With the 2020 Kentucky General Assembly in full swing and budget discussions taking place, one theme is clear: Kentucky’s financial situation is dark. At the Prichard Committee, however, we are focusing on the light at the end of the tunnel as we have always done in our work to build a stronger future for Kentuckians and their communities. We see this light as one that will bring the state and its citizens out of financial distress and poverty, as one that will lessen the scourge of the drug epidemic and the overcrowding of our prisons. That light is education.
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FEBRUARY 2020 \ MONROE COUNTY
A clear handle on fractions is the goal for fourth-grade math students one January morning at Gamaliel Elementary, a small school perched near the Tennessee border in Monroe County. Teacher Shelly Buck asks her students to concentrate and visualize: “Make up one-fourth in your head,” she says. “If you were to visually picture one-fourth, is it more or less than one half?” She asks students to think and be prepared to take a position or to agree or disagree with classmates ...
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February 10, 2020FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEFor more information, contact:Jessica Fletcher, Senior Director, Communications & External Affairs(office) 859-233-9849(cell) 859-539-0511jessica.fletcher@prichardcommittee.org On Monday, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence’s Groundswell Initiative will kick off a series of meetings aimed at helping Kentuckians explore how to pave the path to …
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Kentucky’s K-12 data may show only small STEM gaps by gender, but postsecondary STEM degrees are another matter. At our public universities, female students are a majority of enrolled students and bachelor degree recipients, but a small minority of STEM degree recipients, and the drop-off is much worse for female students seeking associate degrees. Using data from the Council on Postsecondary Education’s data portal, here’s one way to see the problem.
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House Bill 87 of the 2020 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly aims to increase the number of students completing the FAFSA – the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – by making it a high school graduation requirement.
The legislation would allow waivers of the requirement under certain circumstance for hardship or if a student/parent certifies they understand the FAFSA and are choosing not to fill it out.
Recently, several states – including Louisiana, Texas, and Illinois – have adopted requirements similar to what is being proposed in House Bill 87. Louisiana saw a 25% increase in completions after implementing the change, but it is not all attributed to the requirement. Louisiana took a multi-pronged approach including peer-support programs, one-on-one assistance for students and families, phone-call reminders, and completion incentives.
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Would you drive a car whose technology hasn’t changed in 30 years? Would you trust a surgeon who uses the same techniques used 30 years ago? As a consumer, would you expect continued innovation, research, development, and respectful progress in the profession? Would you support and invest in the organizations responsible for creating and producing these products and services in hopes of receiving the best and most innovative outcomes?
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January 29, 2020 Strategic investments still needed in early childhood, K-12 and higher education On Tuesday night, the first step in the state budget process began as Gov. Andy Beshear released his budget proposal, which placed education funding as a top priority. The Prichard Committee …
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Our education system is at a crux. A generation of students face unprecedented challenges of a global society. Experienced teaching professionals with a wealth of institutional knowledge are in a phase of the retirement process. Young teachers feel overwhelmed and under-supported, and education funding is threatened daily. Further, superintendents are faced with a dilemma: meet the requirements of a traditional, bureaucratic instructional system whose academic performance is based on standardized testing or providing cutting-edge opportunities for their students to prepare them for a workforce of the future. A lack of time, money, and support for personnel adds to the burden of creating change within their districts.
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JANUARY 2020 \ ROBERTSON COUNTY
At first, the idea of a four-minute scavenger hunt seeking examples of basic geometry terms seemed like a dud. Students in Deana Rosenthal’s 4th grade classroom in Robertson County first responded by looking at each other as much as surveying the room.
Soon, however, someone noticed perpendicular lines on the door frame. Or the parallel stripes of the classroom flag. Students jumped from their seats to trace the mortar between the blocks in the wall — the right angles of perpendiculars. The flagpole was declared a line segment.
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We are pleased to see the commitment by the Governor to make strides that stem the erosion of education funding in the face of significant budget challenges.
Based on $1.256 billion in additional resources over the biennium, major elements of the Governor’s proposed budget include: investments to fully fund pensions, a $2,000 raise for school teachers, restoration of textbook funding, a 1% increase in the base SEEK per-pupil guarantee, increasing the base funding to colleges and universities, and increasing student financial aid continuing a commitment to allocate 100% of lottery proceeds to scholarships.
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