Kentucky tops nation in reading progress

This from Toni Konz at C-J:

Kentucky is getting a gold star from the U.S. secretary of education for its reading progress.

The state’s fourth- and eighth-graders made greater gains in reading than any other state on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, according to results released Wednesday.

The assessment, commonly referred to as the “nation’s report card,” shows that Kentucky’s eighth-graders scored an average of 267 on a 500-point scale on the test, compared with the national average of 262. The state’s fourth- graders scored an average of 226, compared with the national average of 220.

Kentucky was the only state that made significant increases at both grade levels in 2009. While Indiana students also registered increases, they were not considered to be significant.

Kentucky fourth-graders ranked seventh among states for average reading scores, while eighth-graders ranked 14th.

“This is very good news for Kentucky,” said Terry Holliday, the state’s education commissioner.

“We’ve been focusing so heavily on literacy over the past few years by working directly with teachers to improve instruction and to give them the training they need. I think that focus is starting to pay off.”

A handful of states showed slight improvements at one grade level, but not both. And 38 states or jurisdictions showed no significant change at either grade level.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told The Courier-Journal in a telephone interview Wednesday that Kentucky should be proud of its results.



“Kentucky has done lots of work to help lead the way nationally in terms of setting standards, measuring progress and holding schools accountable,” he said. “All that work is paying off and you are seeing real increases in student achievement.

...In Kentucky, 7,489 fourth- and eighth-graders from 316 schools were randomly selected to take the test.

Of that number, approximately 2,800 students in both grade levels from Jefferson County Public Schools were tested, said Bob Rodosky, director of testing and accountability for the district.

“I am really encouraged by the state’s results. and I would like to believe that Jefferson County had something to do with the rise of those scores,” he said.

...Last fall, Kentucky’s fourth-graders also made gains on the math portion of NAEP, scoring 239 points, up from 235 in 2007. The national average was 239. Eighth-graders scored 279, the same as in 2007, but three points below the national average of 282.

UofL to Spend the $96K Felner Left Behind

This from Nancy Rodriguez at C-J:

UofL to use grant for

teacher quality study

The University of Louisville has received permission from the U.S. Department of Education to use the remaining $96,318 from a federal grant that was allegedly misappropriated by the school's former education dean to conduct teacher quality research.

The news was originally reported by The Chronicle of Higher Education, which devoted several pages of its latest issue to the criminal case involving Robert Felner, the former dean of U of L's College of Education and Human Development...

U of L and Jefferson County Public Schools officials confirmed yesterday they are working in partnership to use the money to study teacher performance and effectiveness in the school district.

"I'm delighted that U of L does want to partner with us and that they came up with this idea," said Bob Rodosky, the school system's director of accountability, research and planning. "I think this is the way that a partnership should evolve between us and the university. We are talking to one another and we are signing off on each other's work and moving forward and hopefully focusing on kids."

According to an e-mail between Bob Ronau, a professor of mathematics education and associate dean of research at U of L's College of Education, and Ron Arson, a program officer at the U.S. Department of Education, the university will use the school system's "information related to demographics, achievement, attendance, funding, teacher characteristics and variables" in its research.

"By identifying variables associated with effective teachers, JCPS can adjust a number of current practices, from hiring to professional development," Ronau said...

Catching up on Felner

Here's what's been up with the U of L scandal involving former Dean Robert Felner and the leadership that protected him.

Following a 90-minute interview with Felner (where he refused to answer any questions about grant improprieties or his real estate which totals $2.66 million in value) C-J's Andrew Wolfson wrote:

Robert Felner profile:

Accomplishments praised, but he's left trail of outrage

Trying to help the University of Louisville's new education dean find a house in 2003, real-estate agent Judy Johnson says she spent hours showing him one in a Harrods Creek gated community.

Only later did she learn that Robert Felner had gone back and bought the house on his own, cutting her out of the deal. Yet he still had the nerve, she said, to call afterward and complain that she hadn't told him that the house stood in the path of a proposed Ohio River bridge.

To former colleagues within U of L's College of Education and Human Development -- and some other educators around Kentucky -- the story perfectly captures Felner: arrogant, outrageous, abusive and duplicitous....

Wolfson continues to cite the impressions other professionals had of working with Felner:

Rowan Claypool, program director for Teach Kentucky: "He was one of the most difficult people I have ever been required to work with in my life."

Leon Mooneyhan, the almost Interim Commissioner: "He brought new collaborations to the table and changed the mindset of the college... He was a breath of fresh air in that regard."

Damon Andrew, who taught with Felner, now a Dean at Troy University "This guy has wrecked the lives of so many people."

Skip Kifer at Georgetown College's Center for Advanced Study of Assessment: "He was very keen on getting status for the university, and he knew how to do that...He is a world-class schmoozer and knows how to work a room."

Steve Schenck, retired associate commissioner at KDE: "He was almost self-destructive in the way he turned people off." [He] denounced work that others had done or sometimes took credit for it himself.

Virginia Fox former state Education Secretary: Felner "lost his temper when he should have held his tongue" and always had to be the center of attention. "He wanted to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral,"

C-J also talked to more than a dozen former colleagues who indicated, "he humiliated professors in front of their peers and punished those who challenged him, driving away talented people, including some who once supported him."

C-J details several examples of on-the-record complaints faculty made agains Felner, but

...U of L President James Ramsey characterized faculty and staff complaints against Felner -- 31 during his tenure -- as "anonymous crap." ...

...21 former professors who signed a letter sent Friday to U of L's board of trustees citing Felner's "abusive and unethical behavior" and what they described as Ramsey's insulting response to it...

But Felner's curious personality traits revealed themselves early and often.

At Yale University, where he was an assistant professor in the psychology department from 1976 to 1981, female students circulated a petition to oust him for "bullying and sexual harassment,"

At Auburn University, where Felner worked from 1981 to 1985, Phil Lewis...said he hired Felner...and eventually came to regret it... "When he left, there was a collective sigh of relief."

At the University of Illinois, where Felner worked from 1986 to 1996, he was removed as director of clinical training in the psychology department because of faculty complaints about his rudeness and attitude...

In the Ville...

Felner also tried to get Jefferson County Public Schools to use his survey, but Bob Rodosky, the district's chief of planning and research, said that his price was too high and that it raised a "red flag" when Felner indicated he would analyze the surveys at his center in Rhode Island, even though he said "he wanted us to use the survey to show his bosses there was a relationship between the college and the school district."