Today we’re speaking with Erin Ball, the 2020 Kentucky Teacher of the Year. She’s here with us to spill the tea on equity, literacy, and life as Kentucky’s most honored teacher. Enjoy! Garris: Hey Erin! First, congratulations on being named the 2020 Kentucky Teacher of the Year. You’ve been recognized for the focus you place on multicultural diversity in your…
Month: July 2019
Solving Kentucky’s teacher shortage crisis begins and ends with the money
There is no getting around it. Any real solution to Kentucky’s growing teacher shortage must involve higher salaries. It has to. That’s my take on the latest debate to strike Twitter feeds across the Bluegrass. With nearly 5,000 teaching positions still unfilled on this final week of July, Commissioner Lewis and Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) officials have become increasingly…
Kentucky Reacts On Twitter To House Approval of Bevin’s Pension Plan
Unless you live under a rock or somewhere not named Kentucky, you’ve probably heard the news. Earlier today, the Kentucky House of Representatives voted 52-46 in favor of House Bill 1, Governor Matt Bevin’s newest pension plan. #HB1 passes. We got this wrong today.#APensionIsAPromise pic.twitter.com/9YArBDu1ki — Buddy Wheatley (@buddywheatleyky) July 22, 2019 This pension plan is different from the controversial…
Rural Families Deserve To Know What Will Happen With KentuckyWired
KentuckyWired, a bold plan to bring broadband Internet access to thousands of rural families, is set to make the Bluegrass State the envy of the nation. Eventually.That’s because the bipartisan plan to provide rural Kentucky families with high-speed Internet access is currently years behind schedule and $100 million over budget, as revealed in an ongoing investigation by the Courier Journal and ProPublica.
145,000 Kentucky kids are coping with parental incarceration. Could programs like this give them the lift they need?
I have long believed that the power of a quality education can transcend the four walls of any classroom. However, after recently learning about a crisis affecting 15% of all Kentucky children, I am more convinced than ever that education must transcend brick and mortar to truly render positive change within our communities. That crisis? Parental incarceration. As it stands, roughly…
Equity Is Like Heaven; We All Want To Get There But Nobody Can Agree How
To know me is to know my aversion to all things buzzwordy. My rule of thumb for education is that if it can fit on a bumper sticker, it’s probably no silver bullet. That’s especially true for “equity,” the Mecca of seemingly every educator in 2019 with an active Twitter account. See, I love equity. I’m all for it, and if…
Holding Teachers Accountable Without Adequate Teacher Prep Programs Is a Set-Up
One of my resolutions for this new year is to think outside of silos and to start connecting the dots between the wide, disparate, and interwoven factors within education, among them teacher accountability, teacher preparation and teacher support. Even after 10 years in the classroom, I’m frequently accused of being anti-teacher. I’m not surprised, though. When you write about the need…