LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky education leaders unveiled a new initiative on Thursday meant to better prepare the state’s students to move between different phases of learning.
The Commonwealth Education Continuum will include officials representing early childhood, K-12 and postsecondary education. The group is being co-chaired by Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman; Aaron Thompson, president of the Council on Postsecondary Education; and Jason Glass, Kentucky’s education commissioner.
Another 27 members are expected to be appointed soon, ahead of the panel’s first meeting scheduled for January. The initiative isn’t expected to require any state appropriations.
Gov. Andy Beshear said during a virtual news conference that the continuum will, among other things, work to improve students’ outcomes and eliminate gaps that could make transitions harder, such as from high school to college.
“The goal: To find ways to ease educational transitions and to create a cohesive experience for every Kentucky student from their earliest years, all the way through continuing to our adult learners,” Beshear said.
While a full list of goals – and steps to achieve them -- wasn’t discussed on Thursday, Thompson said there are “three urgent priorities.”
First, he said, students and their families must receive better information about how to plan and pay for college – as early as middle school. Officials also must increase access to high school dual-credit classes and other college prep work.
And, Thompson added, Kentucky must attract a more diverse pool of teachers, including men and people of color.
Coleman, secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, said the group’s announcement is a “huge step” toward breaking down barriers that sometimes exist between different government agencies.
“The collaboration between these shareholders and leaders will cultivate energy and synergy to help us build a better Kentucky for everyone,” she said.
Coleman said she believes there is a “direct correlation” between only 51 percent of Kentucky children being ready for kindergarten and just 60 percent of the state’s high school graduates ready for careers or college.
She said the continuum’s members will represent a wide range of Kentucky’s education system, including teachers, school boards, higher education and early childhood education. JT Henderson, a cabinet spokesman, said business leaders and elected officials also will serve on the panel.
Henderson wasn’t able to immediately say whether any of the anticipated goals will require approvals or changes by the state legislature or local school boards.
The group is being formed as Kentucky faces financial and education pressures from COVID-19, which has led to an increase in virtual learning and, in some cases, suspended in-person classes. Asked whether the continuum’s work could be done by existing agencies, especially in light of the pandemic, Henderson said Coleman believes now is the time to act.
“Her contention is that educational gaps are being broadened by the pandemic," Henderson said. "Obviously, we know that communities of color and folks that are impoverished are seeing more adverse effects of the pandemic, so she believes that that’s happening also in education.”
“That is why this is important,” he said. “We need to go ahead and start this work, today.”
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