In an editorial published by Insider Louisville, Cindy Heine, interim director of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, defends the state assessment process, saying that high academic expectations are necessary for Kentucky students to compete in today’s workforce.

The op-ed piece says that JCPS faces challenges similar to school districts throughout the commonwealth, which haven’t fallen behind as drastically despite having “extreme poverty” and “rural isolation.”

From Insider Louisville:

The fact of the matter is that Jefferson County has fallen behind in recent years on state assessments. The percent of Jefferson County students scoring at the lowest levels (called novices) went up from 2007 to 2010 in all five elementary school subjects.

At the middle and high school levels, novice performance increased in every subject except writing. Over the same period, the percent reaching state standards went down.

That is, proficient and distinguished results declined in three of five elementary school subjects, four of five middle school subjects, and four of five high school subjects.

(SNIP)

The measurement that determines the state’s low-performing schools has been characterized by some as being too narrow in scope and flawed in other ways. But, whether you like the measuring stick or not, it’s the same one used to measure all schools in Kentucky.

And the students in many of those schools, located in districts throughout the state, face significant challenges due to extreme poverty, rural isolation and other factors.

But many of those schools deliver at high levels for students. For example, 46 Kentucky schools are in the top 25 percent for reading results and also in the top 25 percent for low-income enrollment.

Since the school board voted against renewing Superintendent Sheldon Berman’s contract, academic achievement has been a centerpiece of the discussion in finding a replacement, however some — such as school board member Linda Duncan — say JCPS doesn’t have enough resources.

Duncan also called the state’s academic standards “unrealistic” and “unacceptable.”

It’s true that JCPS faces challenges that go beyond the classroom and include a high number of at-risk students in an urban district. This school year, for instance, 61 percent of students are receiving free or reduced lunches. And last school year, the number of homeless students jumped 23 percent to 10,555, an increase of nearly 2,000 students over the previous year.

However, Heine contends that should not mean officials lower standards in order to avoid scathing audits and necessary restructuring.

“What we’re saying is that school districts need to set high expectations for every student,” Heine says. “We cannot make the assumption that because children have challenges that they cannot learn.”

The legislation was  introduced by state Sen. Dan Seum, R-Louisville and co-sponsored by Sen. David Williams, R-Burkesville, who is running for governor, and would allow children to attend the public school closest to their home.

For the past few years, the student assignment plan has divided the school district, with many parents and critics of the transportation plan complaining about long bus rides. However, JCPS officials and supporters of the plan have said doing such would undermine the district’s diversity goals.

From The Courier-Journal:

The bill would let parents enroll their children in the public school closest to their home except in cases where the school has academic or skill prerequisites, such as magnet and traditional schools.

It also says that, in cases where a neighborhood school is full, the children who live closest have priority for enrollment. In addition, under a grandfather clause, any child attending the school could not be moved out to let another child attend.

Jefferson County school officials say SB 3 would require almost $200 million in new spending for such things as transportation changes and new schools.

Those voting against renewing the superintendent’s contract were board chairwoman Debbie Wesslund, Joe Hardesty, Larry Hujo, Diane Porter and Carol Haddad.

For the past few years, Jefferson County’s public school systems have been under fire with heavy criticism directed at the controversial student assignment plan and a number of poor performing schools. There had been speculation that Berman, who makes $273,182 a year, plus benefits, would not be retained as a result.

Later today the Urban Upgrade Educational forum will convene at St. Stephen Church to address the widening achievement gap and lack of educational attainment in the black community in relation to the city’s new education strategy.

Earlier this year, the program was launched in an effort to increase the number of residents with college degrees. The new public-private partnership’s goal is to increase the number of people with bachelor’s degrees by 40,000 and the number with associate degrees by 15,000.

In terms of college education, the city is falling behind when compared to its competitive peers.

Recent data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, for instance, ranked Louisville as the 6th dumbest city in the country. Based upon the percentage of our population who hold college degrees the census showed only 25 percent of Louisvillians are college educated. The data also showed that the percentage of adults 25 and older who hold a four-year degree or higher remains below 30 percent.

The numbers are even more woeful when viewed through racial lenses.

According to the Greater Louisville Project, only 14 percent of African-Americans who live in the city have a bachelor’s degree or higher, which puts Louisville in the lower end among its peer cities. For the initiative to work, the non-profit group pointed to reducing the racial achievement gap as key to reaching the 55,000 degrees goal.

The forum starts at 5:30 p.m. tonight and will be hosted at St. Stephen Church (1008 S. 15th Street). The discussion will be moderated by Courier-Journal columnist Betty Baye’ and features:

Ben Richmond, president of the Louisville Urban League
Diane Porter, District 1 member of the Jefferson County Board of Education
Professor J. Blaine Hudson, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Louisville
Audwin Helton, President/CEO of Spatial Data Integrations
Rev. Kevin Cosby, Sr. Pastor at St. Stephen Church and President Simmons College

When the state’s Department of Education has announced that the schools will face an audit that could result in major restructuring, and JCPS officials immediately rejected the “failing school” label.

If a national debate about public education is pending, perhaps this animation adapted from a speech delivered by Sir Ken Robinson, a world-renowned education and creativity expert, will shed some light on the subject. It challenges conventional wisdom on all sides and shakes things up a bit, because there are basic perceptions about academics and intelligence and teaching that we are leaving unchecked.

And Robinson concludes it’s an outdated system that won’t serve us well in the 21st Century.

Check it out (h/t New Albany Confiential):

Thoughts?

“Teachers touch all our lives and are the foundation on which we build our community,” Fischer said in a press release. “I am honored that the teachers believe in me and my campaign.”

The mayor has no formal authority over public school policy, however the Fischer campaign has released a plan for improving education that includes developing vibrant after-school programs, putting a nurse in every school and creating a program called Every 1 Knows that works with parents, in their workplaces and at their houses of worship, to get them the information about raising their children and to help plan for higher education.

Here’s a taste from a press release:

Eight of the book’s ten indicators measuring children’s receipt of work supports showed an increase in participation since 2000, including the following:

• Between 2000 and 2009 the number of children receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) benefits increased by 56 percent (over 100,000 children).

• Participation in the Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) increased by 24 percent (over 20,000 children) between 2000 and 2009.

• The percent of children attending public schools eligible for free or reduced-price meals increased from 48 percent to 52 percent between the 1999-2000 and 2009-2010 school years.

• In 2009, an average of 60,778 children were enrolled in the Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program (KCHIP) each month, up 35 percent from 2000.

• Medicaid enrollment grew by 47 percent (over 123,000 children) from 2000 to 2009.

• The number of children receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits grew by 31 percent (over 6,900 children) between December 2000 and December 2008.

Despite these increases in receipt of benefits, many children and families in Kentucky are still missing out on work supports they are eligible for due to barriers such as lack of information and a confusing and laborious application process. For instance, estimates suggest that between 15 and 25 percent of Kentuckians eligible for the EITC do not claim it when they file their taxes. And while Kentucky’s participation in SNAP is high, a 2009 study of food bank users found that almost half do not receive SNAP. In addition, only 58 percent of eligible children participated in WIC in 2008.

“Many families in Kentucky may be eligible for work supports for the first time in their lives due to the recession,” said (Terry Brooks, executive director for Kentucky Youth Advocates). “By improving and expanding our outreach efforts we not only ensure that families can make ends meet, we are helping them access federal resources for which they are already eligible. Those resources, that would otherwise go unused, reduce the financial burden on the state, local communities, and businesses and non-profits.”

The book also lists a few positive trends for the state, not the the least of which is a lower infant mortality rate (from 9.8 per 1,000 first-year infants to 6.7) and a child death rate (per 100,000 kids) that dropped from 32 to 22.

But any good news beyond that is kind of scarce. As LEO Weekly first reported earlier this year, the rise in the number of homeless children enrolled in Jefferson County Public Schools is directly attributable to the number of unemployed wrought by the collapse of the U.S. housing market, the net effect being the large scale screwing of poor kids, whom we treat like dirt, and the data collected by Kentucky Youth Advocates only confirms the worst.

According to the book, an estimated 47 percent of renter households have incomes in 2010 that are too low to adequately afford the cost of rent and utilities for a 2-bedroom apartment.Furthermore, it really sucks to be anything other than white in Obama’s America, especially if you’re unemployed or underemployed:

Unequal economic opportunities among races become evident in comparing poverty rates across racial groups. Nationally in 2008, poverty rates were lowest among Asian and Pacific Islander and non-Hispanic White children (12 percent and 11 percent, respectively). Among groups that have experienced systemic lack of access to jobs and other economic opportunities, child poverty rates were higher at 28 percent for Hispanic or Latino children, 31 percent for American Indian children, and 34 percent for Black or African-American children.8 Poverty rates are even greater in Kentucky for many populations, where 20 percent of non-Hispanic White children, 44 percent of Black or African-American children, and 41 percent of Hispanic or Latino children lived in poverty in 2008.

Which is why this fuck compares himself to MLK, right? Right?

Indeed, the best thing about the book is its matter-of-fact tone when describing (with sourced, empirically sound footnotes!) the benefits that social services programs bring to individuals and the communities in which they live, thereby refuting the trickle down nonsense that’s still popular on television and in newspapers via a nonpartisan, issue-centric fashion.

In fact, you should just go read the whole Kids Count book here, or just be thankful we’re not Indiana. Your pick. Also: Louisville’s mayoral candidates will attempt to wax knowledgeable/human on the subject Sept. 9, 10 a.m. at Metro United Way’s 334 East Broadway HQ.

“Being known as a city where education matters is critically important to all our aspirations for economic growth and competitiveness in the years to come. When I am mayor we will be known for education,” says Allen.

However, the co-founder of 8664 acknowledged that the mayor of Louisville has a limited role in the Jefferson County Public School system. Allen says as mayor he’d work with public school officials and state leaders to get his message across and fight for more school resources.

“I envision a Louisville where the community works together to ensure that primary school students learn basic skills, and all high school students graduate prepared to successfully enter the workforce or college,” Tandy said in a press release.  “I am committed to ensure that every Louisville family has the supports they need – whether social, economic, or medical — to be successful.”

The Tandy plan includes:

·      Making libraries, computers, and gyms available to the public after school so that our education resources are available to the entire community, and to keep children occupied between 3 and 6 p.m., when they often are unsupervised.

·      Recruiting parents and volunteers to support our students with additional academic help and through programs such as Security Dads (where fathers patrol hallways, offer tutoring help, and attend after-school events).

·      Promoting events like “Light’s On After School” or “School’s In” night to encourage parents to meet their children at school to help with homework, visit with on-site tutors, and meet with teachers and staff.

·      Helping to secure funding for full time nurses throughout JCPS to promote and support healthy students and to lower the overall absenteeism rate.

·      Expanding after-school, weekend, and summer programs through school-based community centers or other non-profit entities such as faith-based community development centers, providing positive activities that encourage educational achievement and prevent delinquency.

Hoping to make education a centerpiece in the mayoral race, the Tandy camp believes the Mayor’s Office has the bully pulpit that can set the tone on education initiatives with school officials and state leaders, but there are questions about exactly what the mayor of Louisville can do to improve Jefferson County Public Schools, besides offering generalities and words of encouragement.

“Councilman Tandy believes education is the platform for creating jobs in this city,” says Megan Brown, Tandy’s campaign manager. “With a better educated workforce business will want to create more jobs. That’s why it’s so critical that we have the best schools and best education system. And that’s something we should establish early that continues on past the high school level.”

Trumpeting the education horn isn’t a bad move for Tandy and it distinguishes his candidacy to a degree, however, from a political perspective it doesn’t help that the Jefferson County Teachers Association decided to Democratic mayoral candidate and Metro Councilman Jim King, D-10, instead. However, expect the Tandy campaign to hit on education being the cornerstone of any issue in the city, whether it’s job creation or public safety.

“As we begin an exciting new chapter at Spalding University, we could not be more delighted to have as the next leader of the institution an individual like Ms. McClure,” says Carl Thomas, chair of the Spalding University Board of Trustees. “Not only is she deeply ingrained within the Louisville community, she brings a significant passion for and understanding of higher education, and specifically, Spalding University. We are poised for a very bright future.”

Prior to joining Spalding, McClure served as director of development at the Muhammad Ali Center, project manager for Empowerment Zone Initiatives at the Louisville Development Authority, project coordinator for public policy in the Office of the Mayor and director of the Women’s Center of Volunteers of America.