April 2018
From school board to the Capitol?It was big news when 40-plus current and retired educators filed for seats in the state legislature. What didn’t attract as much attention is the fact that a half-dozen school board members past and present also filed. But we noticed: Read about what motivated them.
Testing, testingThe much-touted “dashboard” will not be fully lit for the state assessments that students will take this spring, but board members need to be aware of at least one aspect that will be on the record: the lowest-performing schools will be identified.
STEM powerOr girl power? It’s both, in Elizabethtown Independent’s program designed to spur interest by girls in science, technology, engineering and math. Women-in-Science has dramatically increased interest in the STEM fields among female high school students, and outreach efforts also are reaching girls in the lower grades.
Gap closersKSBA’s Gap Closure Project has helped seven local school districts create innovative programs designed to close achievement gaps among subgroups in their districts. The projects are far from cookie-cutter, using approaches ranging from trauma-informed instruction to ways to hear the student voice.
School shooting falloutStudents made the major difference in the reaction to the latest incidents of fatal school violence, including one in Kentucky. But school safety experts, like Oldham County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Meece, above, say the response from schools and communities raised familiar themes.