What's this blog about, anyway?

In the big picture, we're about Kentucky education's challenges and possibilities. In the last month, the discussion has included some recurring themes.

• With math as the exception, Kentucky student performance is in line with the national average.
  
• Kentucky testing can be improved by leaner standards, end-of-course exams, international benchmarks, and replacing some testing with performance reviews.
  
• Not testing social studies or writing or the problem-solving process of constructed response would not be improvements.
• The federal stimulus will reduce recession damage to education.
• Kentucky postsecondary funding is a puzzle: why are we ahead of national average, and what are we buying with the added money?
• We need a stronger commitment to early childhood development, and stronger citizen engagement to make it happen.

Key challenge of our first month: luring our readers into asking questions, offering opinions, and sharing ideas in the comments section. Short comments are great, and curiousity about basics help us be clearer. And disagreements are a delight.