ERIC Number: ED404714
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1993
Pages: 40
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: ISBN-1-55877-204-9
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Redesigning an Education System: Early Observations from Kentucky. Strategic Investment: Tough Choices for America's Future.
David, Jane L.
The Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) is the most comprehensive reform legislation nationally, bringing substantial change to all levels of the educational system. A group of researchers who have spent time in schools in Kentucky and policy analysts knowledgeable about Kentucky and other state education reform efforts convened in October 1992 to share their insights on the progress of systemic education reform in Kentucky. This report presents the results of that meeting. Impacts from KERA's implementation that are immediately visible inside districts, schools, and classrooms are: (1) state and local funding increased by almost 25 percent; (2) a very different philosophy of curriculum and instruction for primary students shifted from age-based to developmentally appropriate curricula; (3) well over one-third of Kentucky's schools have school-based decisionmaking councils; (4) major progress has been made in developing and administering the first stage of a dramatically different assessment system; (5) extra educational and social services are available at the school site for large numbers of children and their families; and (6) the Kentucky Department of Education has been fundamentally reorganized and the Office of Education Accountability has been established to monitor KERA's implementation and allegations of wrongdoing. Professional development is essential for successful implementation. Full implementation raises five challenges: expanding capacities at all levels; appropriately timing the implementation steps; avoiding recreation of bureaucracy; sustaining educators and public support; and providing feedback mechanisms for midcourse adjustments without sacrificing coherence. KERA is unique in its comprehensiveness and provides a model experiment in creating and testing performance-based educational systems. Three appendices include highlights of the Kentucky Reform Act; a list of meeting participants; and executive summaries of research reports. (TEJ)
Descriptors: Competency Based Education, Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education, Nongraded Instructional Grouping, Professional Development, School Based Management, School Restructuring, Systems Development
National Governors' Association, 444 North Capitol Street, Washington, DC 20001-1512.
Publication Type: Information Analyses; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Annie E. Casey Foundation, Greenwich, CT.
Authoring Institution: National Governors' Association, Washington, DC.; Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, Lexington, KY.
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Kentucky Education Reform Act 1990
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A