Call to Order and Roll Call
The 1st meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Education was held on Monday, June 9, 2014, at 1:00 PM, in Room 149 of the Capitol Annex. Representative Derrick Graham, Co-Chair, called the meeting to order, and the secretary called the roll.
Present were:
Members: Senator Mike Wilson, Co-Chair; Representative Derrick Graham, Co-Chair; Senators Walter Blevins Jr., Joe Bowen, Jared Carpenter, David P. Givens, Denise Harper Angel, Jimmy Higdon, Stan Humphries, Alice Forgy Kerr, Katie Stine, and Reginald Thomas; Representatives Regina Bunch, John Carney, Hubert Collins, Leslie Combs, Jim DeCesare, Jeffery Donohue, C.B. Embry Jr., Kelly Flood, Jim Glenn, Richard Heath, Joni L. Jenkins, James Kay, Brian Linder, Donna Mayfield, Reginald Meeks, Charles Miller, Rick G. Nelson, Ruth Ann Palumbo, Marie Rader, Tom Riner, Bart Rowland, Wilson Stone, Ben Waide, Addia Wuchner, and Jill York.
Guests: Erin Klarer, Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority; Carl Rollins, Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority; Clyde Caudill, Jefferson County Public Schools and Kentucky Association of School Administrators; Doug Bennett, Laurel County Board of Education; Wayne Young, Kentucky Association of School Administrators.
LRC Staff: Kenneth Warlick, Jo Carole Ellis, Ben Boggs, Janet Stevens, and Daniel Clark.
From Two Systems to One World-Class System of Technical Centers
Gene Bottoms, Senior Vice President, Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB), said a world-class system of technical centers requires a clear connection between technical centers, local community colleges, and employers. Also, should be a bridge between secondary centers and work-site learning. A recent SREB report indicates that Kentucky’s 95 career and technical centers offer students an inconsistent quality of work experiences.
Dr. Bottoms said the report contains four overarching recommendations for Kentucky’s technical centers. There should be one system with equitable and adequate funding; one system of accountability and support for all centers, one system of world-class technical centers, and one system of technical centers in partnership with postsecondary and industry.
Dr. Bottoms said there appear to be weak links connecting the programs to work-site learning. There are things to learn at the work-site that cannot be learned elsewhere. The report recommends that a task force be established for targeted industry sectors to help improve work-site learning opportunities.
The report states that 41 percent of the 11,000 students who graduated from centers were college ready in 2013. Also, 63 percent of students were career ready in academic standards and 49 percent were career ready in technical standards. Only 40 percent of students were both academic and technical ready in 2013. Dr. Bottoms recommends that Kentucky set a 90 percent target for college-and career-readiness, provide technical centers with individual pathway programs for significant improvement, and require technical centers with less than 50 percent of students meeting academic and technical career-readiness standards to develop and implement a comprehensive improvement plan.
Dr. Bottoms said Kentucky should rethink how industry certification exams are approved and expand options regarding what constitutes an approved exam or alternative to industry certification exams. Kentucky should also have career and technical instructors who teach in programs leading to industry certification exams to take and pass the exams students will take. Community college credits should be awarded based on students successfully passing state approved industry certification exams.
Dr. Bottoms said Kentucky should offer extensive staff development to encourage more career and technical students to enroll in college-preparatory English. Also, career and technical centers should offer intensive staff development for ninth and tenth grade teachers to use new college and career-readiness literacy and math tools and to train career and technical teachers to imbed literacy and math into assignments. Dr. Bottoms said Kentucky has a good policy structure regarding dual credit, but the execution of those policies is weak. Dr. Bottoms recommended that the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) collaborate to develop new dual credit policies, prepare promotional materials, and promote career pathways with a workplace option.
Dr. Bottoms said Kentucky career and technical students are experiencing rigorous assignments, but instruction lacks balance and academic instruction is disconnected from application. Kentucky should provide career and technical teachers with intensive training to develop real-world assignments for students and challenge students to research, plan, and problem solve spanning several days. Over the last five years, SREB has developed over 200 hours of instruction on research-based accelerated learning.
In response to Representative Kelly Flood’s questions regarding successful career and technical programs and intense teacher training, Dr. Bottoms said SREB staff along with KDE staff visited six different centers in Kentucky and concluded that leadership at the high performing technical centers was more progressive, more entrepreneurial, and more connected to worksites.
In response to Representative Ben Waide’s questions regarding data on male and female students acquisition of technical degrees, Dale Winkler, Associate Commissioner, KDE, volunteered to provide the information. Mr. Winkler said that energy is one of the top economic sectors identified by the Workforce Investment Board, but Kentucky does not have energy programs at the secondary education level.
In response to Representative Hubert Collins’ questions regarding the relationship between classroom testing, workplace performance, and shortened labs at career and technical centers, Dr. Bottoms said there is a correlation between classroom testing requirements and workplace performance and that labs have been shortened by an hour because of rising requirements for graduation.
Representative Hubert Collins said it is very important for students that the labs at career and technical centers are longer.
In response to Senator Katie Stine’s questions regarding math classes in career and technical schools and which states have the best career and technical school programs, Dr. Bottoms said SREB has developed an advanced manufacturing curriculum for Kentucky and the math classes that are important for that curriculum are algebra and statistics. Dr. Bottoms said Alabama, North Carolina, and Kentucky have some of the best career and technical programs in the country.
Representative John Carney said career and technical education can be an important economic tool in Kentucky and counselors in the school systems need to put more emphasis on promoting career and technical programs.
Chairman Derrick Graham said Kentucky should start career and technical education career pathways in middle school and inform parents about the successful jobs in the career and technical field.
Senator Jimmy Higdon said there should be more local control of career and technology centers, and funding should be equalized at non-state funded local area technology centers. Apprenticeships and cooperative learning opportunities are important in the career and technology field for students to get real life workforce experience.
Chairman Derrick Graham said career and technical education teachers have the same teacher evaluation as all other teachers in schools.
National Center for Innovation in Education
Gene Wilhoit, Executive Director, National Center for Innovation in Education (NCIE), said the vision for the NCIE is that all children will graduate in a culture of high expectations, able to fulfill their full potential in further learning and work, to be contributing members of society, and to succeed in a changing world. The mission for NCIE is to support state efforts to test and scale up innovations in policy, practice, and structure that realign resources and human capacity throughout all levels of the system around the goal of supporting every child to succeed in college, career, and citizenship. NCIE will pursue that mission by bringing together leaders from the state and local levels to bridge the policy and practice gap in ways that build coherence and accelerate implementation toward the outcomes NCIE seeks.
Mr. Wilhoit said there needs to be a system in schools that is much more personalized in learning than it is today. Students need personalized learning so they can reach their full potential. There should be world-class expectations as the measure of success. Mr. Wilhoit said NCIE is working on cycles of innovation with school districts and believes that it takes changes in both policy and practice to improve outcomes.
In response to Representative Addia Wuchner’s question regarding a timeline of application and process changes, Mr. Wilhoit said there should be some robust models available within two years.
In response to Senator Reginald Thomas’ question regarding practical implementation and teachers adjusting to different learning styles, Mr. Wilhoit said it would be difficult for teachers to teach all students with the same instructional methodology. Most students have their own individualized way of learning a subject.
Representative John Carney said Taylor County is doing a lot of individualized instruction called Performance Based Instruction, which helps students learn at their own pace. Schools need to stop social promotions because they are not fair to students.
In response to Chairman Graham’s questions regarding schools of innovation and achievement gaps, Mr. Wilhoit said NCIE is a working resource to the schools of innovation in Kentucky. NCIE is committed to every student being successful, and NCIE has a deep commitment to removing achievement gaps.
Representative Hubert Collins said it is difficult to keep students in school longer for snow days or for extra instructional days.
Mr. Wilhoit said there are issues with going to school longer, but there should be a way for students to continue doing the assignments at home on snow days and stay caught up.
With no further business before the committee, the meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.