This paper describes Louisville, Kentucky's Community Accountability Team (CAT), which promoted parent and citizen involvement in school reform. It was unique to the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), a large, urban district, and represented a strategy in a rapidly building national movement to make education more transparent and accountable…

Although at least four states have developed and validated instruments to assess principals' performance, most states, including Kentucky, rely on outdated criteria and continue to use inappropriate technical procedures in developing appraisal instruments. There is need to evaluate the principal as an individual on processes and as a team member…

Kentucky high schools are attempting to address requirements of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). This study was conducted to collect and interpret data related to the implementation of high school restructuring and make recommendations. Thirty-three schools were invited to participate based on categories of restructuring,…

This paper describes Morehead State University's support of the Kentucky Education Reform Act through mini-grants to public school teachers to help them implement state reform mandates and guidelines in the classroom through in-school action research projects. Morehead State University funded 18 mini-grants to 14 different schools in 11 different…

This paper presents a focused case study of Ann and Kay, a team of exemplary elementary teachers, as they worked to modify their mathematics instruction to be consistent with the goals of the Kentucky Education Reform Act and Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS), its innovative high-stakes assessment system. At the time of the…

Teachers in Kentucky are using portfolios to determine strengths and weaknesses of individual students. Consequently, instruction is centered totally around the student. The implementation of portfolios sends the message to students that their first efforts should not be their last. Revision is part of improvement, and students are expected to…

This guide is intended to provide direction to Kentucky districts and schools as they develop local curricula designed to meet the state's six learning goals and academic expectations as identified in the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Specifically, the guide provides direction to local curricula development teams; effects change by…

As part of a qualitative study of education reform in four rural Kentucky school districts, this report examines instructional changes that have occurred in the upper primary grades as a result of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Researchers interviewed 13 principals, 37 teachers, and 14 eighth-grade students; observed 73 teachers working…

The central role of writing in Kentucky's Education Reform Act is most evident in Kentucky's new assessment system, which employs writing on all levels. Even tests that have recently included multiple-choice items may be replaced by response items that require students to apply knowledge, concepts, and skills in a writing format. Writing itself is…

Based on the experiences of teachers, principals, and parents involved in the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), this book is a collection of accounts and reflections by teachers or administrators who have engaged in developing and implementing nongraded primary education programs. The articles in this book are: (1) "Reforming the…

The attitudes of students in ungraded primary and fourth grade classes toward educational-reform changes implemented in their classrooms were studied in Kentucky, using a sample of 53 students from the primary grades and 47 students from the fourth grade. Multi-age, multi-ability grouping, as experienced by these primary students, is a feature of…