With job demands continuing to increase, more workers will need some type of postsecondary education and training. By 2020, postsecondary education or training will be required by 62% of jobs in Kentucky. High-quality postsecondary education opportunities in Kentucky must be inclusive of all students, and Kentucky should ensure that all students are prepared for, have knowledge of, and are encouraged to pursue opportunities through postsecondary education pathways.

Unfortunately, the transition from high school to postsecondary education is rocky for many students. Achievement gaps remain despite recent gains in the college readiness of Kentucky high school graduates. Overall, college readiness rates grew from 34% in 2010 to 55% in 2017. But only 33% of African American students, 45% of Hispanic students, and 42% of students from families with low incomes achieved college-ready status in 2017. This means traditional college entrance exams leave many students behind and are growing inadequate for determining admission.

Despite the fact that more students were ready for college, the number of students actually going to college in Kentucky has declined from 55.5% in 2010 to 53.5% in 2014. Similarly, recent research by the Strategic Data Project at Harvard University, in partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Center for Statistics, have focused on the entirety of the college-going pathway, beginning in the ninth grade. Their analysis found that for every 100 Kentucky ninth graders, 45 seamlessly transitioned to college upon graduating, while only 34 persisted into their second year.

As outlined by the Prichard Committee in Pursuit of Excellence: Principles to Guide Kentucky’s Future Postsecondary Success, improved practices that help ensure students are prepared and encouraged to transition and persist in postsecondary education can lead to greater levels of student success. We are developing a Postsecondary Transitions Blueprint that will elevate best practices and policies that ensure every student can progress and successfully transition to postsecondary education, with an emphasis on increasing equity and closing achievement gaps. This tool will be designed to help education leaders and community members build awareness and impact practice by illuminating key data and telling success stories of high-performing schools. The Postsecondary Transitions Blueprint will also highlight evidence-based policies and practices, including:

• Maintaining rigorous academic standards that clearly establish what students should know and be able to do to achieve postsecondary readiness.
• Encouraging greater college going and persistence.
• Ensuring that high-quality early postsecondary opportunities and career pathways are available to all students.

Parents and community members should work closely with school leaders and teachers to ensure all students are prepared for, have knowledge of, and are encouraged to pursue opportunities through postsecondary education pathways. Important questions to ask include:

• Do all students have access to rigorous courses needed to prepare them for postsecondary education?
• Are all students provided with advising and support to explore career options based on their skills and interest? How can parents and community members help in this process?
• Do all students have opportunities for early postsecondary education such as dual credit and Advanced Placement courses?

November 27, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information, Contact:
Brigitte Blom Ramsey, Executive Director
(office) 859-233-9849
(cell) 859-322-8999
brigitte.blomramsey@prichardcommittee.org

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Jefferson County advocate receives Raimondo Leadership Award Recognized by Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – An education advocate described as a passionate champion for giving every student access to educational excellence is the recipient of the 2018 Beverly Nickell Raimondo Leadership Award presented by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

Judith Bradley of Louisville, the parent of a high school student with special needs, has become a resource and advocate for all students with disabilities and their families.

Her conviction about her son’s potential “had her keeping up with laws on how Kentucky schools are supposed to work, reaching out to university researchers, educating teachers and administrators about strategies for supporting students with special needs and encouraging her son to identify and articulate his needs,” Prichard Committee Executive Director Brigitte Blom Ramsey said in announcing the award.
Bradley’s son, Jack, became the first Inclusion Ambassador for the Prichard Committee’s Student Voice Team where he helped interview students at the Kentucky School for the Blind, participated in strategy sessions, presented at conferences, testified before state and local school boards, and wrote commentaries for the local and national media.

In 2016, Bradley launched JackBeNimble, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the community with tools to, as she describes it, “bridge the empathy gap between students, families, educators and policymakers.”

The award, presented at the committee’s recent annual meeting, recognizes the legacy of Beverly Raimondo, who developed the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership more than 20 years ago. Since its creation, the institute has trained more than 2,500 parents and guardians in Kentucky to effect positive change in schools for their own children and all other students.

One of Bradley’s nominators noted: “If ever there was a person who embodies Bev Raimondo’s vision of a parent leader who understands that success means working to improve the system for all children, beyond one’s own, it would be difficult to find a parent more fitting than Judith Bradley.”

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The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence is an independent, nonpartisan, citizen-led organization working to improve education in Kentucky – early childhood through postsecondary.