U.S. Chamber Grades for Kentucky Education

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The map above rates states on achievement, one of 11 grades given by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in its newest report on Leaders and Laggards: A State-By-State Report Card on K-12 Educational Effectiveness. Here come the full set of Kentucky ratings from that report, annotated with definitions from the report and a variety of quick reactions from my first reading of the document.

C in Achievement

• Definition: Student performance on NAEP, including gains from 2005 to 2013.
• Clarification: The ratings use reading (where Kentucky is relatively strong) and mathematics (where we are less strong), but leaves out science, where we have shown signal successes.
• Celebration: Kentucky did receive an A for “Progress made from 2007 Leaders and Laggards.”

C in Academic Achievement for Low-Income and Minority Students

• Definition: Student performance on NAEP, including gains from 2005 to 2013; disaggregated for African-American, Hispanic, and low-income students.
• Dejection: For these students, Kentucky only received a C for"Progress made from 2007 Leaders and Laggards.”

C in Return on Investment

• Definition: NAEP scores divided by state education expenditures, adjusted for cost of living.
• Fascination: The Chamber has made an adjustment for regional cost of living, reporting that its method “was derived from the work of the Missouri Department on Economic Development.” In principle, I agree that Kentucky should acknowledge some of the lower costs faced by our families, and I hope to study this approach a bit to see if it seems like a sound way to consider that factor.

C in Truth in Advertising: Student Proficiency

• Definition: State-reported proficiency rates compared with NAEP proficiency rates.
• Frustration: The analysis comes from 2011 data, meaning it’s still reporting on Kentucky’s old tests based on our old standards.  A repeat of the same study would surely show Kentucky as notably stronger.

C in Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness

• Definition: Advanced Placement (AP) exams passed by the class of 2013, high school graduation rates, and chance for college at age 19.
• Anticipation: The second two numbers are based on estimates of the number of students starting grade 9, reflecting some of the last years the estimation step will be necessary.  Soon, soon, we'll be able to discuss these questions on the basis of much firmer actual numbers. Just as a sample of why this matters, the report shows a Kentucky 82% graduation rate, but our first graduation report tracking a full cohort shows us at 86%: better numbers will give us a better sense of where Kentucky and other states really stand.

C in 21^st Century Teaching Force

• Definition: Preparing, recruiting, and evaluating the teacher workforce
• Modification: In this list, a C does not mean a score between 20^th and 30^th.  The grades come straight from the National Center for Teaching Quality, which sets a high bar and did not give any A grades at all the most recent report.   
• Amplification: Kentucky’s C actually puts it in a three way tie for 20^th among the 50 states.

F in Parental Options

• Definition: The market share of students in schools of choice, and two rankings of how hospitable state policy is to greater choice options.
• Confirmation: Yes, this one is about Kentucky not having charter schools.
  

A in Data Quality

• Definition: Collection and use of high-quality and actionable student and teacher performance data.
• Exploration: Kentucky has implemented 9 of 10 steps recommended by the Data Quality campaign—and only two states have all ten.  The one we haven't fully applied is the one that calls on states to "Implement policies and promote practices, including professional development and credentialing, to ensure educators know how to access and use data appropriately."

D- in Technology

• Definition: Student access to high-quality computer-based instruction.
• Irritation: This rating is not about the learning technology available for students to use in varied classes across the state, and it's not about students' opportunities to use advanced technological stills. It's only about whether students can step away from existing classrooms to take classes on-line.  It’s about a second form of options for parents and students, like the Parental Options entry above. It's reasonable for to value that kind of option, but less reasonable to treat it as the main issue in technology in education.

D in International Competitiveness

• Definition: State scores on NAEP compared with international benchmarks, and AP exams passed by the class of 2013 on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and foreign language exams.
• Recognition: This measure is one Kentucky should value, moving beyond AP opportunities in general to a look at AP courses in fields where we definitely need to expand our workforce capacity. 

F in Fiscal Responsibility

• Definition: State pension funding.
• Consternation: Kentucky is hit hard, for long-term failure to fund our pension obligations to educators and also for more recent failure to take big enough steps toward resolving the problem.  

 --Posted by Susan Perkins Weston

Yes, we do Shakespeare!

Here's a great, detailed study of the "original pronunciation" of Shakespeare, complete with rhymes and puns we can't even hear in our modern English:


 I love it because the Bard is alive and kicking, right here in the Kentucky Core Academic Standards:

Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.) 

Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare).

In our Reading Standards for Literature, Shakespeare is the one required author, with the first two standards above applying to grades 11 and 12.  The third entry is for grades 9 and 10, and it lists Shakespeare as an example rather than a mandate--though I dare anyone to come up with a better author than Shakespeare to use for this sort of analysis.

 --Posted by Susan Perkins Weston

[Hat tip to Cindy Baumert!]

Technology for learning: a Kentucky commitment

The Kentucky EdGuide on "School Technology and Digital Learning" spotlights Kentucky's long-running work to make technology a consistent feature of education across the state:

Since 1990, Kentucky has been committed to strong technology implementation under a series of statewide Kentucky Education Technology System (KETS) master plans. KETS sets standards for school technology purposes, provides technical services, ensures high speed network access, and funds technology strategies to support the learning environment. Because technology innovation is so rapid, that system needs regular upgrades to allow students and teachers to use current software and applications. Annually, Kentucky also offers matching funds to help school districts make purchases to keep up with those rising standards.

Because technology innovations come so rapidly, it's important to note both how many devices are available and how many meet minimum standards for current use. The EdGuide chart at the right shows student student instructional devices (desktop, laptop, and tablet computers) in Kentucky schools, using Technology Readiness Survey data from the Kentucky Department of Education and showing separately the devices that did and did not meet that year’s KETS minimum standards.

The "School Technology and Digital Learning" EdGuide also  answers these key questions:

• How does Kentucky support active use of technology in education? 
• Can students use their own devices at school? 
• What is digital learning? 
• What kinds of digital learning opportunities are available? 
• What evidence shows digital learning results for Kentucky students? 

Do check it out, along with the other EdGuides available for easy download from the Prichard Committee website.

--Posted by Susan Perkins Weston

What does student voice look like?

Check out this great introduction to the Prichard Committee Student Voice team!

What does student voice look like? from Rachel Belin on Vimeo.

A bornlearning boom

The bornlearning strategy for early childhood parental education is growing fast across Kentucky, both in its work with families and its visibility in statewide media.  From articles appearing just this week....

From Prichard Perspectives: 

The bornlearning academies are school-based workshops. Across six sessions, parents of young children up to age five engage in hands-on activities and discussion about what it means to be ready for kindergarten and learning strategies they can use to maximize their child’s early learning and development.

From the News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown:

“It’s about learning about the opportunities that are in your every day environment that you might just miss,” said North Park Principal Beth Brandenburg. “Parents are so busy when they come home with dinner or getting everyone cleaned and to bed that they aren’t thinking that it’s a great learning opportunity. It’s taking advantage of those everyday opportunities.”

[Carlena Sheeran, director of early childhood for Hardin County Schools] said the creators of the program wanted to design workshops in a way that would be similar to a normal evening at home, which is why a dinner is included. The dinner provided is a healthy meal that encourages a well-balanced diet. Both schools are working with various restaurants and businesses to help sponsor parts of the dinner and workshops. 

From Herald-Leader coverage of bornlearning work in Lexington:

On Thursday, the children went to one room and, under a teacher's guidance, made tambourines that they later played for their parents. Parents in another room learned how playing board games, singing songs and reading the children's books found in most homes could get a child ready for kindergarten. Before the workshop ended, parents and children reunited to sing songs and read a story before taking home a gift bag of games and books.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/09/08/3419196_new-program-gives-parents-techniques.html?sp=/99/164/&rh=1#storylink=cpy

From the Ledger & Times in Murray :

East Calloway Elementary School will be kicking off its third year of the program on Sept. 18, while Murray Elementary School will begin  its second year on Sept. 25...

ECES and MES are among 20 veteran schools and 14 new schools with academies funded by Toyota across the state through a five-year, $1 million investment. Officials say that every dollar spent on preschool and early childhood education programs carries a return on investment ranging from $2 to $17. According to the Prichard Committee, children who attend high-quality preschool are more likely to be employed and have higher earnings as adults.

Now in its third year, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Inc., and Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America are committed to provide funding to United Way of Kentucky to expand Born Learning Academies to 70 schools by 2016.

And from KyForward:

Expansion of the “United Way Born Learning Academies, driven by Toyota” means more youngsters will be prepared for school.

“Our goal is for them to start on the playing field ready to go. It gives them a better chance to succeed,” said Veda Stewart, principal at Booker T. Washington Primary Academy, one of four Fayette County schools offering the free program.

--Posted by Susan Perkins Weston

Perspectives: Big work from our big team

The fall 2014 edition Prichard Committee newsletter is out now, offering a full panorama of the work underway and the many different groups engaging in the effort.  Headlines include:

• Students’ Input Elevating Policy Issues
• N.Ky Advocate Joins Prichard Staff (Brigitte Ramsey!)
  Staying in Touch Across a Diverse State (Thought from Stu Silberman!)
• Jobs Report Shows Limits Facing Non-College-Bound
• Prichard Member Hinkle Appointed to State Board
• Change is Difficult: It is Much Easier to Maintain the Status Quo (An Interview with Cindy Heine!)
• Program Grows to 5 Institutes
• State Allocating $1.2 Million Locally to Advance School Readiness
• Toyota, Beshear Support New bornlearning Sites
• Congress Extends Home-Visiting Funding
• Remembering Pamela Papka Sexton 

With so much going on, it's great to get this overview and connect with all the folks making it happen.  Download your copy now, and enjoy!

Enrollment ethnicity: Kentucky moves in national direction at different pace

For the nation as a whole, the current school year is projected to be the first when white students are less than 80% of the enrolled students.  For Kentucky, diversity is also growing, though at a different rate: last year was the first when white students were less than 80% of enrollment. 

Below, the first chart shows the full trend, while the second zooms in enough to make the rapid increase of non-white, non-black students easier to see. 

Source note: Kentucky numbers come from Kentucky Department of Education summaries of Superintendent Annual Attendance Reports showing end-of-year data, while the starting national figure comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, as quoted in the Atlantic.

--Posted by Susan Perkins Weston

Learning at Higher Levels: Active Learning Raises College Results, Closes Gaps

Here's a great New York Times report on how "Active Role in Class Helps Black and First-Generation College Students":

The trend away from classes based on reading and listening passively to lectures, and toward a more active role for students, has its most profound effects on black students and those whose parents did not go to college, a new study of college students shows.

 Active learning raised average test scores more than 3 percentage points, and significantly reduced the number of students who failed the exams, the study found. The score increase was doubled, to more than 6 percentage points, for black students and first-generation college students.

For black students, that gain cut in half their score gap with white students. It eliminated the gap between first-generation students and other students.

As summarized by Richard Pérez-Peña, the study looked at students in introductory Biology classes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and compared classes taught using traditional lectures and others using methods that "demanded more participation by students," including on-line exercises to complete before and after class.

This sort of finding will be no surprise to fans of the Gates Foundation's math and literacy investments or the K-12 research behind those strategies.  Deep learning comes from wrestling knowledge hands on, in a productive struggle that lets each learner assemble a clear picture of how the content fits together and the skills can be combined to solve problems.  Lectures, even brilliant ones, rarely engage students at the level that creates strong understanding.

--Posted By Susan Perkins Weston

Meeting Young Students' Needs: Response to Intervention

Response to Intervention is a relatively new term in Kentucky education law. In the Prichard Committee's Kentucky EdGuide on "Students Who Need Added Support," the main idea is explained this way:

Response to Intervention or “RTI” is a new state initiative, required for the primary years.

Response to Intervention calls for schools to organize instruction by setting up tiers of response that start with a core program that will be effective for most students and then add supplemental support and then intensive intervention when evidence shows which students need different or additional support. For example, a student who consistently struggles with the core program (tier 1) may receive some added opportunities (tier 2) and then if that support is not enough, move to more intensive support (tier 3).

In parent-teacher discussions, it may help to ask what “tier” of services a child is receiving and then for details about how that tier works.

The RTI requirements can be found in a new state statute enacted in 2013 (KRS 158.305) and in the Kentucky Board of Education regulation on "The Use of Response-to-Intervention in Kindergarten through Grade 3" (704 KAR 3:095).

Interested readers may also want to learn about the Kentucky System of Intervention, an approach recommended by the Kentucky Department of Education for students from kindergarten through grade 12, offering ideas for implementing RTI-methods to serve students well even in the grades where the law does not require it.

Or, to learn about Kentucky's other supports for students' varied needs, check out the EdGuides on:
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• Students Who Need Added Support
• Students with Disabilities
• Students Ready for Added Challenge
• English Language Learners
• Poverty and Non-Academic Barriers to Learning
• Digital Learning and School Technology
• Student Conduct and Discipline
• School Safety

--Posted by Susan Perkins Weston

Reaching Top 20 Will Require Hard Push for Kentucky Improvement

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Moving Kentucky into the top tier of states in key areas of education by 2020 will require a hard push for improvement in the next six years, according to a new report from the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

The 2014 update of the Committee’s “Top 20 by 2020” found Kentucky’s performance in six categories to be on track to reach the goal. These include reading scores, Advanced Placement credits and teacher salaries.

But other indicators show reason for concern. The report noted that Kentucky lost ground in the math achievement of eighth-grade students and the share of higher education costs that families must pay. The state’s performance also showed no net improvement in total higher education funding or bachelor’s degrees earned in science, technology, engineering and math.

The state’s ranking in other areas showed some improvement, but not at a rate sufficient to reach the Top 20 by 2020. These include the number of adults with a high school diploma, preschool enrollment, per-pupil funding and adults with a bachelor’s degree.

The Prichard Committee began its Top 20 measurements in 2008, when it issued a challenge to the state to accelerate the improvement of its education system. The latest report is the third update of the initial measurement. The update is available here.

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday applauded the report for highlighting Kentucky’s progress in areas like reading, Advanced Placement and teacher salaries, and for also providing a clear roadmap of the areas that need further attention going forward.

“We are proud of the progress Kentucky students and educators have made the past several years as they have embraced more rigorous standards and become more focused on college- and career-readiness,” Holliday said. “At the same time, the report confirms what we already know:  there is still much work to be done. We need to be making faster gains in key content areas like mathematics and science while also continuing to close achievement gaps so that all students have the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life. We are committed to making continuous progress, and are grateful for partners like the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence for joining us in this critical work.”

Bob King, president of the Council on Postsecondary Education, noted the state’s increase in bachelor’s degrees, from 44th to 39th in the last six years, and expressed the importance of partnerships to work toward the Prichard Committee’s 2020 goal. 

“The steady improvement in bachelor degrees or higher and adults with a high school diploma is welcome news to Kentucky’s economic future. We look forward to working alongside Prichard and our other partners to make even greater gains in the future.”

The update also noted the Committee’s three overarching priorities for Kentucky education:
·         A strong accountability system that measures the performance of students, teachers, principals and postsecondary graduates;
·         Adequate funding;
·         Sustained and expanded engagement of parents, community members and businesses in support of schools.

“It is great to see the areas where we are making good progress but we still have a lot of work to do. We will continue to monitor these areas and look forward to evidence of more forward progress in the 2016 report,” said Stu Silberman, executive director of the Prichard Committee.

--Prichard Commitee Press Release

for September 3, 2014 publication

Study results, adjust instruction: Improving western Kentucky nursing education

Check out a great National Public Radio story: Western Kentucky Community and Technical College figured out that the Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology was a major barrier for many students who want nursing careers--and didn't accept that result.

Instead, WKCTC analyzed the problem and looked for instructional solutions:

"You're not taking this class as just an elective," Dean Karen Hlinka says. "You're taking this class as building the foundation for the rest of your education. So you've got to get it."

Hlinka realized that a lot of her students just weren't ready. They knew how to memorize, but they didn't really know how to think. So the school set up a special class, which teaches just the first six weeks of a whole semester. It began integrating how to read the textbook into class lectures, instead of just what's in the textbook.

With the new approach, WKCTC is reporting passing rates 20 percentage points better than the national average, giving clear evidence of success with an impressive improvement to teaching and learning.  

Added tip: for the fullest excitement, I recommend listening to the broadcast version: I think it's more detailed and energetic than the website text!

--Posted by Susan Perkins Weston

Learning at higher levels: Content knowledge to strengthen students' reading

How can students learn at significantly higher levels?  To build substantially stronger reading skills, one key step may be to equip students with powerful academic content knowledge.

Karin Chenoweth explains the connection:

If schools aren’t teaching kids an awful lot of content — that is, history, science, literature, and the arts — the same kids who do well on third-grade tests can fail later tests — not because they can’t decode the words on the tests, but because they cannot understand the words once they’ve decoded them. And they can’t understand them because the words haven’t been taught.

Some kids do arrive at school with a lot of background knowledge and rich vocabularies, usually acquired from discussions at home and a set of experiences ranging from being read to from an early age to being taken to museums. The kids with those kinds of experiences tend to be kids from educated and well-off families, which is one of the reasons that reading scores are so highly correlated with family income and mother’s education.

If we are to break that correlation and ensure that all children can read and comprehend well, schools need to have coherent, content-rich curricula that systematically teach history, science, literature, and the arts. This isn’t so that children will do well on fifth-grade reading tests, by the way; it’s so that they can understand the world around them. Fifth-grade reading tests are just proxies for what comes next.

Chenoweth is writer-in-residence at the Education Trust, so it's no surprise to find her pursuing and articulating strategies that can have the biggest benefits for students who may lack many of life's other privilege.  Her article originally appeared at the Huffington Post, and it is now also available at the Core Knowledge blog, which has long argued that rich content and strong reading can grow best when learned together.

-- Posted by Susan Perkins Weston

Six basics for Labor Day

1.  Teaching causes learning. (Thank you, Richard Elmore!)

2.  Better standards can contribute to better learning --if they are translated into better teaching.

3.  Smaller classes can allow better learning --if they allow better forms of teaching.

4.  Funding can support better learning --if the dollars enable better teaching.
 
5.  Changing pay and pensions and job security rules might promote better learning --but only if those incentive structures turn out to be effective in promoting better teaching.

6.  Kentucky education is a huge system involving a vast array of ideas and arguments and dollars and cents and buildings and software and hope and dreams, and the whole giant swirl is only important for a single reason: because the lives of our children are being changed by the work of our teachers.

--Posted by Susan Perkins Weston 

Low-income access: KCTCS

As a group, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) institutions enroll substantial numbers of students who qualify for federal Pell grants based on family income.  In the graph below, it's clear that the schools of Eastern Kentucky serve some of the highest proportions, but all of these schools have higher Pell rates than any public university except Kentucky State.

The average net price at these schools is also relatively for low-income students, with only one four-year school offering a better rate.

Both sets of numbers are for beginning students, as are those in yesterday's post showing similar data for the universities, and all results come from the College Navigator site.

Low-income access to four year colleges: two notes [Revised]

In two charts, it's clear that Kentucky public four-year institutions vary dramatically how they engage low-income students. Revision note: both charts reflect data for beginning students at each university.  That fact was omitted in the original post

First, Pell grants are the leading federal support to help students afford college, and Pell participation is the easiest way to gauge a university's low-income enrollment (much the way free-and-reduced-price meal eligibility is the quickest indicator for K-12 education).  On this indicator, notice the huge sweeping change from Kentucky State's 75% to UK's much smaller 25%.

Second, net price is an important measure of accessibility, indicating the average amount students pay after all financial aid is subtracted from a university's sticker price.  On that indicator, Northern Kentucky University clearly looks most accessible, charging less than half of what Kentucky State and Western ask from low-income students.

This data and much more is available at the great College Navigator site.

Tomorrow, I'll share a matching look at these two indicators for KCTCS.

Local school revenue: Clarifying "the 4%"

Right now, school boards all over Kentucky are voting on budgets and tax rates for the school year, and the media reports often say the vote was on whether "to take the 4%" or not. 

That means they're voting for a 4% increase in the total amount brought in by local taxes.  If a district brought in $1,000,000 in local revenue last year, they're setting taxes that will bring in $1,040,000 this year.

Here's the tricky part: that may not mean a school board is voting to raise the tax rate on local properties.  In some districts, boards may be able to bring in 4% more dollars by lowering the tax rate on all the property being taxed.  That's because in most districts, the taxable properties become more valuable year by year.   If the assessed values go up enough, a district that wants 4% more revenue may have to lower the tax rate it charges on each $100 of taxable property. In other districts, it may be possible to bring in 4% more revenue by keeping the same tax rate, or raising the rate just 1% or 2%.

What's the magic of 4%?  That number matters because state law says that if a school board increases revenue more than that, voters can call a referendum to consider repealing the increase.  Given that rule, boards are very hesitant to go past the 4% mark.


For individual property owners, the key thing to know is that 4% in the headlines isn't necessarily 4% on your tax bill.  If you read the full article, you may find information on the old and new tax rates--or you may need to wait for your bill to arrive in the mail.

For community members in general, it can also be good to check on whether the new tax rate allows the schools to keep up with changes in prices and enrollment.  Recently, inflation has been lower than 4%, but if it ever went back to double digits, it would be really hard for districts to keep up.  And if 4% more money has to fund 6% more students, schools may be giving each child less support even though there's a larger total being spent.

[Note just for folks who love stuff like this: the rule about a 4% revenue increase only applies to property that's being used in similar ways from year to year.  When property is developed --say, from farm use to homes or from homes to stores-- it isn't included in figuring out the 4%. My friends and colleagues who work on these details at the state or local level will, rightly, want me to mention that nuance.]

Fantastic LDC task from Simpson County

Ashley Gore of Simpson County has created one of my favorite Literacy Design Collaborative modules ever, now recognized as meeting the "exemplary" standard under LDC's national jurying standards.  She asked her students to address this teaching task:

Is Hester Prynne a virtuous woman? After reading The Scarlet Letter, write an essay in which you discuss Hester's Prynne's character attributes and evaluate her virtues in connection with Proverbs 31. Support your position with evidence from the text(s).

In keeping with the LDC design process, the plain black text comes from an LDC template, but the part I've underlined in blue reflects wording Ms. Gore added to create a distinctive task for her own discipline and students.  Then she supported her students by identifying the reading and writing skills essential to the task and designing "mini-tasks" where students learn and apply each of those skills on the way to completing their essays. (Past Prichblog posts on LDC are here.)

The whole design is excellent, but my special excitement comes from seeing one of my very favorite Bible texts deployed in a way that requires respectful, critical analysis and comparison with a powerful novel.  It's a truly great teacher-created approach to implementing the Kentucky Core Academic Standards in a deep literary study.  

The complete module is available in LDC's CoreTools Library: you'll need to set up a free account to log in to the site, which also offers a complete set of LDC design tools for anyone who wants to try them out.

 (Illustration by By Mary Hallock Foote [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

Teaching quality and time for teacher growth

At The Atlantic, a new and helpful article argues that "mastering the[teaching] craft demands time to collaborate—just what American schools don't provide." 

One compelling piece of the evidence comes from data gathered during the PISA test of student performance around the world.  Using information on school practices, Elizabeth Green has identified an important difference in how countries organize the work of teaching:

How much time do teachers spend on classroom instruction, and how much time do they have outside of class to devote to the other considerable, less visible aspects of the job: lesson planning, paper grading, conferring with students, calling parents, meeting with colleagues to discuss methods and goals. 

Here, the PISA results are not ambiguous. Every single country that outperforms us has significantly smaller teacher workloads. Indeed, on the scale of time devoted by teachers to in-class instruction annually, the United States is off the charts. 

We spend far more hours in the classroom on average, twice and nearly three times more in some cases, than teachers in any other OECD country save Chile.

Finnish high-school teachers, for example, clock 553 hours in the classroom each year. In Japan, home of jugyokenkyu [lesson study], that number is 500. In the U.S., it’s 1,051. (Figures for elementary and middle school show roughly the same skew.)

The whole article deserves a careful read, and so does Elizabeth Green's new book, Building a Better Teacher.

KCAS Core Academic Challenge: How can our standards be improved?

Everyone in Kentucky is invited to provide specific feedback on the Kentucky Core Academic Standards for English language arts and mathematics.  This statewide challenge was announced this morning by Commissioner Terry Holiday and will last through April 30, 2015.

I took a first look at the comment site this evening and was pleased to see that users can sign in, start comments, and return later to complete comments on the full set of standards.  I also found it easy to zoom in on the standards that interest me most: those for "literacy in history/social studies."  Below, you can see a quick sample of the options, including space to recommend replacement language and share reasons for the recommendation.

This is a huge opportunity for public participation: please take up the Challenge!

Check out our last blog post on Ed Week.

http://bit.ly/1olvn0I

Thanks for the Engagement

By Stu Silberman on August 25, 2014 1:05 PM 

I want to take this opportunity to say thanks to all who have contributed to our public engagement blog. I would also like to thank Education Week for giving us the opportunity to share information and opinions on what has been happening in education over the last couple of years. This will be our last post, and I hope we have helped broaden the public's understanding of developments in education, particularly in Kentucky.

We recently released the Prichard Committee's Ed Guides, reader-friendly information about the work that is taking place in Kentucky schools. We also will release our "Top 20 by 2020" report soon, showing how the state's performance on key education indicators has changed since our last update two years ago. We conducted research on charter schools this summer and will convene a study group to prepare a report we will share with our members in November. We also plan to convene a group to review where we are in early childhood care and education programs. I share all of this with you to invite you to continue keeping up with our work via our website, onFacebook, Twitter @prichardcom, and our Prichard Committee blog.

Clearly, all of us have much to do for our kids. Among the items on the list (and there are many others):

· A focus on early childhood education to prevent the development of achievement gaps and allow all kids to start school on a level playing field. Although there is near unanimous agreement that this is a long-range solution worthy of support, states are still coming up short on funding.

· Initiatives to attract more of the best and brightest to the teaching profession. Teaching is one of the most important and most difficult jobs that exist, but salaries for beginning teachers do not reach the level of professional pay. We must begin to pay a professional wage and bring more top students into the profession.

· Efforts to engage families in schools in ways that improve student achievement. We must encourage and help develop parent/guardian advocates and leaders. When families are truly engaged, supporting our schools and advocating for excellence, kids are the beneficiaries. This is a major focus for us at the Prichard Committee with the Governor's Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership.

· Listening to the people on the front lines - students as well as teachers. Given the chance, they can provide the knowledge, resulting from their experience, that we need to move to the next level of educational excellence. We are particularly proud of the Prichard Committee's Student Voice Team and the input they have been providing.

And, of course, there are efforts related to testing, academic standards, funding, governance, teacher evaluation - a long, growing and important list. Yes, we are making progress, but it always seems to be two steps forward and (at least) one step back. I worry that politics continues to drain the energy needed for progress. We must find a way to end the partisan games and focus on doing what is best for the kids of this country.

In closing, I also want to thank our staff for all the time they have devoted to organizing, reviewing and editing the posts to this space. We would not have been able to participate in this endeavor had it not been for your help and wisdom.

For those of you who continue to be interested in sharing your thoughts we welcome you to do so via the Prichard blog.

Success in the First Year of College Suggests Likely Degree Completion

Prichard Committee Statement

KY Center for Education and Workforce Statistics Releases

2014 Kentucky Postsecondary Feedback Reports

The postsecondary feedback reports recently released by the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics (KCEWS) show employment and earnings for graduates of Kentucky’s eight (8) public four-year universities. They also show similar information for students who start college but leave without completing a degree.

The feedback reports provide data for parents and students to make informed decisions about their courses of study given the likely wage and employment opportunities in Kentucky. The report shows that a full 80 percent of Kentucky’s graduates stay in Kentucky to work and live. For these students, and those who plan to stay in a particular region of the state, this is very helpful information. For example, in general graduates with more education make higher salaries, but a deeper look shows graduates with associate degrees from three Kentucky universities (EKU, KSU, NKU) make significantly more than their peers with bachelor degrees and nearly as much as individuals with graduate degrees. 

The Prichard Committee is especially pleased to see a focus on the data related to students who drop out of college. The feedback reports provide good information about students who start college but choose to leave without finishing a degree. In 2013, roughly 10 percent (8,833) of the total enrollment in Kentucky’s 4-year public universities left college and did not transfer to another institution. One year later, their average salary was less than $15,000 a year. Gender does not seem to be a determinate for “leavers” with males and females leaving about equally. However, the data in the report does suggest that these college students were either ill-equipped academically or lacked the dispositions needed to persist in higher-education. Nearly 70 percent of “leavers” left college with less than 30 credit hours earned (the equivalent of one year of college) and more than half (58%) had a GPA lower than a 2.0. 

As we persist in Kentucky to balance an Unbridled Learning Accountability Model that ensures College- and Career Readiness for ALL, policymakers need to be mindful that readiness implies success at the next level.  As we increase the number of students “ready” we need to also ensure that those students have the skills, dispositions and supports they need to persist in their first year of college and beyond. The data show that students completing their first year of college are much more likely to complete their degree. College and career counseling at the high school level and retention efforts at the postsecondary level are both important strategies to help students achieve their potential.

The 2014 Postsecondary Feedback Reports by Institution can be found at: http://kcews.ky.gov  

Investments in Young Children Last a Lifetime

From Ed Week Blog:  http://bit.ly/1oGuynP

The following post is from Cindy Heine, the Associate Executive Director (retiring), from the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

After years of working on behalf of better schools, I have a ready answer when people ask my opinion about the most important thing we can do to improve education outcomes: invest in quality early childhood programs.

Pre-birth through kindergarten is the most critical time for children to develop socially and emotionally and to establish learning patterns for school and work. As our committee's first chairman and namesake Edward Prichard pointed out in the early 1980s, addressing achievement gaps must begin "....not in the high school, not in the middle school, not even in the first three grades. It has got to begin in the preschools and the kindergartens and in the womb (with) ... things such as prenatal care, child nutrition, emphasis on the learning process in the home. ..." He understood then what research clearly shows now - that early investments are critical to improve students' chances for a strong education.

Our 1980s study of elementary/secondary education included reviews of early research reports showing that impoverished children who attended the high-quality Perry Preschool were more likely to complete high school and continue with postsecondary education, more likely to be employed and less likely be arrested. We also observed that it was the children "in the middle" who were missing out. Those from the poorest families were served by Head Start, and those from affluent families were enrolled in programs their parents could afford. So a key recommendation in our report, "The Path to a Larger Life," was preschool for all children ages three and four whose parents wanted it.

Forty years later, researchers continue to follow the Perry Preschool students with long-term results showing higher earnings, greater likelihood of home ownership and having a savings account and lower incidence of crime. Other studies, including the Abecedarian Project in North Carolina and the Chicago Parent Child project, all show similar long-term results for children who attend quality programs, with a return on investment averaging about $7 for each $1 spent.

I am often asked about a Head Start study that showed test scores of third graders who did not attend Head Start to be essentially the same as those of children who did. The implication is that Head Start didn't make a difference. Long-term results, however, show children in the program are less likely to need special education services, less likely to repeat grades and more likely to graduate from high school.

What this implies, as Nobel Laureate and University of Chicago Professor James Heckman points out, is that these programs make a difference in such executive skills as perseverance, motivation, attention, self-confidence and getting along with peers. We often forget that skilled teachers help children solve their own disputes on the playground, guide them to complete projects and help them gain self-confidence by solving their own problems. These are skills needed in classrooms and the workplace. Established early, they last a lifetime.

Health care professionals - in addition to economists - are also focused on children in their earliest years. Research shows stronger outcomes when mothers have good prenatal care and deliver babies at term. Brain development in the last two to three weeks of pregnancy and in the first few years of life is critical in establishing the foundation for learning and socio-emotional development. New research on ' toxic stress' in children shows the more stressful events (homelessness, hunger, serious illness, death in the family, family violence, adult substance abuse or mental illness, for example) children experience without the support of caring families, the worse the long-term health, social and economic outcomes.

All children deserve to be in quality environments, whether at home, in child-care settings or in preschool. They need adults who care about them, talk with them, read to them, help them deal with stressful events and provide them with a secure, loving and nurturing environment. We need a system of care that assures quality prenatal care for all women, supportive programs like Kentucky's Health Access Nurturing and Development ( HANDS) home visiting program for vulnerable families, quality child care for all children, quality preschool for all children whose families want it and support and information for parents in these early years.

Kentucky is moving to coordinate and provide these supports through the Governor's Office of Early Childhood and with the Race to the Top Early Childhood grant, but it will take a focus on quality and an investment of resources. We know through research that giving all of our children the strongest possible start is not only the smart thing to do, it is the right thing to do.

Chess Impacts Students

Chet Sygiel, Chess teacher in the Jackson Independent school district, talks about how Chess impacts students.

http://bit.ly/1A1vhVk

Trust in Teachers: Let's Include Legislators and Students

This is a cross post from Ali Wright of the Center for Teacher Quality

http://www.teachingquality.org/content/trust-teachers-let-s-include-legislators-and-students

Transforming the Teaching Profession Through Honest Feedback

Jana Bryant, a 2014-2015 Hope Street Group Kentucky State Teacher Fellow discusses how honest feedback can help transform the teaching profession.

http://bit.ly/1sedjN0

Evaluation and the Beginning Teacher

Pennye Rogers, a 2014-2015 Hope Street Group Fellow discusses Kentucky's new evaluation system and its impact on beginning teachers.

http://bit.ly/1mkkYpG

What Happened to School Facilities Since the Rose Case?

Researcher Caroline Wilson demonstrates what has happened to school facilities in Kentucky since the landmark Rose decision.

http://bit.ly/V3SANX

Private College Return on Investment

Gary S. Cox, President of the Association of Independent KY Colleges and Universities talks about the return on investment from private colleges.

What's in a Grade?

David Cook of the Kentucky Department of Education talks about the importance of grading systems to ensure student mastery.

http://bit.ly/1qLmAeM

Empowerment Begins With Preparation

Ronda Harmon, the Executive Director of the Kentucky Association of School Councils (KASC) in Danville, Kentucky talks about preparing for a new beginning.

http://bit.ly/1uLgRTS

Incredible Young Talent

Carrie Nath, the Executive Director of The Governor's School for the Arts talks about the impact programs such as this can have on the lives of students.

http://bit.ly/1podX9u

Tapping the Power of Partnerships for School Readiness

Dr. Leon Mooneyhan, CEO of the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative discusses the power of partnerships for school readiness.

http://bit.ly/Sv1K48

The Governor’s Scholars Program

Aristofanes Cedeño, Executive Director and Academic Dean of the Governor's Scholars Program talks about the long term impact of the program.

http://bit.ly/1kN3898

Students Learning to be Entrepreneurs

Laurie Curry Daugherty, the Executive Director of the Governor's School for Entrepreneurs in Kentucky discusses the Governor's School for Entrepreneurs.

http://bit.ly/1iPUA1s