A reminder of the situation in Jefferson County

With the search for a new superintendent in full swing in Jefferson County Public Schools, here is a reminder of what the situation looks like in one of Kentucky's most troubled school districts...

Parents, educators, citizens - make your voice heard!

Are you concerned about education in Kentucky? Have a question about the bloated, difficult-to-navigate education system? Is there an open records request you want to see submitted?

If you know of examples of unacceptable performance, poor responsiveness to your concerns, waste, ineffective instruction, ineffective policies, etc. - we want to hear from you!

Click here to make your voice heard!

Jefferson County Schools getting more criticism for staffing in failing schools

The Courier-Journal ran a large article today about how Kentucky’s Education Commissioner Terry Holliday is getting more and more critical of the way Jefferson County Public Schools restaffed teachers in their Persistently Low-Achieving Schools.

The Courier points out that some of these schools wound up with large numbers of first-year teachers after the restaffing took place.

That was not the intent of House Bill 176 from the 2010 Regular Legislative Session.

The Courier also notes that an Office of Education Accountability Report, which the Bluegrass Institute put on line several months ago, has data on the large number of inexperienced teachers that wound up in Jefferson County’s lowest performing schools. You can see the number of new teachers by school on Page 38 of the OEA report.

Not mentioned in the Courier article is even more damaging commentary in the OEA report, which also says on page 40 that the school district’s Memorandum of Agreement with the teachers’ union in the school district violated House Bill 176 provisions.

“While the statute clearly stipulates that ‘professionally negotiated contracts by a local board of education shall not take precedence over the requirements’ associated with the option selected, JCPS and JCTA entered into an MOA as to how the restaffing would take place.”

Maybe the Courier is saving that important comment for another article.

Education commissioner says more about BIPPS interest area: Weak school superintendent evaluations

Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday adds more ideas about the rating of superintendents – and other education staff – in his latest blog.

The commissioner says:

“As I travel the state, most administrators tell me that we need to address this broken process.”

The commissioner also admits:

“In Kentucky, we have 174 different versions of principal, teacher and superintendent evaluations.”

The commissioner’s blog additionally contains links to several interesting resources that can help local school boards improve their rating systems.

Without doubt, the system now in use for superintendent evaluations is badly broken, as the Bluegrass Institute’s recent report, “Rewarding Failure,” clearly shows. Many current evaluations lack any sort of meaningful metrics of performance. Most are just ‘rubber stamps’ to ratify whatever the superintendent is currently doing while totally ignoring student performance all together.

Few evaluations, if any, contain enough material to justify pay increases and continued employment.

Click here to read the Bluegrass Institute’s superintendent eval expose, “Rewarding Failure.”

Check here for the latest updates on all the other Open Records issues!

What's in a letter?

"What's in a name?"

Juliet posed this question in Romeo and Juliet.  She explained, "that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

In Kentucky, I think we need to ask ourselves "What's in a letter?"

Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday recently published a letter to the legislature stating that he hoped the legislature would continue to pressure the education establishment to abandon the status quo and look to the interests of children rather than adults.  This is a message that more bureaucrats, legislators, and teachers union leaders need to hear.

While Holliday makes a great point and expresses his concerns about the future of education in Kentucky, in the end, it is still just a letter.  Over the years there have been more than a few press conferences, task forces, studies, press releases, and public statements by those wielding power in Frankfort about how Kentucky's education system needs serious reform.

But what's in a task force?  What's in a study?  In a letter?

Getting upset about the problem is not only the first step but the most simple.  The hard part is applying pressure to the system to force change through creating accountability at each level of the system, welcoming school choice to create competition, and by not lying to parents and students about achievement gaps via test score inflation.

Juliet said a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.  An education system without accountability, transparency, and free-market options is just that.

Gov. Beshear invites Kentuckians to TEK Talk forums

From the Governor’s news release:

FRANKFORT, Ky.– In an effort to boost support of public education in the Commonwealth, Governor Steve Beshear and First Lady Jane Beshear will host TEK Talk community forums on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010. Kentuckians are invited to gather at 10 locations across the state to discuss Transforming Education in Kentucky (TEK). Gov. Beshear created the TEK initiative last fall to focus current education programs toward the unified goal of better preparing Kentucky students for success in the 21st century.

“The world has dramatically changed since the education reforms of 1990,” said Gov. Beshear. “Today, I’m calling on our communities to recommit new energy and provide new input for innovative strategies that will ensure the future of our children.”

Gov. Beshear is working in partnership with the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, the Kentucky Department of Education, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE), the Prichard Committee, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, NewCities Institute and Kentucky Educational Television to provide this opportunity for the public to share its concerns and ideas.


Check the news release link above for the locations and contact phone numbers for the 10 regional discussion locations. Those discussions start at 7 PM Eastern Daylight Time/6PM Central Time.

If you can’t make it to one of the regional locations, KET will broadcast a summary of the event at 8 PM Eastern/7PM Central Time on the 17th. There will be repeat broadcasts by KET at later dates, per the news release, and it will be live streamed and then available in web accessible archives, as well.

We'll set up blog items after the event where you can comment on your impressions.

Education Commissioner unveils new strategic plan

Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday unveiled his new strategic plan for the Kentucky Board of Education during the August 4th and 5th meeting. Here is the overview from his presentation of how that looks:

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