The Legislature and Governor established task forces to look at both issues during the interim. Several lawmakers believe that addressing the shortfall in the public employee pension fund will dominate the 2013 session. Final reports from both groups are forthcoming, but some of the possible solutions vetted during meetings of both groups would address the issues of the underfunded pension fund and the lackluster rate of growth in the economy. Among the options discusssed: raising taxes; legalizing gambling; restructuring current taxes; and closing loopholes created by tax expenditures. Read the full story

Associate Commissioner Dale Winkler (Office of Career and Technical Education) and Education Commissioner Terry Holliday made a video recently on the status of career and technical education and what will happen to this area in the future. Administrators are asked to share this video with district principals and teachers.

It can be found at the following link: http://media.education.ky.gov/video1/On-Demand2012/CTE_12-4-2012c.mp4.

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

Brian Dugan talks fuel injectors with Bullitt County CRC junior Corey Ivy in the automotive lab at the Bullitt County Area Technology Center. Ivy would like to open an automotive shop one day. Photo by Amy Wallot, Sept. 5, 2012

Rick Dawson, a counselor at the Bullitt County school district’s Career Readiness Center (CRC), has worked over the years with many students who struggled in a traditional classroom setting.

Some struggled to focus in a lecture-type setting that didn’t offer more hands-on learning, he said. Others struggled with formative and summative assessments.

“That environment just isn’t an easy place for some to thrive,” said Dawson.

That’s where Bullitt County’s Career Readiness Center can make the difference. The center, in its second year, provides students with a different approach to learning and gives the district a means to better prepare students for careers.

“These kids want to learn, and we’re a good fit where that pressure isn’t there,” Dawson said. “We want them to come back every day and to enjoy being here.”

In February 2011, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) secured the Commonwealth Commitment from all districts 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. KDE’s Unbridled Learning initiative outlines the plans, strategies and milestones set forth to make this vision a reality. Read the full story

Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday and Gov. Steve Beshear talk during a press conference at Locust Trace AgriScience Farm (Fayette County), where the governor signed an executive order that unites the state's two career and technical education (CTE) systems under the Kentucky Department of Education. Photo by Amy Wallot, Aug. 28, 2012

In a move to help produce the skilled workforce businesses require today and in the future, Governor Steve Beshear signed an executive order Tuesday that will overhaul the state’s career and technical education (CTE) system.

The order unites the state’s two CTE systems under the guidance of Kentucky’s Department of Education. The goal is to create a unified, more relevant and efficient system to educate and prepare students for the world of work in a real-life setting.

“It is our responsibility to prepare students for higher education as well as for the workplace,” said Gov. Beshear. “Today’s employers require a workforce that is skilled, adaptable and equipped to compete in the global marketplace. Our students need an education system that provides job-training and learning opportunities that will put them on a career pathway. Transforming and elevating CTE is essential to this process. We must create a career and technical education system that is a first choice, not a last chance.”

The executive order is part of a larger effort to prepare students for a wider range of career options through high-quality CTE programs. Educators, businesses and administrators across the state are working together to make these programs more Read the full story

Last week Gov. Steve Beshear signed Senate Bill 38 (SB 38), a measure aimed at providing a career pathway process for secondary education in Kentucky. Through a more rigorous academic focus on career and technical education (CTE), the bill provides for a career-based program of study to make students’ high school years more relevant to their futures as working adults.

SB 38 requires the Kentucky Department of Education to issue core content standards for career and technical education, assess student progress and develop new courses relevant to college and career readiness. It provides a process to assess at-risk students and provide evidence-based programs to help students learn, stay in school and be successful in their transition to postsecondary education or the workplace.

The legislation connects with Kentucky’s current focus on individualized instruction in order to best meet all students’ needs and goals and aims to help students see the direct connection between education and jobs. Read the full story

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

Western Hills High School (Franklin County) junior Nathan Eversole stands near the filtering system used to create biodiesel at the Franklin County Career and Technology Center. Photo by Amy Wallot, Jan. 30, 2012

When Francis Wheatley sees fuel prices go up, he’s not discouraged. Neither are his students.

“My students just have this feeling of self-reliance,” he said. “We don’t worry too much because we know there are alternatives out there.”

Wheatley is in his 17th year as the automotive teacher at the Franklin County Career and Technical Center (FCCTC). Throughout most of this school year, he and roughly 20 students have been making biodiesel fuel at the school.

“Right now, alternative fuels are a big deal,” Wheatley said. “We are playing a small part in it, but we all feel like we’ve got to do something.”

FCCTC began participating in the newly-formed Kentucky Biofuels for Schools program this past fall. The Kentucky Biofuels for Schools program is the result of a 2010 TogetherGreen Fellowship received by Kenya Stump, a Division of Compliance Assistance employee and creator of the Kentucky Biofuels for Schools program. TogetherGreen is an alliance between Toyota Motor Manufacturers and Audubon, the national conservation organization, to help develop conservation leaders.

“The purpose of the Biofuels for Schools program is to encourage Kentucky high schools to teach, produce and use biofuels within their schools and community,” Stump said. Read the full story

Dale Winkler, executive director of career and technical education, visits with students at the Franklin County Career and Technical Center. Photo by Tim Thornberry

Dale Winkler serves as the new executive director of Education and Workforce Development Cabinet’s Office of Career and Technical Education (OCTE) as well as the director of the Kentucky Department of Education’s College and Career Readiness Branch.

Winkler also serves as the lead staff to the Career and Technical Education Steering Committee that will be studying how to best carry out the recommendations from the Governor’s Transforming Education in Kentucky Task Force report. Winkler began his new position in June.

Before taking his dual-role job, Winkler earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting (1994), Certification in Business Education (1996) and master’s degree in education (1999) from Cumberland College. In 2002, he completed a Rank I in Educational Leadership and Administration from Eastern Kentucky University. In May 2010, Winkler graduated from the University of Kentucky with a doctorate in Educational Leadership Studies. Read the full story

Nami Stager, science and writing teacher at Northern Elementary School (Fayette County), is kissed by her dad C.J. Shukla after being recognized by the Kentucky Board of Education for being named a 2010 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award recipient. Also pictured are her grandmother, Jayaben Shukla, left; her husband, Robert Stager; and her mother, Hema Shukla.
Photo by Amy Wallot, June 8, 2011

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

Program Reviews will not be counted as part of Kentucky’s accountability system next school year, although schools will still implement them, under a plan presented to the Kentucky Board of Education at its June 8 meeting.

Program Reviews have been piloted in three areas: arts and humanities, practical living and career studies, and writing. Rather than testing students to see what they have learned, a school gathers evidence about how it integrates the subjects across its curricula and whether the school provides students with high-quality learning opportunities. The school then uses that information to improve its programs.

Program Reviews will be included in the 2011-12 accountability system through field testing and public reporting of results. Full accountability for Program Reviews will begin in the 2012-13 school year. During a work session before the board meeting, Commissioner Terry Holliday said schools will implement Program Reviews in the upcoming school year to get a baseline measure of where they stand.

Read the full story