Education Commissioner Terry Holliday No matter how busy my schedule gets as Kentucky’s education commissioner, I am always interested in receiving feedback. That’s one of the many reasons I meet regularly with staff, connect through social media and visit schools around the state. The comments, questions and ideas I receive from all of these and many other activities [...]
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday The release of Unbridled Learning accountability results last month was met with a flurry of newspaper stories, board presentations, parent workshops and a lot of discussion. As expected, early reports seemed to focus on the overall drop in proficiency and the new state-provided percentile rankings for schools and districts. A few accounts rightfully noted [...]
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Positive change is underway in Kentucky’s public schools. But as the K-PREP scores released last week show us, we as educators are going to need to take even more dramatic steps if we are going to move our students and our schools forward. Small, incremental changes like block scheduling, computers in the classroom [...]
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday With more jobs requiring at least some postsecondary education or training, college and career readiness is driving major changes that are taking root in Kentucky public schools. The implementation of more rigorous academic standards that are aligned with the concepts and 21st century skills students need to know to succeed in college and the [...]
The Kentucky Department of Education will release the results of the first Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress (K-PREP) next month. Education Commissioner Terry Holliday I know there is great anticipation – and maybe anxiousness – about what the results will reveal. Kentucky educators are drawn to teaching by the belief they can make a positive difference in [...]
The implementation of 2009’s Senate Bill 1, the work of which is now called Unbridled Learning, is becoming a reality. Education Commissioner Terry Holliday 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 [...]
The 2011-12 school year is over, and summer is here. It is a good time for Kentucky teachers and students to rest, relax and reenergize after a year that was filled with changes. From new standards to a new testing system and an increased focus on college and career readiness, our work was about transforming Kentucky education for the sake [...]
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Spring is officially here, and with it comes the release of the first draft of the Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSS). As with the Common Core State Standards initiative that produced new K-12 mathematics and English/language arts standards, the development of new science standards will play a critical role in our efforts to prepare all [...]
A few short weeks ago we received the news we had been waiting for – Kentucky was selected as one of the first states granted flexibility under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Since the White House announced the waiver process in September, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) team and its partners have worked [...]
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Twenty-six million dollars is a big number. That is the amount some are estimating it will cost Kentucky taxpayers to raise the compulsory school attendance age from 16 to 18. I and the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) have counted such a change as a top priority in past legislative sessions. The 2012 session [...]