EKU Highly Ranked (Again) Among Kentucky Teacher Prep Colleges

The College Database Identifies Top Colleges for Teacher Education

The College Database - the most current and comprehensive source for U.S. college and university data - has named its top colleges in the state for teacher education. The new list entitled "Top Colleges in Kentucky: Shaping the Next Generation," highlights the post-secondary institutions in the state that produced the most education graduates during the 2012 school year.

"Many colleges and universities have tremendous teacher education programs," said Doug Jones, founder of The College Database. "But which ones are producing the most young educators today? We wanted to identify the colleges making the largest impact on our students."

EKU Associate Dean for the College of Education Dr. Kim Naugle explained to KSN&C where the EKU program is headed.

KSN&C:  Tell me what's going on at Eastern that makes it a leader.

Naugle: Well, I think there are two things. Eastern, through the years, has been a leader in education...[ever since being] identified as Normal School #1 [smiling] and another school being identified as Normal School #2, Eastern has had a long history of leading the way. But what has happened recently that is reshaping that, is that we are focusing on a more clinical model of education. [Naugle mentioned a handful of ongoing programs that are building toward a total redesign of teacher preparation under this clinical model, where pre-service teachers are placed in a "clinical apprenticeship" and course work and clinical experiences take place in the same setting. Programs are presently in full swing at Corbin Middle School with pilot programs at Model Lab School and Madison Middle School.] What it involves is [Teacher Education Program candidates] teaching courses in the school system, where they can teach a lesson, see that lesson modeled in an actual classroom, co-teach a lesson...and then follow up with feedback back in the classroom.

KSN&C: We've all seen plans for a new education building here. What's that all about?

Naugle: What we are hoping to do is first - even before the new building - is reshape Model from being a laboratory school...to being a teacher preparation training school. It will continue to deliver wonderful service to our P-12 students...but we will have more integration of this clinical model process within the school. Having the Model School and the College of Education in the same building will help facilitate that. We also plan to develop Model into a teacher training school beyond the initial certification level...to retrain teachers as we go along; to bring them back in for professional development in the most up-to-date best practices across the disciplines...

KSN&C: When we think of clinical models we typically think about medical schools. Is this what the Eastern program is modeled after?

Naugle: It is. For example, one of the things we are in the process of arranging is a trip for [some of] our teacher education faculty to go to UK's Medical Center to look at a medical school model of training...This is a clinical profession. It is a profession based around skills, knowledge, and practice, not just content with a little pedagogy...behind it. When we look at who has the most common clinical model as education, we naturally move to medical education programs...

KSN&C: So if everything goes as planned, and we look at Eastern Kentucky University's teacher education program five years from now, from the student's perspective, what do you imagine the experience will be like?

Naugle: There's going to be much more cross-over experience between the content taught in the classrooms and clinical integration. For example, I think we'll do less and less sit-n-git experiences where students come in, get a lecture and some worksheets, and go home and take care of it. In fact, we've already moved away from that in our education program for the large part. But even more so in five years, I expect our [pre-service] teachers from their second semester freshman year, to start being in school and being a part of the process that helps P-12 schools get better, as well as helping our students learn more about being effective teachers. It will make a much stronger teacher when they come out of their preparation. They'll be ready to step into the classroom and be in charge and alone in the process. It will also help people recognize when they are a good fit for the profession early on in the process, so that those who aren't a good fit can choose other paths.

Grawemeyer winner Diane Ravitch says standardized testing hurting education

This from the Courier-Journal:

For decades, Diane Ravitch staunchly supported standardized testing, teacher accountability and school choice.

It wasn’t until after she served as an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education and as a member of the National Assessment Governing Board that supervised national testing that Ravitch realized she was wrong.

“I don’t regret the time I spent doing those things because it gave me an unusual opportunity to have a voice. I was on the other side and saw the error of my ways,” said Ravitch, 75, a New York University research professor of education. “It gave me a national platform.”

Ravitch, an education historian, has won the 2014 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education for her 2010 book, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.”

The book, which appeared on the New York Times’ nonfiction bestseller list, chronicles Ravitch’s decades-long journey from reform advocate to critic and encourages schools to return to a curriculum that values art, literature, creativity and problem-solving.

“This book gives us an important historical perspective,” said Melissa Andris, the award’s administrator. “Ravitch marshals an impressive body of evidence to show how, on the whole, these reforms are not working as promised and are leaving many schools in the same or even worse shape than before.”

Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday said Ravitch is “one of the most influential people on Twitter and in social media.”

“I have followed her work for years and have used her research on many occasions,” Holliday said. “I may not agree with her 100 percent, but I think she has raised the right questions for states to consider when it comes to education reform. She is well-deserving of this award.”

In an interview with The Courier-Journal this week, Ravitch said there is “way too much of an emphasis on standardized testing in this country.”

“The federal government requires standardized tests — we are the most over-tested country in the world,” she said. “It’s an encroachment on state and local control. The feds put up 10 percent of money, but exercise 90 percent of control.”

Ravitch said schools should be focusing more on originality and independence, not on a child’s “ability to bubble in the right answer.”

“With a standardized test, you are answering a question that has already been answered,” she said. “As someone who has spent years studying and looking at thousands of standardized test questions, I would much rather see original work.”

In addition to her 2010 book, Ravitch has authored several others, including this year’s “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.” She also blogs regularly on her website, which had nearly 3.5 million page views in less than a year.
Ravitch has been a critic of the testing associated with the Common Core State Standards — a set of academic guidelines designed by states that clearly describe what students need to know before they complete each grade level.

Two years ago, Kentucky was the first in the nation to implement the newer, tougher standards and since 2010, 45 states and the District of Columbia have agreed to adopt the standards and test students on them by 2014-15.

“I am not as opposed to the standards as I am to the tests being used,” she said. “Kids can have As and Bs on their report cards, yet fail the state test. These tests were designed so that kids would fail and that is ridiculous.”

Ravitch said the standards “could be fixed, could be made better” and should be placed on hold until that happens.

“Standardized testing has become an industry,” she said. “Tests ought to be made by the teachers; they know they what they taught and what the kids need.”

Holliday said Ravitch “creates quite a stir and has a lot of critics, but I’m not one of them.”

“She has a tremendous following with teachers and administrators who worry that some states are moving too fast with the teacher-evaluation stuff,” he said.

Ravitch also has advocated against using student test scores when evaluating the performance of teachers and is an opponent of charter schools.

“I am very concerned about privatization, because public education is the bedrock of a democratic society,” she said.

Ravitch said she will use some of the $100,000 she will receive from winning the Grawemeyer to support “good causes that support public education.”

“I am very honored to be awarded the Grawemeyer,” Ravitch said. “I will continue to devote my time to raising awareness on how to improve public education.”

Highest number of Kentucky school boards since 2008 took maximum revenue increase – and heat with it

93 school boards took maximum 4% revenue hike in 2014 tax rates

state leaders warn of dire consequences if K-12 funding not increased 

This from KSBA:

More Kentucky school boards took the maximum, non-recallable local tax revenue increase this fall than in any year since 2008, according to a report given Wednesday to the Kentucky Board of Education. But Department of Education leaders also said that, unless state funds for public schools are boosted during next year’s session of the General Assembly, a growing number of districts may not be able to make ends meet.

A total of 93 boards set 2014 tax rates designed to produce a 4 percent revenue boost – the maximum without running the risk of a voter recall petition, such as the referendum that recently defeated a tax increase by the Graves County board and hikes that drew challenges in at least three other districts.

The last time as many boards took the maximum revenue increase was 2008, when 107 did so.

This year, 53 boards voted for the compensating rate, the smallest number since 2009. The compensating rate is designed to give a district the same revenue as was produced the previous year.

Twenty-six other boards adopted local property tax rates ranging from no increase to amounts to that will produce less than the 4 percent revenue increase.

The report generated warnings by top KDE officials about the financial conditions being faced by all of the state’s public school systems.

“Yesterday, I briefed the Democratic Senate caucus (of the General Assembly),” said Education Commissioner Terry Holliday. “They said that during the interim the No. 1 issue they are hearing about from their constituents is local districts raising their taxes. I’m hearing quite often from superintendents and board members who are saying, politically, it’s getting almost impossible in some places because people see this as a 4 percent tax hike. I’m encouraged so many took the 4 percent. Local school board members are really taking heat. House and Senate members are taking heat. No one wants to raise taxes.

“We have gotten so polarized in our nation and state that any mention of a tax increase is going to be met with strong opposition. This is going to be a huge issue in local school board races and the General Election in 2014,” Holliday said.

KDE Associate Commissioner Hiren Desai told the state board, “Districts are having to use their local effort to make up for the fact that state funding has been reduced over the last several years.”
To which KBE Chairman Roger Marcum said, “And that needs to be a lobbying point.”

Holliday pointed to more looming consequences for Kentucky districts.

“You have a perfect storm brewing coming about March or April of sequestration, KSBIT and the continuing state cuts. You have not seen pink slips in this state to the large number that you’re going to see,” the commissioner said. “I would predict that, come budget season next year, you’re going to see 10 to 12 districts that will be struggling to figure out ways to meet their basic funding requirements.”

The growing dependence on meeting school fiscal needs through local tax increases also affects the difference in educational opportunities for children in the “haves and the have nots,” according to the commissioner.

The gap between districts with the highest and lowest per pupil expenditure is more than $11,000,” Holliday said. “An elementary classroom with 20 kids in the highest per-pupil district probably has as much as $250,000 more per classroom than the smaller per pupil district. In the last four years, (the gap) has increased because the state has shifted its responsibility back to the local district. That’s why I pushed that the state needs to step up. This is a state issue. “

During the meeting, the state board of education adopted its 2014 legislative agenda, which several speakers noted is driven by three factors: “Budget. Budget. And budget.”