Senate Bill 1 receives thoughtful testimony in education committee

On Thursday of this week, the Kentucky Senate's Education Committee entertained several presenters on Senate Bill 1, a bill that would introduce numerous reforms to the accountability system in Kentucky's K-12 schools. Readers will remember that we profiled SB 1 on Monday.

The mainstream media reports about the committee meeting focused on one Democrat committee member's process complaints about SB 1, but failed to report on the substance of the presenters' testimony.

We thought one presenter's opinions on SB 1 were especially thoughtful - Dawn Hills, a fifth grade teacher at Woodfill Elementary in Fort Thomas. Hills spoke to the committee members about her experiences administering the CATS testing, the current Kentucky accountability system, and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, the type of "norm-referenced" test that Kentucky's educational accountability system would change to under SB 1. Hills also appeals to committee members as a parent, encouraging them to have the courage "to make the changes necessary for our students to move forward." Watch Dawn Hills' testimony in the Senate Education Committee:

Dawn Hills, Fifth Grade Teacher at Woodfill Elementary in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky

One other highlight of Thursday's meeting was the brief testimony of Senate President David Williams, the primary sponsor of SB 1. Responding to critics from the state's teachers' unions, Williams spotlighted the teachers' unions true concern about SB: that it would allow the Kentucky Department of Education and individual school systems to monitor the progress of each teacher's students' performance. Senator Williams also gives an impassioned argument for raising the expectations for Kentucky's school children in the hopes that they can reach new heights of personal success. Watch Senate President David Williams:

Senate President David Williams testifies on SB 1

The Senate Education Committee will take up additional testimony on SB 1 next Tuesday. Stay tuned for more coverage of this important legislation.

Comments

Can we get Dawn Hills to run for office?

Wonder is she would move into Tim Shaughnessy's district to run against that sourpuss?

[BILked]

Senator Williams has hit the nail on the head. Many parents I have spoken to have said many of the same things he did in the attached video.

IT IS TIME to quit protecting the under-performing teachers. Identify them, re-train them and then turn them loose to teach again or get rid of them.

I don't care if we pay an under-performing teacher $100,000 per year, he/she will still be an ubnder-performing teacher but they will not suffer, only our children will continue to suffer.

We have spent BILLIONS of tax dollars on education since 1990. Billion$ yet we can't break into the top 45 states in education achievement.

We are number 1 in some things though:

#1 fattest state in the southeast
#1 is state citizens with the fewest amount of teeth
#1 in teenage smoking
#1 in adult smoking
and because we are such an under-performing education achievement state, I predict we will soon be #1 in adults who waste the rent money on casino GAMBLING. (not gaming as the PC people call it)

And as a recepient of the Ky. educational system, I hope I win the lottery tonight :)

Senator Williams, You are so right! I have had two children attend college in the last four years. They are not getting prepared for college with our current educational system. They are lost and the colleges will agree. I know change is hard. I know trying to tackle this is almost impossible. Thank you for having the courage to do the right thing...to make the changes necessary to really improve education for our children. They depend on us to do that for them. We depend on you and your collegues to do that for us. Thank you!

[BILked]

Look a new number #1

We are #1 in another category

"Kentucky led the nation with by far the largest percentage increase in prison population of any state in the country – an astonishing 12 percent increase in just one year!"

I'm sure education had nothing to do with this.

[BILked]

Hey look from the L.A. Times:

We broke into the top 6 in yet another bad category:

From the L.A. Times
Opponents say the funding will come from Kentuckians gambling away their milk money -- a troubling prospect for a state with the sixth-highest poverty rate in the nation.

Here is the article:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-horses1mar01,0,6932271.story

Horse racing industry bets on casinos

Its economic survival depends on them, say backers of a Kentucky legalization measure. Critics worry about a culture clash.
By Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 1, 2008
BOURBON COUNTY, KY. -- Arthur Hancock, a fourth-generation thoroughbred breeder, pointed out his office window on a recent morning to illustrate a fundamental difference between horse racing and casino gambling.

A shimmering copper sun was rising over his 1,800-acre bluegrass farm. A clutch of lithe prize ponies grazed under a gunmetal sky.

"Look out there," said Hancock, 64. "This is a whole different world."

Las Vegas it was not. But Vegas-style gambling is threatening to intrude on Kentucky's genteel horse culture. And to Hancock's chagrin, it is his fellow horsemen who have been its most fervent advocates.

They want voters and legislators to approve a constitutional amendment that would legalize casinos in Kentucky.And they want some of those casinos located at racetracks, where a portion of casino earnings would be used to fatten racing purses.

The strategy already has been embraced by 10 states, including California, to help the beleaguered horse racing industry, which since the 1980s has faced increasing competition from casinos.

Many Kentucky breeders and trainers believe the plan is crucial to saving their state's signature industry. Racing jobs and thoroughbreds, they say, are already flowing to states with bigger purses.

"We're the horse capital of the world, and I don't see how we're going to survive if we don't do something about it," said Buff Bradley, a trainer at Turfway Park, south of Cincinnati.

The debate is about more than saving the racing industry. Supporters, including recently elected Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, hope to use casino revenues to generate millions for a cash-strapped state government. Opponents say the funding will come from Kentuckians gambling away their milk money -- a troubling prospect for a state with the sixth-highest poverty rate in the nation.

But the issue also is tangled in the mystique of an industry central to Kentucky's identity and economy.

Horses serve as an important symbol here -- the state license plate features a horse and the motto "unbridled spirit." And the horse business has fared better than other key industries, such as manufacturing and tobacco. One study from the mid-1990s showed that more than 30,000 jobs were connected to horse racing. More recently, advocates for the broader horse industry estimated its yearly economic impact at $4 billion.

Hancock, who has raised three Kentucky Derby champions, fears that casinos will bring a certain tawdriness to the business. He also worries that fast-paced slot machines will lure gamblers away from racing and eventually kill the sport they were supposed to help.

He knows he is in the minority among horsemen. In 2004, industry leaders formed the Kentucky Equine Education Project, or KEEP, a political action committee that now has 11,000 members. It pushed for casinos aggressively, giving more than $90,000 to political candidates and endorsing the candidacy of Beshear, who was sworn in in December.

In February, Beshear introduced a plan that would allow for 12 casinos in Kentucky, with as many as seven of them at racetracks. Legislators altered that proposal to allow for up to nine casino licenses, with no guarantee for the tracks. The state House could take up the measure as soon as next week, though its prospects are uncertain. If the bill passes the full Legislature, it will go before the voters in a fall referendum.

Both supporters and opponents acknowledge that the horse industry holds a special place here. KEEP's board, in announcing its support for casinos in 2005, said it was acting "in the interest of preserving Kentucky's equine heritage."

The nonprofit group Say No to Casinos played a similar card, hinting that Keeneland -- Lexington's old-school, expertly manicured gem of a track -- would be defiled if other forms of gambling were allowed. "Can you imagine the thought of Keeneland with neon and a few prostitutes thrown in?" its website asks.

Because horse racing attracts so many wealthy investors, it is no surprise that class issues have surfaced in the casino debate.

John-Mark Hack, a spokesman for the anti-casino group, called gaming an "extractive industry," like coal mining, which takes from the state without giving back much. "This is a critical fight to ensure that Kentucky doesn't continue down its historic path of making a small group of wealthy people wealthier on the backs of the have-nots," he said.

Pro-casino horsemen argue that the industry is misunderstood. Without help from casinos, they say, many working-class laborers could be out of a job.

Indeed, on a recent morning at Turfway, there were few opponents of the plan among the grooms, blacksmiths and small-time trainers.

"We'll have to go to other states to race," said Steve Tippett, 63, a trainer who said he learned the business from an old Oklahoma cowboy. "The price of everything has gone up -- the price of hay has gone up -- and we can't survive here without higher purses."

Turfway is decidedly less glamorous than Keeneland or Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. The horses that run here tend to be of a lower quality, the purses are relatively small, and the Indiana casinos are a short drive away.

The track management decided a few years ago to do away with admission. Fridays are dollar-beer nights.

On a recent weekday, Jeff Schild, a 51-year-old stay-at-home dad, sat in the grandstand, placing a few small bets.

To Schild, a casino at Turfway would mean better horses and better races. And unlike Hancock, Schild isn't too worried about the purity of the sport. Nor does he fret for the poor who might spend their paychecks on the slots.

"You can't legislate intelligence," he said.

KEEP's getting their comeuppance with a casino bill that would wipe out the horse industry. Steve Beshear has reaped a whirlwind of ill will. Jody Richards looks like Tip O'Neill on meth. And, David Williams didn't have to lift a finger. It all happened on its own.

12:54, no need for that gal to move, Bob Heleringer will take care of Shaughnessy in November.

[b sweeney]

I had Dawn Hills as my 5th grade teacher at woodfill elementary nearly 17 years ago. Although she was a great teacher and did a stellar job, she and her colleagues were burdened by the requirements of these tests which were in their infancy at the time. There is something wrong with a system that chokes an educator of her ability to the point that it becomes noticeable to a 9 year old. I nurtured an early contempt for "KATS" and the monocle-wearing big-wigs that imposed them on us. Ultimately it played a large role in my decision to seek out-of-state higher education. I refused to trust a system which failed me for so long.

A sign hanging from the Big Mac bridge once read, "Welcome to Kentucky, where education counts" It may count, but it probably can't sum properly. Regardless though, its the allure of counting that matters most in Richmond.

Thanks for the genuine hard work you put towards my education Dawn Hills. More importantly, thanks for caring more than the legislature.

[Stefanie Livers, National Board Certified Teacher]

Our Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) is an authentic form of testing. It goes beyond basic recall knowledge and requires students to apply their content knowledge. This is what the real world is about- application and problem solving. The real world is not about recalling arbitrary facts. Preparing our students with 21st Century Skills is vital for them to be competitive in the workforce. With our CATS testing, we require our students to analyze, problem solve and communicate. If we adopt a test like the IOWA, our students will be communicating only through bubbling in answers, instead of justifying their knowledge of the content.
As a teacher, I educate my parents. They understand the assessment and what the scores mean. I also use them throughout the year, so there won't be confusion. If a parent was mislead by thinking their child was proficient, it is not the fault of the state assessment, but the fault of the teacher.
Our CATS assessment has put Kentucky on the map. Our teaching practice and knowledge base of the content is impressive. I am proud to be a Kentucky National Board Certified Teacher and worry what our education system would look like without CATS. I think we would loose a lot of our high standards and expectations. While our system isn't perfect, it is high quality, well thought out and intentional. It is based on our Program of Studies. I don't think that the IOWA test will be based on our Program of Studies. We will lose our Arts, Practical Living, Music and Drama curriculum. It is sad to say but if it isn't assessed it isn't valued. Here in Kentucky, we educate and assess the WHOLE child.

[C Callen]

I agree with Stefanie Livers on teaching students to fit into the 21st century . . . BUT . . . "little" details like spelling and basic grammar should be taught as diligently as well. I teach high school students and simple words are routinely misspelled (loose for lose - as in your own written comment) in their essays, open responses, and even in their daily notes. Perhaps some "basic skills" would prove beneficial to people in the 21st century as well?

No test will work until the students are held accountable. CATS is terrible!!