Commissioner’s Comments

Your voice matters: take the KCAS Challenge

Terry Holliday Around the nation, Common Core State Standards in English/language arts and mathematics often have come under attack. In fact, here in Kentucky, a bill has been pre-filed in the legislature to scrap them and the Next-Generation Science Standards and come up with entirely new standards which would not only reverse your hard work for the past five years but also cost millions of dollars that we do not have. Often, the criticism of the standards is vague. Some confuse the standards, which simply set the minimum expectation for what students should know at each grade level, [...]

By |December 2, 2014|

The danger in oversimplifying achievement gaps

Terry Holliday In several recent blogs, (Moving in the Right Direction and Making the Numbers Real), I congratulated Kentucky students and educators on the significant progress we are making in college/career-readiness rates and graduation rates. We are also beginning to see significant improvement in proficiency rates, and our unduplicated gap group has improved in all areas. However, I did stress the need for Kentucky to redouble our efforts in closing significant achievement gaps. The Kentucky Department of Education will be developing very specific plans across curriculum, instruction, interventions, accountability and assessment to support schools and districts as they [...]

By |November 25, 2014|

Will it be politics as usual, or not?

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday As the dust settles from the election, there is much talk and speculation about the impact the election may have on public education in this country. At least that was a primary topic for discussion at the Council of Chief State School Officers Annual Policy Forum that I attended last week. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan attended the meeting and took it as his opportunity to roll out the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind waiver process to state education leaders. […]

By |November 18, 2014|

Community collaboration stretches preschool dollars

This week, Chief of Staff Tommy Floyd, who represents the Kentucky Department of Education on the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council, is my guest blogger. The topic is preschool and how to serve more children who could benefit from a quality early learning experience with the limited funding available. Terry Holliday, Ph.D. Education Commissioner In the coming weeks, the Kentucky Department of Education will be releasing results from the kindergarten readiness screen of students beginning school this year. Superintendents know how important this data is to students and their future. Children who start behind in school may stay behind, but [...]

By |November 11, 2014|

The nature of education

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Kentucky has been featured in numerous state and national media sources recently for the improved performance in college- and career-readiness rates and graduation rates. As commissioner, I have been very proud of the efforts of teachers, administrators, students and education partners in implementing Senate Bill 1 (2009) which required more rigorous standards, assessments, accountability model and professional development for teachers. While there has been a lot of good news recently, as I look closely at the performance of our students and schools, there are areas that should be addressed. One of the major areas [...]

By |November 4, 2014|

Outstanding Kentucky teachers get recognition

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Once again last week, the Ashland Teacher of the Year (TOY) program brought together some of Kentucky’s best educators for recognition in Frankfort. Our annual tribute to outstanding teachers in Kentucky is the highlight of the year for me. Our Kentucky teachers are by far the most professional and dedicated teachers in the nation, and it is my honor to work with them to help every child succeed. The TOY program recognizes 24 outstanding teachers from across Kentucky. They are among hundreds of teachers nominated by their peers, students, parents or administrators. A team carefully [...]

By |October 28, 2014|

The path to student success

This week, Joellen Killion from Learning Forward and Karen Kidwell, director, Division of Program Standards with the Kentucky Department of Education, team up for a guest blog on the importance of professional learning and a new resource that can help ensure meaningful and effective professional learning opportunities, which are critical to the continuous improvement process and our overall success. Since Senate Bill 1 (2009), Kentucky has been leading the nation in education reform. To accomplish its goal, the Department of Education has examined every system, input, output, and outcome to focus and align efforts to ensure that every school and [...]

By |October 21, 2014|

2 districts that are making the numbers real

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday As we looked more closely at numbers from the Unbridled Learning Accountability System last week, there was much to celebrate. School report cards showed more students reached college- and career-readiness, more students graduated, reading and math scores improved at elementary and middle school, and high school Advanced Placement and ACT results are at all-time highs. This data is great news, but the numbers do not always tell the full story. Last week, I had the opportunity to make those numbers real by visiting two school districts. […]

By |October 14, 2014|

Moving in the right direction

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday The Kentucky Department of Education just released the third year of results under the Unbridled Learning College/Career-Readiness for All accountability model, and while we still have much work to do, the data show we are moving in the right direction and there is much reason to celebrate. The eyes of the nation have been focused on Kentucky since we became the first state to adopt new English/language arts and mathematics standards, as mandated by Senate Bill 1 (2009). While we saw a big drop in student performance that first year, as expected due to [...]

By |October 7, 2014|

Teachers’ use of PGES rises as improvements made

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Dear Kentucky Teacher, As you settle into the school year, I am taking the opportunity to update you on implementation of the Professional Growth and Effectiveness System (PGES). This school year, as you know, we are implementing PGES for teachers and principals statewide. Unfortunately, there have been some unexpected glitches with the PGES technology platform, specifically the Educator Development Suite (EDS) of the Continuous Instructional Improvement Technology System (CIITS). You can read Commissioner Holliday’s blog entry from last week, also on PGES, here. First, let me emphasize that there has been no compromise in [...]

By |September 30, 2014|
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