For the first time in my life, I'm actually trying to keep a New Years Resolution. This year I resolved to add new voices to Kentucky School News and Commentary, and today it begins.
KSN&C is pleased to announce that Skip Kifer and Penney Sanders - a couple of kindred spirits - will be the first new voices on board.
Don't expect us to agree with one another. That's not the deal. It may happen, but just about as often I suspect we will diverge on topics as well.
Kifer and Sanders were recruited - not for their compliance to any ideology - but for their experience and insights informed by years in the field. Both are dedicated to improving Kentucky schools and I respect their professionalism.
Edward "Skip" Kifer's expertise is measurement, evaluation and statistical analysis and I believe you will find his commentary surprising, challenging and refreshing. Following a stint in the army, Kifer was educated at the University of Chicago, was a Fulbright Scholar, taught at UCLA, SUNY Buffalo, the University of Stockholm, UK, UofL and Georgetown College. Professor Kifer was an AERA Senior Research Fellow working with NCES and NSF and has an established reputation as a reliable designer of assessments; one who has served on numerous technical panels including the NAEP Design and Analysis committee.
Dr. Penney Sanders is a retired Kentucky educator who served as a math teacher, school counselor, assistant principal and principal. She was Kentucky's first Director of the Office of Educational Accountability, and as far as I can tell, it's most effective. Under Sanders, adherence to KERA was an expectation enforced with panache. Veteran Kentucky educators still remember the good ole days when Sanders stalked the hills; kicking butt and taking names. In her "retirement" she works as a consultant with a special focus on high-risk, low performing schools. She continues to write and pursue a number of interests in education.
And we're not done.
Invitations to a few other contributors have been, and will be, made. They will fall into two categories, "veterans" and "newbies." Kifer and Sanders are examples of the veterans, but I am also hoping to include a few of my masters/doctoral level students who are themselves practicing teachers in Kentucky - to keep us focused on what is really happening in Kentucky's schools.
If all goes well, Kentucky School News and Commentary will add more value to the public debate while remaining realistic about the implications our decisions have on Kentucky's teachers and students.
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