Attracting Quality Instructors: Exit interview with Billy Harper: Part 4

The Bluegrass Institute recently sat down to talk about public education in Kentucky with Billy Harper, who recently completed a four-year term on the Kentucky Board of Education

In this fourth segment, he talks about how better utilizing Kentucky’s alternative certification process for attracting quality instructors could help address the lack of science and math teachers. He also talks about the how “teaching to the test” is not a bad practice, “if you’re giving the right test, asking for the right information,” and the importance of our students learning foreign languages.

And although he supports a merit-pay system for teachers and that “student progress should be a critical part of that,” Harper also said it will take more time to properly implement such a system as administrators need training on properly conducting such evaluations.

Harper also shares interesting insights on curriculum, stressing that education fundamentals really do matter in the business world. He indicated that our teachers need more training on how to beef up their instruction in math, science and engineering, known as the STEM education areas.

View the other videos here.