Commissioner’s Comments

Creating a world-class system of technical centers

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday What do you envision when someone says career and technical education?  Unfortunately too many people harken back to days gone by of a “shop” with kids who couldn’t cut it in regular academic classes and were destined for low-paying jobs.  While that may or may not have been an accurate account in the past, today it could not be further from the truth. Not only does career and technical education (CTE) demand a strong foundation in academics, but often leads to higher paying jobs that are in greater demand than those held by college [...]

By |April 22, 2014|

United We Stand, Divided We Fail

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday The words United We Stand, Divided We Fall are emblazoned on the Kentucky state seal, displayed on the state flag and, in 1942, were adopted by the General Assembly as the Commonwealth’s motto. While biblical in origin, this simple, yet inspiring phrase first appeared in modern times in the revolutionary war ballad The Liberty Song. Nearly 250 years later, with respect to John Dickinson, I’d like to adapt his lyric for our use – United We Stand for Education, Divided We Fail Our Children. This axiom sums up the coalescence we have realized in [...]

By |April 15, 2014|

Disparity in school discipline

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Reggie was on the school playground acting out a game of cops and robbers when it happened. He pointed his index finger, thumb up, at a classmate and said “pow.” The next thing you know he was in the principal’s office looking at a three-day suspension. Reggie is black, male, and is a 4-year old preschooler with a mild disability. The same thing happened at another school in the district the month before. Only it involved Rory who is white, female and a 5-year old kindergartener. Her mother was called and that was the [...]

By |April 8, 2014|

In support of educators and the Kentucky Core Academic Standards

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday I recently had the opportunity to testify before the Senate Education Committee about the Common Core State Standards in English/language arts and mathematics and the Next-Generation Science Standards, adopted in our state and collectively known as the Kentucky Core Academic Standards. The hearing was on Senate Bill 224, which would abandon the standards and the work of the past four years in favor of new, yet to be written standards. I appreciated the chance to once again publicly address the misinformation and many of the misconceptions about the standards that those in opposition have [...]

By |March 25, 2014|

Using intervention strategies to boost student success

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday When the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 1 in 2009, a key component was the ACT assessment for college readiness. The General Assembly, through KRS 158.6459, made it clear that any student in grade 8 or grade 11 whose high school- or college-readiness scores reveal that additional work is needed in English, reading, or mathematics SHALL have intervention strategies for accelerated learning incorporated into his or her learning plan. During my first few months in Kentucky, I worked with the Local Superintendent Advisory Committee and other stakeholder groups to define what was meant by [...]

By |March 18, 2014|

Senate Bill 1: Plan…Do…Study…Act

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Since Senate Bill 1 (2009) was enacted, Kentucky has certainly been seen as a leader in the nation for our work in implementing college/career-ready standards, assessments, a new accountability system and professional development for educators. As these core processes begin to stabilize after three full years of implementation, it is important that Kentucky look at the results of our efforts and make the necessary adjustments to help even more students graduate from high school who are prepared for college, careers, and citizenship. Throughout the next year, Kentucky will be focused on several key topics. [...]

By |March 11, 2014|

Putting superintendent feedback to use

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday It’s been about six months since Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) leadership and I met with all Kentucky school district superintendents in Frankfort for a face-to-face Superintendents’ Summit. This provided an opportunity for me to explain the why, what and how of the P-12 components of the Unbridled Learning: College and Career Readiness for All system. In addition, superintendents heard presentations on key topics and had the opportunity through roundtable discussions to share feedback on the issues. This detailed feedback was compiled into a document that included responses from KDE staff to each comment/question [...]

By |March 4, 2014|

The importance of teacher planning time

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday One of the issues most important to Kentucky educators is time. Recently, Representative Rita Smart filed HB 202 to require teachers be provided a minimum of 150 minutes per week for non-teaching activities. Below is a letter I sent to her in support of this legislation. Dear Representative Smart: Thank you for bringing HB 202 relative to teacher planning time forward. This is an issue that is critically important to Kentucky’s educators. In 2011 and again in 2013, education partners in Kentucky asked our teachers to respond to a working conditions survey. More than [...]

By |February 18, 2014|

Rethinking school discipline

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday On January 8, 2014, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released a “Dear Colleague” letter to state chiefs regarding new discipline guidelines. The overarching purpose of the new discipline guidelines is to address apparent disparities in discipline data. In Kentucky, we have very safe schools and teachers feel strongly that school discipline policies are working. (See the TELL Kentucky Survey at www.tellkentucky.org). Also, Kentucky has been working for a number of years to implement programs such as Positive Behavior Intervention Support throughout our schools. However, it is critical that local school districts review the guidance [...]

By |February 11, 2014|

Footing the bill for dual credit courses

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Last week, the Senate Education Committee passed SB 87 out of committee. Sen. Stan Humphries has done an excellent job bringing this bill back to the General Assembly — the bill passed the Senate in 2013. This legislation would support dual credit courses in our high schools. Dual credit is defined in KRS 164.002 (4) as a “college-level course of study developed in accordance with KRS 164.098 (Council on Postsecondary Education standards) in which a student receives credit from both the high school and postsecondary institution.” Under SB 87, students could use Kentucky Educational Excellence [...]

By |February 4, 2014|
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