Kentucky Teacher

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

From the office of Gov. Steve Beshear

The Governor’s Task Force on Transforming Education in Kentucky (TEK) presented Gov. Steve Beshear with its final report, including 35 recommendations that the group believes would enable Kentucky to better prepare all of its students for success in the 21st century, on Feb. 21.

Gov. Beshear directed the task force – composed of parents, teachers, superintendents, education advocates, lawmakers, and business and community leaders – to help develop new strategies to ensure Kentucky has the curriculum, teachers, standards, organization and structure in place to prepare children for the 21st century while reinvigorating public and business support for education. Read the full story

Sophomore Tevon Clay vertical-up welds during Randy Shewmaker's class at the Franklin County Career and Technical Center Dec. 1, 2010. Photo by Amy Wallot

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

The Franklin County Career and Technical Center (FCCTC) is housed in a building that was previously known as the vocational school 20 years ago.

It “was thought of as a place where the non-academic students should go to learn a trade for work because they would never go to college,” said Randy Shewmaker, welding instructor.

“Now, any and every student who would like to learn a skill or a trade, and/or go to college, can and does attend.

“That is the beauty of a career and technical center,” he added. “Students are provided with hands-on instruction in a career pathway that can lead them to a successful postsecondary avenue, whether it is the college level, the work force or the military. Every teacher and program at FCCTC also delivers instruction specifically focused on workplace skills, safety and health, communication and teamwork, and problem-solving skills. The students receive a well-rounded, career-oriented education with hands-on experience while attending the Career and Technical Center (CTC).” Read the full story

Agriculture teacher Coye Elliott, left, looks over poinsettias with seniors Drew Rodgers and Ruth Wooten at Lone Oak High School (McCracken County) Jan. 7, 2011. They sold 600 poinsettias during the holidays and saved some to grow into much larger plants for next year. Photo by Amy Wallot

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

Where others saw 5 acres of concrete, Coye Elliott saw agriculture.

Four years ago, Elliott agreed to take over an agriculture program with 48 students at an urban school where 90 percent of students lived in subdivisions and four percent lived on farms.

“The only grass we had on campus was in the greenhouse,” said Elliott, Lone Oak High School (McCracken County) agriculture teacher and FFA adviser.

And then he delivered his mantra: “Agriculture and FFA are not just about farming.”

Elliott now has a robust program, with 428 of the 900 students in the school taking at least one agriculture class from Elliott or his two colleagues: second-year teacher Brittany Brammeier and first-year teacher O.P. McCubbins. Read the full story

Marketing and business teacher Cynthia Smith talks to her retail marketing class about their business model presentations at Grayson County High School Nov. 3, 2010. Photo by Amy Wallot

Grayson County marketing program gives students lifelong gifts

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

Western Kentucky University student Brittany Hall is majoring in business and marketing education and is on pace to graduate in three-and-a-half years. The Grayson County High School alumna hopes someday to teach business or marketing courses at the high school level.

Hall is determined, motivated and service-oriented. She credits those attributes to her high school participation in DECA, the co-curricular student organization for marketing, finance, hospitality and management students, and the marketing teacher who leads it, Cynthia Smith. Read the full story

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

Biology teacher Jon Ezzell helps (pictured left to right) freshmen Hannah Moore, Emily Flener, Mariah Lanoire and Darah Doss with an experiment analyzing DNA during Principles of the Biomedical Sciences class at Muhlenberg County High School May 20, 2010. Muhlenberg County High is one of several Kentucky schools implementing the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Biomedical Sciences pathway for their students. Photo by Amy Wallot

Last year, 47 students at Muhlenberg County High School used hands-on activities to study diabetes to learn about homeostasis and metabolism, and they investigated sickle-cell disease while learning about genetics and DNA.

Biology teacher Jon Ezzell, in his fifth year at Muhlenberg County High, said last year was the first year for Project Lead the Way (PLTW)’s Biomedical Sciences program at the school. The program helps students understand biomedical sciences and prepares them for careers in the field using the same techniques PLTW has used in its courses related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Ezzell thinks the program gives students real-world insight into the biomedical science industry and lays a foundation that will help them succeed in college. Read the full story