Closing the opportunity gap
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Equal educational opportunity for all -- it was the basis of the lawsuit that triggered the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 and remains a basic tenet of the Kentucky Board of Education and Kentucky Department of Education today. A student's race, ethnic background, family income, unique challenge or zip code should not determine whether the child has access to a quality education. The sad reality is that in too many places it does. This week I received a letter from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan outlining a new requirement for states to develop [...]
Changing preschool delivery could be a win for all
This week, Commissioner Terry Holliday welcomes Kentucky Department of Education Chief of Staff Tommy Floyd as a guest blogger. Dr. Floyd weighs in on some new ways of thinking about delivering quality preschool experiences and how they can lead to an increase in kindergarten readiness and greater school success for students. Tommy Floyd Many school systems across the country and several in Kentucky are seeing success by using some non-traditional, mixed models for delivering pre-K learning experiences for children. The model typically involves combining half-day pre-K and quality childcare in a single location to provide full day learning experiences for [...]
Consortia assessments – yours, mine or ours?
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday As states moved to implement new, more rigorous college/career-readiness standards in English/language arts and mathematics, they faced a challenge: how would they assess student progress on the new standards? Writing high quality assessment items that truly measure student mastery of the standards would be no small task. It would be both time consuming and expensive. In Kentucky, due to the mandates of Senate Bill 1 (2009) to implement new standards and aligned assessments in 2011-12, the Kentucky Department of Education contracted with vendors to provide end-of-the year tests for students in grades 3-8, and [...]
Preparing students to be globally competent
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Ever since the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 1 in 2009, the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) has strongly supported the addition of world language to the state accountability model. On June 4, the board took action to do so approving implementation of the World Language Program Review for high schools in 2014-15 with accountability in 2015-16. Elementary and middle schools will follow a year later with accountability in 2016-17. There has been much consternation over the World Language Program Review from the time the idea was first mentioned. Lawmakers worry that world language [...]
Science standards, assessments and Senate Bill 1
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Since the day Senate Bill 1 passed the General Assembly in spring 2009 and the Governor signed it into law, the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Board of Education have been working diligently to fully realize the requirements of this visionary legislation: more rigorous academic standards, new assessments, a balanced accountability system and professional development for educators in support of the new standards. In early 2010, the Kentucky Board of Education, Council on Postsecondary and the Education Professional Standards Board took the first big step in carrying out Senate Bill 1 when [...]
Kentucky’s chapter in the education reform story
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday I recently had the opportunity to speak to education writers from across the United States at their national seminar in Nashville. The Education Writers Association includes journalists, researchers, teachers, policymakers and others with an interest in improving the public discourse surrounding education. The organization is dedicated to improving the quality and quantity of education coverage to create a better-informed society. Several of the journalists who regularly cover education in Kentucky were in attendance. The organization asked me to share Kentucky’s education reform story. By all accounts it is a success, though we still have a long way [...]
The angst and anticipation of PGES
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday In order for more students to achieve success by reaching college- and career-readiness standards, we must have a highly effective teacher in every classroom, a highly effective leader in every school, a highly effective leader in every school district, and strong support and guidance from the state through the General Assembly, Kentucky Department of Education and Kentucky Board of Education. The theory of action is strong and clear but the resulting plan is a daunting challenge to implement. The teacher, leader and superintendent growth and effectiveness blueprint has taken Kentucky educators more than four [...]
Learning system requires system that learns
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday To create a great system of learning, you must have a system that learns. This is true at the individual student level, as well as at the teacher, classroom, school, district, and state levels. A student moving through school will be more successful if they have a system that learns. For an individual, this means that the student must look at his or her current and past performance and identify those habits of the mind and learning tools that enable the student to identify successes and missteps in learning. Many students are using learning [...]
Congressional inaction leaving education behind
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday No Child Left Behind – it’s been part of our vernacular since 2001 when Congress passed the bipartisan legislation. The idea was to change the Elementary and Secondary Education Act through an emphasis on closing achievement gaps and greater accountability. The hallmark of the legislation was the goal that 100 percent of students would reach proficiency in reading and math by 2014. While a laudable goal, there were major problems in the implementation of the law. States were allowed to set their own standards, design their own tests and set proficiency cut scores as [...]
A thank you to teachers, school personnel for all their hard work and dedication
Education Commissioner Terry Holliday We are coming to the end of another school year — made longer thanks to this year’s difficult winter — and I know many of you are preparing for the K-PREP tests. Tremendous change has occurred in Kentucky public education system during the past several years with the implementation of new standards, the creation of the Unbridled Learning assessment and accountability system and the development of the new teacher and principal Professional Growth and Effectiveness System. Kentucky is a national leader in the effort to increase student achievement and prepare kids for life after [...]