Kentucky Department of Education

 

Transitional Courses

Last Updated on Wednesday, August 03, 2011 at 5:02 AM

With the passage of Senate Bill 1 in the 2009 session of the Kentucky General Assembly, the Commonwealth of Kentucky is poised at the beginning of a new era. As part of Unbridled Learning: College and Career Readiness for All, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE), along with a myriad of other stakeholders has identified several strategies to help schools and districts meet the Commonwealth Commitment, a pledge taken by every school district in Kentucky to prepare high schools graduates to be college- and career- ready.

English/Language Arts Transitional Courses

 

Mathematics Transitional Course

 

Two target indicators help address this overall vision in college and career readiness:

  • Increase the percentage of students who are college and career ready from 34% to 67% by 2015
  • Increase the averaged freshman graduation rate from 76% to 90% by 2015

One foundational strategy identified to help ensure student success in this commitment is Targeted Interventions. The transitional courses are part of this strategy. The target audience for the transitional courses is high school seniors who scored below readiness benchmarks for English, Reading, or Mathematics on the ACT.

 

Statewide teams of secondary and postsecondary educators were tasked to assist regional school districts and high schools in designing and implementing transitional mathematics and reading courses.  These transitional courses center on a framework of content and concepts aligned with the revised Kentucky Core Academic Standards and aligned with college and career readiness standards.

 

These courses should be adapted to meet the specific needs and conditions in each high school.  They may be offered as an actual full semester course, but could also be offered as an intervention for students before or after school, as a supplement to existing mathematics courses or a course in which students have flexible entry and exit based on pre-assessment scores. The flexibility of the course is designed to provide schools with multiple options to meet student needs without compromising the other opportunities available to them. 

For more information contact:

April Pieper
500 Mero Street, 19th floor CPT
Frankfort, KY 40601
Phone: 502-564-2106 x4514
april.pieper@education.ky.gov