united we stand, divided we fall

Kentucky's motto adopted 6 months after our founding is my favorite motto amongst the states (yes, I reviewed them all ... also good, Rhode Island & Virginia). These meaningful mottos make for poor state flags, but are good words to live by generally. And in Kentucky, the motto and my experience of a decade of the Commonwealth are tightly fit together. From my experience, Kentucky as a state is the most unified state internally and perhaps the most unifying of all the 50 states, living as it does between north and south, and so many other divisions, trying throughout our history to bring the distinct parts of America together. 

Kentucky, though, finds itself right now out-of-step with our motto. As I write this, thousands of teachers are marching on the capitol. Name-calling on all sides has been rampant. And, worst, we have stopped listening to each other.

Such moments will exist in the course of human events. Marches have proven to be quite useful and progressive tools over time. Perhaps this is one of those times. I'm proud of the teachers for standing up for their beliefs against powerful forces seeking new shapes for education in America. However, the spark that lit this fire in particular, pensions, was in need of reform and this administration was willing to tackle it, however poorly that was executed. At some point, everyone stopped listening, started shouting, rammed through last minute bills, and shut down schools. Where did that get us? Where did that leave our kids? 

We know where this road of division leads. It leads backwards. It leads Kentucky back to the pre-KERA days. Kentucky largely stood above our southern neighbors by abstaining from both divisive policies and discord amongst schools and educators. We worked largely toward a shared vision established, and funded, at KERA. And, we made serious progress. Devolving back into division away from our shared goals will only hurt our children. 

Perhaps the days of KERA have run their course and it is time for a new shared vision for public education in Kentucky. Reasonable voices, I know, can find such a shared vision for us. But, I also know that national conservative voices that have done so much harm to public education in other states should have no seat at the conversation and no place in our vision in how to execute our mandate to provide "an efficient system of common schools." 

Original Seal of Kentucky, Hugging it Out

But, the vision from which we cannot stray was written down at our founding. It has served Kentucky well for 226 years. 

United we stand. Divided we fall. 

Kentucky has a school culture problem ...

because far too many kids are being removed from school in the name of "discipline." 

Source: Kentucky Safe Schools Annual Statistical Report 

Now, I want to make sure you understand that the 287,981 suspension or expulsion events are across 655,475 students total P-12 in the system. So, a ratio of 43 events per 100 kids. And, second, there are lots of repeat offenders. In fact, 86,930 kids are responsible for those 286,981 events. So, that total ratio is 13 kids per 100 kids can expect to be suspended or expelled. 

But, for many reasons that too does not accurately capture the challenges either. The vast majority of school discipline happens in grades 6-12 (middle and high) so the ratios are skewed by using the full population. Your chance of suspension/expulsion in grades K-5 is small, only 14 events per 100 kids. But, in 6-12 the game changes to 70 events per 100 kids. In 9th grade in particular, there are 107 events per 100 kids (more suspension/expulsion events than there are kids). At those very formative moments transitioning into adulthood, 1 in 4 kids (26%) are currently being suspended or expelled. What result do we expect for that 26% of kids who are suspended in their first year of high school? Will they discover the error in their ways while sitting in the in-school suspension room and reform themselves? Or will they give up on the system? Will they determine the culture to be one to which they are ill suited. Will they count the days until they can drop out?  

The bottom line is that this is a picture of a something that is broken. Our middle and high schools have a culture where many children are suspended and some many times over. Kids misbehave for a variety of reasons and some of that behavior does require removal from the learning environment. But, much of the misbehavior of kids is a direct response to the lack of engagement/motivation/hope by schools. Not every lesson is going to be captivating and compelling, but a child should have a reasonable expectation that each day they walk into the school something throughout the day will be captivating and compelling. Sadly, this is not our current culture. Perhaps it is time we consider a change. 

Data Sources: 
1. Kentucky Safe Schools Annual Statistical Report 2016-17
2. Kentucky School Report Card, Statewide Data 2016-17

kentucky & the "super schools" we need

Today, the ultra high profile XQ America "super schools" were announced. None were in Kentucky, including here in Fayette County Public Schools of course.

But, Lexington and Kentucky already has a "super school" ... it is called STEAM. When we looked at the Super School priorities ... we were already doing most of those things but because we were an existing, homegrown school, we could not apply. Now, obviously there is no existing facility so maybe on that front we are still a startup. (If only the district would invest in a "super" facility for their "super school').

In fact, Kentucky already has a developing group of super schools spread throughout the state and I'm proud that our work in the University of Kentucky Next Generation Leadership Academy helped in that. There is the Owensboro Innovation Academy, the ILEAD Academy, the work in Trigg County High School, The Boone County Schools, Eminence Independent School District, Taylor County Schools, Paris Independent Schools-Paris, KY, Marshall County Schools, Shelby County High School, the work of Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative, the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative, and I could go on for quite a while and that is just big projects. Teachers across the Commonwealth in groups like Hope Street Group, JCPSForward, Edcamp Kentucky are moving individual classrooms toward developing Modern Learners. Together, these local super schools and classrooms are already transforming education in Kentucky.

What we do not have in Kentucky, though, is a collective sense of this transformation and a collective, sponsored effort to get the #NextGenHS we all seem to want. Where is our "Super School" coordinated effort like XQ? Top flight educators are doing what professionals do and trying to move the work forward, but there is no coordinated effort. Groups like Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, Kentucky Association of School Administrators, Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky, Kentucky Education Association, KSBA (and more) need to help. Perhaps we need a new entity, such as the Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN) or the NC Friday Institute for Educational Innovation or the Oklahoma K20 Center (many states have coordinated approaches). Maybe some existing unit can make it a huge priority. It is a huge priority for us at University of Kentucky College of Education but we are maxing our capacity to support this work. I'm open to ideas. Is there an existing group that I am missing?

The lesson is, though, that the seeds of innovation have already been planted and they are already growing all over the state. But, those efforts need watering (ahem, building please for STEAM), those efforts need to be evaluated, those efforts need to be networked more tightly, and the seeds from these efforts need to be spread formally and systematically. There needs to be collective expectations (and deliverables) for #NextGenHS redesign all over the state. To expect that though, we have to help them get there at scale. We need to produce start-up guides and transitional supports. We need large scale professional development to retrain our education workforce. We need support in tough meetings where issues like dual credit are not just tweaked or incentivized, but fundamentally rethought. There are a thousand things to do, but we are not embracing the task head on. At best, we are playing on the edges.

Now, Kentucky knows how to reform ... at least I hope it still remembers. And, generally, Kentucky is great (not just good) at working together to solve problems. For these reasons, and because of our work to already sow the seeds of innovation, we have been specifically targeted by national reform leader Ted Dintersmith as a place where magical things might be possible. He will be in Kentucky in 2 weeks to help us start some of these conversations, so please find a showing of Most Likely to Succeed and hear what he has to say.

Kentucky, while XQ drops millions on a few "super schools," without any major financial support we have already developed our own homegrown examples of what the schools we all seem to want look like. We can continue to exceed outsider expectations and continue to be a global leader in education reform ... but we need to take the next step. I'm open to any feedback to help us do that.