Education Commons^™

An Exploration Of Effective District Practices For Enculturating And Retaining Kentucky's Newest Teachers In The Profession, Cari Lea Boyd

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

The teaching profession within P-12 education has more beginners in the field than ever before, growing the profession by 48%, which outpaces the 19% growth in student enrollment. The most common teacher among all practicing in America’s schools is someone in her or his first year of teaching. The decreasing levels of experience in the profession has led to increased rates of attrition because beginners have the highest attrition rates with up to 50% leaving the field within the first five years. Research conducted on teacher retention has focused on why teachers leave the field; hence, a major gap in …

Facts And Trends Regarding Performance And Funding Of K-12 In Kentucky, John Garen

Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers

Kentucky’s K-12 experienced an 80% in increase in per pupil funds, after inflation, from 1990 to 2019. However, there have been only modest changes in its nationally-administered test scores, and no increases in the past decade. Moreover, per pupil funding seems to exceed that of all but the most exclusive private school tuition. Just over one-half of public funds goes directly to instruction and most funds to local schools come from Frankfort. Scoring on Kentucky’s own student assessment tests, the K-PREP, are higher than that of the comparable nationally-administered tests. Also, K-PREP shows improvement, while the other tests do not. …

The Implications Of The Turnaround Process On A Rural Kentucky High School: Teacher Perspectives, Sonya Edwina Anglin

Online Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a phenomenological study of the effects of the turnaround process on a high school in rural central Kentucky. Data used for this study include interviews with teachers and archival materials such as school reports cards. Across Kentucky some forty-one schools have been identified as "priority schools" or persistently low-performing. As such, each one of them has been required to undergo changes in their daily instructional practices, procedures, and policies. The change process has affected faculty and administration and led to overall school improvement. This study provides a look at how the turnaround process has influenced school improvement …

Adequate Yearly Progress And Dropouts: An Analysis Of Kentucky High Schools & Districts, Michelle Schardein

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Education accountability measures, especially since the passage of No Child Left Behind, have been assessed for a variety of factors in empirical research. A large portion of this literature finds that overall, accountability measures increase performance, but also increase the achievement gap. These findings have inspired this research to examine what other marginal groups of students have been affected by the unintended reaction to the consequence-based incentives found in minimum competency accountability programs, such as No Child Left Behind.

In particular, this research looks at how the changes in a high school or school district’s Adequate Yearly Progress marks affect …

Competition Among Public Schools: An Analysis Of Kentucky Public Elementary Schools, Sarah L. Burns

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This study relied on data gathered on school identifiers and characteristics, student and teacher characteristics, and index scores of Kentucky public elementary schools, collected from 2001-2008 at the school level. An extensive literature review was completed in order to examine the effects of competition on public schools, both positive and negative.

This paper focused on the impact of public school competition on academic index scores in Kentucky school districts. Competition was measured in two ways: by the number of schools available per student in the district as well as the total district enrollment controlling for the total number of schools …

Examining Kentucky Public Schools: Gender Differences In An Index Measure Of Accountability For Academic Standards, Khin Thazin Myint

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Kentucky public education system has made progress over the past 20 years after a number of reforms beginning in 1990. A stated goal of these reforms has been not only to improve the overall performance of students in a school, but to also ensure that no student groups be allowed to fall behind. To accomplish this, the state has adopted and implemented goals that are shared with those of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, including school accountability and a goal of proficiency for all students by the year 2014. However the most recent analysis of three statewide …

Educational Advancement: Decision Influences Regarding Attendance And Level Of Post-Secondary Education, William Spears

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The intent of this study was to determine which characteristics from a group of student, teacher, and school characteristics had a significant influence in affecting enrollment in education beyond high school. There are social benefits from having a more educated populace, the Kentucky political system has highlighted intentions to increase enrollment in institutions, and Kentucky has lagged behind the nation and most states in its ability to continue educating the populace beyond high school. Most of the previous efforts to examine postsecondary attendance decisions have focused on the demographics of students with the implication that those student characteristics are the …

An Impact Study Of Locally-Designed Head Start Program Models On Children's Assessment Scores, Jennifer Price

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Head Start, a nationwide early childhood program, promotes the development and use of locally-designed program models, such as partnerships with child care centers, to expand enrollment opportunities and improve service delivery to eligible children and families. Partnerships are considered to be an efficient solution with positive benefits accruing to the Head Start grantee, partnering child care center, and participating families. It is not known, however, whether partnerships differ from standard, direct-managed centers in terms of promoting school readiness among children, the goal of Head Start. This study addresses that question, undertaking an assessment of the impact, if any, that program …

Senate Bill (Sb) 172: Governance Of Nutrition In Kentucky Public Schools: Implementation Analysis Final Report, Bill Brumbach

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This report is intended to evaluate the implementation of Senate Bill (SB) 172 in Kentucky's public schools. This law requires that all schools in Kentucky implement strict nutrition standards that apply to all foods sold during the school day. This report highlights the different methods used by selected schools in implementing the requirements in SB 172. In performing my analysis, I traveled to different schools in central and southeastern Kentucky to assess how these select schools were meeting the requirements of the law. Site visits allowed me to discuss implementation strategies with school administrators and aided in my understanding of …

An Evaluation Of The 1990-1991 Hart County Preschool Program, Rhonda Bowman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In the 1990-91 school year. Kentucky's public schools received a mandate to begin a preschool program to aid children who were at risk of school failure. Children to be served were three-and four-year-olds qualifying for free lunch or having handicaps.

This study is an evaluation of the preschool program in Hart County Kentucky. Two concerns were identified. These concerns were: (1) identifying teacher and parental perceptions of the program and (2) measuring student academic gains. The results of the evaluation indicate that teachers and parents have a positive attitude about the preschool program. Students participating in the program showed greater …

Reorganization Of The Warren County School System, Charles Clemons

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A discussion of how to reorganize the Warren County, Kentucky school system. Includes a description of the Warren County school system in 1957.

A Proposed School System For Metcalfe County, Kentucky, Thomas Butler

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to propose for Metcalfe County a school system that will come nearer meeting the standards of a good educational system than the one now in use. It is by no means expected that this proposed system will be perfect and the writer fully realizes that oftentimes a scheme on paper will not work out so well when actually put into practice. However, being acquainted with the amount of money available, the geographic and economic conditions, and the roads of the county it is the best that can be done under existing circumstances.

A Proposed Guidance Program For Drakesboro Consolidated School, Ovid Arnold

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to show the need for and determine a basis for a guidance program. "Guidance is a means of helping individuals to understand and use wisely the educational, vocational, and personal potentialities and opportunities which they have or can develop."¹

Why do we need a guidance program? Who can be benefited by it? First, our teachers need the services of a guidance program in order that they may know more about their pupils, -- their abilities and interests as well as their weaknesses. Information about the pupil's background, the different schools he has attended, …

A Study Of The Eighth Grade Graduates & High School Attendance Of The Larue County Schools, Willis Borden

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The tabulated data used in this study were selected from the files of the superintendent of LaRue County schools.

The teacher's register of attendance for Kentucky schools from 1947 to 1951 were used to determine the eighth grade graduates of that period. Other data were furnished by the high school principals concerning the failures, promotions, and eliminations in their schools.

The purpose of this thesis is to ascertain the reasons for eighth grade graduates not entering high school and the number of years the eighth grade graduates who entered high school remained in membership. The years considered are 1947 to …

A Study Of The Public School System Of Nelson County, Earl Huber

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Only seven years more than one hundred years ago, 1838, Kentucky’s public school system was established. Few Kentuckians conceived of a state-wide public school system. Many of the citizens were conservative and inclined to look upon a scheme of public education with doubt and disfavor; they were accustomed to the traditional plan of private education. In Nelson County, as in the rest of Kentucky, the early sponsors of public education were confronted with the problem of building sentiment for such a public service. Their task was one of establishing schools. Their chief goal was one of providing a school service, …

A Proposed School System For Hart County, Kentucky, James Dodson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to propose for Hart County a school system that will come nearer meeting the standards of a good educational system than the one now in use. It is by no means expected that this proposed system will be perfect and the writer fully realizes that oftentimes a scheme on paper will not work out so well when actually put into practice. However, being acquainted with the amount of money available, the geographic and economic conditions, and the roads of the county it is believed that this is the best that can be done under …

Promotion & Non-Promotion In The Louisville Elementary Schools, E. W. Belcher

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

To promote or not to promote has long been a question in the minds of both administrators and teachers; however, the segregated problem of promotion and non-promotion did not receive much attention until about fifteen years ago. In the past decade and a half much time and careful, thoughtful study have been devoted to this problem by leading educators.

What Is The Ability And Effort Of Washington County To Finance Its Educational Program?, Joseph Howard

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study attempts to measure the ability, the effort and the educational program of Washington County. It also recommends an educational program based upon the ability of the county to finance it.