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Dear Colleagues:
Last Thursday was one of those happy days, as I love nothing more than to be in one of our public schools. I was part of a group that had the chance to recognize Charlotte Buskill, a 3rd-grade teacher at Newton Parrish Elementary School (Owensboro Independent) when she was named the recipient of a Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award.
Buskill was presented with the award, which includes a $25,000 unrestricted cash prize, in a surprise ceremony at her school that included students, faculty, and district and community leaders. She has taught at Newton Parrish Elementary School since 2016.
I know so many of our teachers are doing great things across the Commonwealth every single day, so it’s always a pleasure when we can recognize one of them with an award like this. Buskill – who said her own education wasn’t always easy due to dyslexia – goes above and beyond to encourage her students in STEM activities and sponsors the Student Technology Leadership Program.
You can read more about the presentation on Kentucky Teacher. Please join me in congratulating Buskill and the 59 other great Kentucky educators who have received the Milken Educator Award over the years, and thanking them for all they do.
Thursday also was a great day at the Kentucky School for the Blind (KSB), where a new accessible playground for students was unveiled. The park was the idea of KSB 4th-grader Anthony Brettnacher. The playground includes several features to make it more accessible for students at KSB: wheelchair ramps, chimes and a drum to provide auditory stimulation, an overhead shade to help students with albinism, climbing features, a slide, a group see-saw and a rubberized surface to cushion any falls.
The excitement of the students was so great to see as they had the chance to explore this new playground equipment. Giving all of our students the opportunity to play and explore is part of KDE’s and the Kentucky Board of Education’s commitment to equity. I want to thank all of the people who helped make that new experience for our students a reality.
And please remember that tomorrow will be the next Superintendents Webcast at 2-4 p.m. ET. You will be receiving a link from me in your email to attend the webcast and as usual, it will be recorded and posted on the KDE Media Portal.
Kind regards,
Jason E. Glass, Ed.D.
Commissioner and Chief Learner
Rank Change Opportunities for Kentucky Reading Academies’ LETRS Participants
A process has been developed to offer teachers participating in the Kentucky Reading Academies’ Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) professional learning the opportunity to achieve a rank change. This comes in partnership with Kentucky educational cooperatives.
Green River Regional Educational Cooperative (GRREC) and Southeast South-Central (SESC) Educational Cooperative both have a Continuing Education Option (CEO) Program in which they are accepting LETRS participants. Participants who meet guidelines and expectations of the CEO programs and complete the two-year LETRS professional learning through the Kentucky Reading Academies would receive a rank change. The CEO programs offered at each cooperative include costs that must be paid for by the participant.
Informational flyers about each program can be accessed at GRREC ED CEO and SESC CEO.
Any participant, no matter the cooperative region in which they live, can complete the CEO program at GRREC or SESC. Both cooperatives are currently enrolling candidates into their CEO programs for LETRS. If you are interested, please email Rebecca Gaddie or Jason Reeves.
KDE’s Transformational Change Series for School Leaders
The Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Transformational Change Leadership Series consists of three one-day conference experiences offered in both Lexington at the Central Bank Center and Bowling Green at the Hilton Garden Inn from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. local time.
Participants interested in attending the sessions at the Central Bank Center in Lexington should mark their calendars to attend on Jan. 25, Feb. 21 and March 28. Participants interested in participating at the Hilton Garden Inn location in Bowling Green should mark their calendars to attend on Jan. 26, Feb. 22 and March 29. Each conference experience is designed for optimal engagement, relevance and applicability. The conference series comes at no cost to participants.
The first conference will engage participants in an in-depth study of the nature and logic behind transformational school leadership and how transformational change leadership differs from leadership for continuous, incremental improvement.
Topics will include the leadership concepts of self-awareness, characteristics of high-trust organizations, servant leadership values, developing a personal leadership platform, collecting and interpreting data to support school transformation and the role of instructional leadership for transformational change.
The second conference will focus on designing and leading change, improvement science, leadership transitions, futuring and paradigm studies, creating meaningful work and principles of sustainability.
The third conference will center on the study of how organizational culture can be assessed and shaped to catalyze transformational change, creating community, developing constituent voice, attracting and retaining talent, leading great groups and how to effectively market/brand a school’s improvement vision. Each attendee interested in participating in the training series must complete the registration form no later than Jan. 10. Questions regarding the training should be directed to Tim Godbey.
Free Professional Development for Teachers
Funded by a grant from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program, the National Council for History Education (NCHE) announced the second year of a series of free professional development opportunities designed to support K-12 teachers. This year's theme is Rural Lives in Context. The series includes:
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Asynchronous Learning: From Dec. 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023, registered teachers will self-pace through two online courses: the Library of Congress’ 6-week module course, “Teaching with Primary Sources Basics,” and the Right Question Institute 4-week module course, “Teaching Students to Ask their Own Primary Source Questions.” If you do not have a lot of experience using primary sources in your classroom, want to learn about the Library of Congress’ collection of sources and/or want to add to your toolbox of strategies using primary sources, this professional learning is highly recommended.
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Online Colloquia: Registered teachers will participate in three online synchronous Saturday professional development sessions led by historians, educational specialists and master teachers. These sessions will be held on Feb. 25, April 15 and May 6, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET and will focus on a variety of topics related to Rural Lives in Context. During this time, teachers also applying for the onsite colloquium will identify a community partner to assist them with their public history project. NCHE is happy to assist if needed.
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Onsite Colloquium: Fifteen teachers (preference will be given to K-12 teachers in rural schools) will be selected to travel to the University of Oklahoma along with their community partners on July 15-16. During this two-day learning experience, teachers and community partners will build civic connections and develop a plan for their students to create a public history project in their own community. In addition, there also will be planned tours for seeing public history in action. Teachers will receive a $750 stipend to defray travel costs and up to $750 to support their community project. The application deadline is March 17. For application consideration, teachers must have participated in the Online Colloquia.
Support will be provided throughout all phases of this project with built-in additional collaboration opportunities with other teachers and the NCHE staff. Additional information about the program and registration links are available on the NCHE webpage.
For more information, email Shashawna Williams, the Kentucky Department of Education’s Rural and Low-Income Schools consultant, or call (502) 693-6590.
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