Kentucky Teacher

At its study session on Monday and regular meeting on Tuesday, the Kentucky Board of Education heard several presentations and took action on a number of items.

The board approved Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday’s annual evaluation, noting that his performance continues to be outstanding.

“We give you a solid ‘A’ for the progress you have made over the last year and are very pleased with your commitment to a new contract to lead educational improvement in Kentucky as its commissioner,” the board said in a letter to the commissioner.

Additionally, the commissioner’s goals for 2012-13 were approved.

The board approved the Kentucky Teaching Conditions Standards, which were developed to address recommendations of the Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning (TELL) Kentucky survey.

The board also agreed to uphold the commissioner of education’s July 2012 decision related to the Corbin Independent/Knox County non-resident student agreement. Read the full story

Commissioner Terry Holliday

The implementation of 2009’s Senate Bill 1, the work of which is now called Unbridled Learning, is becoming a reality.  

As is the case when undertaking major change or a series of changes, day-to-day challenges and pressures can become our focus and the larger picture or goals can become less clear. That is understandable given the amount of work involved with Unbridled Learning and the ongoing financial challenges faced by our state.

But it also is good to stop and remember the bigger picture, and how all of the components of this new system work together to help us reach our goal. In the case of Unbridled Learning, here are seven components that interact to produce results. With Unbridled Learning, we are trying to address all seven components. They include:

1.) Expectations – The Kentucky General Assembly was very clear about expectations for college/career readiness through the passage of Senate Bill 1. We have worked closely with higher education, military, and industry to clearly define expectations for high school graduates, and through the Common Core Standards, we have defined expectations to the kindergarten level. Read the full story

Ten Kentucky schools were recognized for the working conditions, safety and student achievement in their buildings at the 17th Annual Safe Schools, Successful Students Conference in Louisville this week.

The schools were selected based on data from the Teaching, Educating, Leading and Learning (TELL) Kentucky survey, which was administered to all public school teachers and principals in March.

The selected schools included:

• North Jackson Elementary (Barren County)
• North Middletown Elementary (Bourbon County)
• South Heights Elementary (Henderson County)
• Lowe Elementary (Jefferson County)
• Adairville Elementary (Logan County)
• Benton Middle (Marshall County)
• North Oldham High (Oldham County)
• Bevins Elementary (Pike County)
• Pulaski County Area Technology Center
• Rockcastle County Middle Read the full story

Kentucky teachers’ and principals’ participation in the TELL (Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning) Kentucky Survey set a record for first-time response rates on similar surveys in other states.

According to the New Teacher Center (NTC), the non-profit organization that administers the survey, Kentucky’s overall response rate was 80 percent. Of the total 52,353 educators eligible to participate, 42,025 completed the survey. Additionally, 91 percent of Kentucky schools met the minimum response rate threshold of 50 percent and qualify to receive their own school results for school improvement planning.
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“Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.”
Jacques Barzun
Cultural historian

Holliday

Despite the many laudatory quotes and uplifting essays about the teaching profession, some might say teachers don’t seem to get the respect they deserve. Many of you would probably say you’re overworked, underpaid and definitely underappreciated by students, parents and sometimes even school administrators.

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Kentucky schools and educators earned cash prizes recently for their participation in the fourth and final week of the Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning (TELL) Kentucky survey.

The winners are:

• School: Horizons Academy, Nelson County school district
• Educator: Prichard Elementary, Carter County school district
• School districts with 50 percent or higher participation: Boyd County (87.87 percent) and Erlanger-Elsmere Independent (91.16 percent)

Horizons Academy will receive $1,000 for the school’s use. At Prichard Elementary, a random drawing will be held to select a educator from the school to receive $1,000. Boyd County and Erlanger-Elsmere Independent each will receive $1,000 for the districts’ use. Read the full story