MONDAY SUPERINTENDENT E-MAIL – 12/12/11
The Monday E-mail contains information on the following KDE-related topics:
- Information sought on Operation Preparation
- High School Feedback report available for review
- Innovative teachers sought for Capitol Education Center Advisory Focus Group
- COSEBOC School Awards
If you have questions about the specific items, please see the contact information for each item.
Items from KDE
Information sought on Operation Preparation
Excitement is growing, and many districts have already started planning and recruiting volunteer advisors for Operation Preparation, College-/Career-Advising Week, scheduled for March 12-16, 2012. This activity is designed to support districts in meeting the Commonwealth Commitment to increase the number of students who graduate college and career ready by 50 percent by 2015.
An online toolkit with guidance and resources designed to support each school and district in implementing Operation Preparation is now available at www.operationpreparation.com.
In order to direct any inquiries that we may receive to the appropriate person in each district, we need an Operation Preparation point of contact for your district. We also would like to gather some basic information that will assist us in monitoring how implementation is proceeding across the state and to help us respond to any barriers to implementation you feel may exist.
Please provide this information by completing a brief online questionnaire by Friday, January 13, 2012.
Your support of Operation Preparation is vital as we strive to achieve college/career readiness for all Kentucky students. We look forward to your participation.
High School Feedback Report available for review
This year’s High School Feedback Report on college-going for the graduates from the class of 2009-10 is produced by the Kentucky P-20 Data Collaborative, in cooperation with the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) and the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA).
District assessment coordinators (DACs), Kentucky Student Information System points of contact (KSIS POCs) and superintendents are asked to review and verify the data.
Please review your schools’ and district’s High School Feedback Report before Monday, December 19. Draft reports are available securely through KDE’s Web application page at https://applications.education.ky.gov/login/.
This report is the first in a series of reports on Kentucky graduates. This draft of the High School Feedback Report is not for dissemination or public use.
The public release is scheduled for Tuesday, December 20. The P-20 Data Collaborative will redact or mask some of the data based on the small cell-size counts to ensure that none of the data could be used to identify individual students.
This High School Feedback Report is produced using the Kentucky P-20 Data System and provides information at a deeper level and in a different format than previous reports. For example, information given on the ACT assessment is consistent with Kentucky’s junior-year ACT results, but may not be consistent with previous High School Feedback Reports on the ACT. In previous reports, the last ACT a student took prior to graduation or the highest scores were reported. In the new format, only the results for 2010 graduates from their junior-year, statewide ACT administration are given. Therefore, discrepancies in the way ACT scores are presented are apparent.
If you have questions or concerns about the reports, contact Kate Akers at (502) 564-4201 or kate.akers@education.ky.gov.
Items from Outside Agencies
PLEASE NOTE: Inclusion of items in this section does not constitute endorsement by the Kentucky Department of Education or the Commissioner of Education.
Innovative teachers sought for Capitol Education Center Advisory Focus Group
First Lady Jane Beshear is seeking teachers to serve on an advisory focus group for the Capitol Education Center.
The Capitol Education Center (CEC) is a rehabilitated building on the Capitol grounds. The First Lady envisions the building as a learning center demonstrating state-of-the-art technology for students and teachers who visit the Capitol. The CEC, which will serve as a reception area for students and teachers when they arrive at the Capitol, will house interactive displays that address multiple content areas, including science, social studies, math and language arts.
Planners working on the project need the input of 4th-, 5th- and 6th-grade teachers about what technologies should be employed for the exhibits and other design decisions about how the facility should be configured and operate to best serve groups of students.
The advisory focus group will meet one time in Frankfort on Wednesday, January 4 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET. Those selected to serve on this group will receive reimbursement for travel to and from the meeting as well as lunch prepared by the Governor’s Mansion.
Details about the meeting will be sent to selected teachers in advance of the meeting.
If you are interested in serving on this advisory focus group, please send an e-mail message to Thomas West in the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet at thomas.west@ky.gov. Eight to 12 teachers are needed to serve on the group, representing geographic, ethnic and teaching diversity.
The deadline to apply is Thursday, December 16.
COSEBOC School Awards
The Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC) announces the first annual COSEBOC School Awards, intended to celebrate K-12 schools that are demonstrating success in educating boys and young men of color.
COSEBOC Award-winning schools will receive $10,000 grants and will be featured at the next Gathering of Leaders on April 26-28, 2012, in Durham, North Carolina. COSEBOC also will promote these schools nationwide.
Guidelines and application forms are available at http://www.coseboc.org/school-award.htm.
Schools in which at least 25 percent of male students are of color (African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic, Native American, Multi-Racial) are eligible to apply. Schools do not need to be members of COSEBOC to apply and/or be selected.
To apply, interested schools must review the guidelines, complete the forms and application, and submit them to SchoolAwards@coseboc.org by January 12, 2012.
COSEBOC, based in Somerville, Mass., seeks to develop a collaborative network of schools that nurture success in boys of color. COSEBOC is committed to high standards, exemplary instruction and the building of coalitions within and outside the community. The intended long-term outcome of this coalition will be boys of color who are fully equipped to achieve academically, socially and emotionally.