Monday, August 18, 2008

Give me your Top Ten

School's about to start and it's going to be a busy week for this blogger. I'm not sure how well I'll be able to keep up, so let me know if I miss anything big that's going on.

In the meantime, may I ask for your help?

In EDL 822 (Social and Political Dimensions of Leadership) this fall, our doctoral students will be taking a whack at determining:

Who are the most influential folks when it comes to education in Kentucky.

Initially, we are looking at individuals and groups - sometimes as though they are one. So for example, Bob Sexton = the Prichard Committee; Sharon Oxendine = KEA...and so forth. Sometimes individuals stand alone, like Harry Moberley, David Williams, Helen Mountjoy...

Here's where you come in.

Reply to this post with your own top ten most influential people impacting education in Kentucky today. Tell us who they are. Feel free to say why certain folks are or are not on your list. Let's see what we come up with.

I'll start you off with a list you can shoot at.
  1. David Williams
  2. Harry Moberley
  3. Steve Beshear
  4. The KEA
  5. Courier-Journal
  6. Herald-Leader
  7. Jon Draud
  8. Prichard Committee
  9. Dan Kelly
  10. Roger Marcum

Have Fun!

4 comments:

Tom Eblen said...

The Herald-Leader should rank much higher than the C-J. : )

Richard Day said...

I love it.

Thanks Tom

Anonymous said...

1. David Williams
2. Harry Moberley
3. The KEA
4. Steve Beshear
5. Roger Marcum
6.Herald-Leader
7. Courier-Journal
8. Helen Mountjoy
8. Prichard Committee
9. Dan Kelly
10. Jon Draud/Dave Atkisson tied

When Marcum speaks, superintendents act and things happen. And Mountjoy has and will keep greater credibility than Draud. And the Chamber of Commerce is, eventually, where the muscle comes from for accountability.

Consider refining your assignment to specify that you mean P-12, not higher education. And perhaps, also, for a careful consideration of influence on classrooms versus influence on state policy.

For classrooms,its harder to rank, but still possible to mush together a top 10 that would include Marcum, Silberman, Berman, Dale Brown, McKim, Blankenship, Starr Lewis (because writing still looms large), Mountjoy (because she and CATS are joined at the hip), Moberly, and Dan Kelly.

Richard Day said...

Great comments.

Restricting the study to P-12 was my first instinct, too. But I will be working with students from higher education as well and want to provide options that suit their needs.

But there's another reason to look at the issue more broadly.

Higher Ed in Kentucky is at the front edge of a new push for institutional accountability for teacher/principal preparation and field service - called Regional Stewardship. The move would make each university more responsible for outcomes in the field.

Harry Moberley tells me the legislature is interested in the topic and it was a major theme of Doug Whitlock's remarks at yesterday's EKU Convocation.

It would seem that the two are engaged to be married.