Along the way, some good points surface

A couple of days ago, I blogged about “School standards in the new era???”, which criticizes a scheme to reduce grading standards in Bullitt County Public Schools so students can receive (but, not really earn) more KEES taxpayer-funded scholarship money. In writing that blog, I generally agreed that the editors at the Courier-Journal had gotten the situation right in this instance.

I had a good discussion with the superintendent in Bullitt, Keith Davis after my blog posted. While he didn’t change my mind that the grading changes in Bullitt were inappropriate, in fairness I need to let you read Mr. Davis’ comments to the Courier’s editorial and decide for yourselves.

I also need to draw attention to something that Bullitt is also doing which appears worthwhile, which Davis describes at the end of his article. Says Davis:

“…our Board of Education took what I consider a huge step to actually increase rigor and student accountability by making it a requirement for graduation (with exceptions for students with special learning needs) that a student demonstrate that they have met the state definition of being either college ready or career ready.”

OK, that looks like a good step going forward. Since the state has now established measurable standards for college and/or career readiness, why should any Kentucky school graduate students who don’t meet either criterion?

There may be some reasons why this Bullitt graduation action is problematic, so if a reader can point those out, please let me know.

I also agree with Davis’ point that KEES award procedures need a review. I have heard complaints recently from other school districts about the way KEES award amounts are calculated. It looks like a number of districts – as the original Courier editorial mentions – have been playing fast and loose with grading schemes to try and get their kids more KEES money that kids with the same performance in other places are not receiving.