Month: September 2018

Wayne Lewis: “Daunting Moment of Truth” For Kentucky Schools

K-PREP scores were released to the public today, and teachers, administrators, and parents across the state are combing through the data to see how their local schools and districts performed. One thing we’ve learned so far is that achievement gaps are still persistent and that overall scores are still flat.  So how well is Kentucky taking that? So far,  reactions have been…

Trying to Build A Great Classroom Culture For All Students? Here Are 5 Things Anyone Can Do.

I just got back from an amazing professional learning session delivered by Kentucky State University’s Dr. Roger Cleveland. In the session, he had us do an equity activity that absolutely made my jaw drop. Here’s how it worked. We were each given five index cards and were instructed to write different labels that identify ourselves, like race, faith, sexual orientation,…

Kentucky Supreme Court Will Hear Pension Case Today

This story is in progress. Photo by Scott Beale, CC-Licensed. Bevin vs. Beshear? Pension reform vs. teachers? UK vs. UofL? (Just kidding. We know who wins that last one.) Today, the showdown that Kentucky teachers have been waiting for is going down in Frankfort. Kentucky’s Supreme Court will hear the overturned pension reform bill that made headlines earlier this spring, posing…

Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash

A More Perfect Teacher

Benjamin D. Alvord is a history teacher at Clarke N. Johnsen in Tooele County School District. He has committed to a life in education after working for a decade in the corporate world and now has been teaching for 8 years. Find him @misteralvord. An original version of this piece appeared on Curio Learning. I teach 8th Grade U.S. history, a…

Rural schools need equity too.

Rural Schools Need Equity Too

I just got home from a convening with the rest of the Kentucky State Teacher Fellows, where we had some long, tough conversations on equity in our schools. We’re preparing for later this fall, when schools across the Bluegrass are going to witness a major data collection blast from education groups and teacher leaders. The reason is simple: Kentucky is…

Betsy DeVos Is Failing Public Education

Betsy DeVos is nothing if not controversial. Traditionalists oppose her staunch support of school choice; reformers are skeptical of her inability to defend it. For once, thought leaders from each side of these sparring factions agree on something — Betsy DeVos is fundamentally unqualified to lead the U.S. Department of Education. During her confirmation hearing, DeVos botched a softball question…

Education Reform Isn’t A 4-Letter Word

If you didn’t know any better, you might think there’s a civil war brewing right now in school systems across the country. It’s called education reform. Education reformers typically support things like school choice and accountability for public schools. Reformers are passionate about closing achievement gaps and building better public schools, but don’t necessarily believe that the conventional methods of…