The search is on. In late March, the Kentucky Department of Education finalized a contract with the Greenwood/Asher search firm to help lock in a new education commissioner. Kentucky’s previous education chief, Wayne Lewis, was ousted in December by Gov. Beshear’s new-look Kentucky Board of Education. Interim Commissioner Kevin Brown has overseen the Kentucky Department of Education in the meantime.…
Tag: Kentucky Department of Education

Tell Kentucky’s new commissioner to make teacher recruitment a priority
After ousting former commissioner Wayne Lewis, Kentucky’s new-look Board of Education (KBE) is now in the middle of a national search for a new state education chief. And they need your help. Kentucky residents, teachers, and other stakeholders are invited to take this survey to provide direct feedback to the KBE on the qualities they want to see in our…

Kentucky Is Replacing Common Core With… Common Core
When Kentucky became the first state in the nation to adopt the Common Core standards in 2009, America suddenly developed curriculum fever. Viral “Common Core math problems” baffled parents. Questions of local vs. centralized control lingered in statehouses around the nation. Shortly after forty-one states and the District of Columbia had adopted the Common Core standards, public resistance had reached…

Kentucky’s Getting A New Teacher of the Year. Their Job Is Going To Be Tough.
If you follow my site regularly, you’ve probably noticed that I don’t talk about myself very often. I’m an issues guy — I focus my writing pretty squarely on the policies and practices in Kentucky that impact equitable outcomes for our children, and I try to use my platform here to discuss how we can fix the obstacles that hinder…

He Never Dreamed Of Being A Teacher. Programs Like This Changed His Entire Career.
Chris Stunson never dreamed of going into education. He wanted to be an engineer, and teaching was the furthest thing from his mind. But in a message he wrote to the Bowling Green Daily News earlier this month, Stunson credited loan forgiveness programs for his surprising start in the classroom. “The minority education scholarships, loan forgiveness programs and positive role models…

Kentucky’s Proposed Graduation Requirements Strike The Right Balance
If you’ve ever wondered why conversations about improving schools often resort to people talking past each other, there’s a reason: Public K-12 education means different things to different people. On one end, there’s the “college-for-all” mentality, the philosophy of those who argue that the aim of public K-12 education should be to prepare all students for success at a college…

What Parents Should Know About Kentucky’s New School Ratings
If there’s one thing Kentucky teachers and administrators have had on their mind this past week, it’s our new school rating system. We just got our first look at last year’s state test scores and our new accountability system, per the Kentucky Department of Education. Teachers and administrators are already in the know about Kentucky’s school ratings, but with all…

#KYEdUpdate: Hal Heiner, JCPS Takeover, and EPSB Overhaul
While teachers and students across the Commonwealth are holding on tight to their final days of summer, the action in Frankfort and beyond just keeps coming. The Kentucky Board of Education has a new chairman, but he’s no first-timer in Frankfort. Interim Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis has a deal for Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), one of the largest districts in the…