Governors Bush and Wise on digital learning

Former governors Jeb Bush (Florida) and Bob Wise (West Virginia) talk to Piers Morgan about digital learning in this CNN interview.

Morgan also gets a scoop on the announcement of “Digital Learning Day,” coming on February 1, 2012.



You don’t have to wait until February, thought, to get an idea about digital learning in Kentucky and what stands in the way of our kids getting more of this exciting new educational experience.


Just check out our new report: Digital Learning Now!: Obstacles to Implementation in Kentucky.

WCLU radio interview about new digital learning report

Here is the link to the radio report, which has several audio clips from an interview with Richard Innes about the Barren Academy for Virtual and Expanded Learning program.

Digital Learning Report video coverage

WCPO-TV Channel 9 in Cincinnati provides this from our Digital Learning Now!: Obstacles to Implementation in Kentucky press conference.

Educators, press and activists gather to hear about digital learning

Richard Innes

Earlier today a press conference was held in the media center of Boone County's Conner High School to mark the release of Digital Learning Now!: Obstacles to implementation in Kentucky. 


Among several speakers was author and Bluegrass Institute education analyst Richard Innes and Dr. Dewey Hensley,associate commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of District 180. Other attendees included Bluegrass Institute CEO Phil Moffett, Lt. Governor candidate Dea Riley, and Boone County Schools superintendent Randy Poe.

Dr. Dewey Hensley

The report outlines a set of Kentucky-specific recommendations regarding the enhancement of digital learning in our schools.
There was a lot of excitement about the future of digital learning in Kentucky and its potential as well as much discussion about the obstacles to effectively implementing it.  Members of the press, education groups, educators, and citizen activists gathered to support the education of Kentucky's children!

You can download the entire report here.


Join in the discussion on Twitter using #KyDigitalLearning and follow us @BIPPS!

Bluegrass Institute releases report on digital learning

The Bluegrass Institute released a report today focusing on roadblocks to increasing digital learning in Kentucky at a press conference at Conner High School in Boone County, Kentucky.

The new report is inspired by Digital Learning Now!, a report from former governors Jeb Bush’s (Florida) and Bob Wise’s (West Virginia) Foundation for Excellence in Education.

The foundation’s report deals with digital learning issues from a nationwide perspective while the new institute report focuses on specifics in Kentucky. The national report was released in December 2010.

In addition to a presentation of the report, the press conference agenda featured comments from Kentucky Associate Commissioner of Education Dewey Hensley concerning his efforts in the Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of District 180 to turn around Kentucky’s lowest performing school systems.

Several digital learning efforts were also discussed including the Barren Academy of Virtual and Expanded Learning and new digital learning efforts in the Conner High School.

The Bluegrass Institute’s “Digital Learning Now!, Obstacles to Implementation in Kentucky” is available on line now to everyone. It should prove important reading for educators, legislators, members of business and industry and the general public who are interested in education in Kentucky.

Stay tuned for more information on the press conference and the new report.

(Updated following actual news conference)

New Bluegrass Institute report on digital learning coming Monday

A new report from the Bluegrass Institute on the exciting potential of digital learning in Kentucky will be released to the public on Monday at a 10 a.m. news conference at the Conner High School in Boone County.

In addition to highlighting some important developments such as the Barren Academy of Virtual and Expanded Learning, Kentucky’s fully online digital learning high school, the new report consolidates concerns from Kentucky educators about roadblocks to expanded use of this powerful instructional technology.

The new report draws inspiration from the Digital Learning Now! report issued by the Foundation for Excellence in Education in December 2010. This organization, which is heavily invested in improving education in the United States, is headed by former governors Jeb Bush from Florida and Bob Wise from West Virginia. The foundation’s report has a nationwide focus, while the new Bluegrass Institute report deals with specific issues in Kentucky.

The new Bluegrass Institute report will be important reading for education policymakers as they chart the path of education in Kentucky in the 21st century.

We’ll list the link to the report in this blog on Monday right after the press conference ends.

Daviess County schools get really high speed Internet connections

Schools in the Daviess County School District are now all upgraded to a super-fast fiber-optic web connection, which the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer (subscription) says is 200 times faster than the three T1 lines each school formerly used.

As I recall, T1 lines run at about 1.5 Megabytes per second, so the new connections are on a whole other plant from the cable modem and digital subscriber telephone system connections most households use for ‘high speed’ Internet service.

Of course, with digital learning becoming far more common in our schools, and with each child using a computer to access the web needing the equivalent bytes per second that a household would need, the requirement for fiber-optics is more apparent.

Sadly, fiber connectivity isn’t available everywhere in Kentucky, which means that while kids in Daviess County are about to see a real boost in their Internet education activities, children elsewhere are going to be left behind. We’ll have more to say on this bandwidth issue shortly in a forthcoming Bluegrass Institute report, so stay tuned.

But, ending on a happy note, at least in Daviess County the upgrade is actually cheaper than the former system. The three T1 lines each school formerly used cost a total of $1,200 a month per school. The new fiber service is only $750 a month per school.

Nice shopping, Daviess County Public Schools!

Kentucky’s statewide virtual high school gets even better!

We’ve been fans of the Barren Academy of Virtual and Expanded Learning (BAVEL) ever since issuing our report last year about “Virtual schooling in Kentucky: Great promise with challenges.”

Now, BAVEL is expanding its program thanks to a three-way partnering with the Florida Virtual Schools and Pearson Virtual Schools.

This new partnership could allow BAVEL to expand the grades it can serve to include middle schools and to offer many more courses to high school students. Pearson indicates its virtual offerings in partnership with the Florida Virtual Schools now include 100 different courses.

BAVEL is Kentucky’s totally on-line digital learning experience. Completing BAVEL results in the award of a standard Kentucky high school diploma.

BAVEL students take all courses on line and can do so 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This incredible flexibility meets needs of a wide-ranging group of students who are in danger of dropping out due to having to work or being confined due to medical reasons, or who just are not thriving in a standard classroom setting.

BAVEL students actually do a district-to-district transfer into the Barren County Public School District even though they don’t change their living place.

WCLU Radio reports that:

“Over 95 students have graduated from BAVEL with over 100 students enrolled this past school year alone from among more than 20 Kentucky public school districts.”

BIPPS’ own Holly Carter reports she took courses from Florida Virtual Schools a number of years ago, and they were high quality. So, the program at BAVEL, already good, are about to get even better.

Digital learning in Ky: More learning, large savings

Innovative education ideas not only give parents more choices and help improve students' learning opportunities, they cost less, too. The Bluegrass Institute's latest Fact Check reports that one Kentucky online academy successfully educates students for less than 40 percent of the cost of regular schools.

Click here to read the latest Fact Check.

Alternative schools working for potential high school dropouts

And, it didn’t take an age 18 dropout law to make it happen

Good news is starting to come in from several districts that have set up alternative high school programs for students in danger of dropping out of traditional programs.

On May 31, the Hopkins County Schools Academy held its first commencement, with 33 of the 45 students enrolled scheduled to receive their regular high school diploma.

This alternative school takes in students who are behind on graduation credits and those who need individualized programs (which could include students who have to work and single mothers, for example). The program is computer-based. The academy reports several more students may be added to the graduation roll by the end of the summer.

And, it didn’t take a law requiring school attendance to age 18 to make Hopkins Academy work.

Read more »