Have you ever had one of those times when you expected one thing and got the exact opposite?  A meeting – a meal – a concert – a family reunion?  That is what happened last week when I attended the graduation celebration for a group of foster care youth.  Sponsored by True Up, Benchmark, Specialized Alternatives for Families and Youth, Kentucky Safe, and the Department for Community Based Services, the celebration lifted up the youngsters from Boys and Girls Haven, Home of the [...]

An annual report, The State of Preschool 2013; State Preschool Yearbook, released by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) was released last week. The report includes national trends, data tables, and state-by-state information on the current status of state-funded prekindergarten programs, including standards for quality, access, and changes to programs in the last year. The report covers 40 states that currently have state-funded preschool programs as well as ten states and the U.S. territories which do not provide state-funded prekindergarten. Research tells us [...]

Last week, I wrote about Dr. Diane Ravitch, the noted national school reformer who recently was in Kentucky as the recipient of the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award.  I wrote about admiring Dr. Ravitch as a person of considerable intellect and even more courage because she has the ethics to change course on major issues.  In last week’s blog, I talked about high stakes accountability, where I could not agree with Dr. Ravitch more fully.  This week – I want to offer a differing point of [...]

I picked up my oldest granddaughter from school yesterday and when she got into the car, Rileigh emoted, “I feel so sorry for my teachers.  They are just a nervous wreck.  They are giving us pep talks; telling us we won’t have homework; and, seeing if a dance during school will make us work harder.”  What is going on with her teachers?  Why, it’s time for state assessment testing.  And teachers and principals know that [...]