Nearly two years ago, in June 2020, the Prichard Committee released a Call to Action for Racial Equity & Justice. In that statement, we expressed our commitment to doubling down on a longstanding call for greater equity in education outcomes, for greater systemic and community accountability for the progress of each and every student. We committed to continuing to press policymakers to invest in adequate and equitable education – early childhood through postsecondary – and an accountability system that ensures each Kentucky student has the opportunities and the support to meet and exceed their potential.
In recent weeks and months, the word “equity” and the intention behind “equity” related work have been questioned. Because of this, the Prichard Committee is joining the refrain of leaders across the state who are working to dispel misinformation and to rightly connect the work of “equity” to achieving full “equality” for which we, and our Constitution, aspire.
One full academic year has passed with varying degrees of in-person and virtual learning across the state. It is now time to roll up our sleeves (literally) and ensure all students will have the opportunity to receive better access to their teachers, peers, and learning environments for the 2021-22 academic year. Increasing the vaccination rate
Kentucky should engage in a solutions-focused process and discussion to improve culturally relevant and inclusive education practices. Such a process is a systemic way to inform the development and revisions of our state standards and model curriculum framework which empowers students with the abilities and capacities in KRS 158.645 and KRS 158.6451 needed to become informed citizens.
Last month, following the approval of the American Rescue Plan, I wrote about the need for communities to come to the table to talk about education recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. As guidance from the U.S. Department of Education on the use of these funds has been made available, it’s apparent that community, parent, and education stakeholder buy-in isn’t just on my wish list – it’s a requirement.
As our children are heading back to school, the COVID-19 vaccine is become more available, and many of us are beginning to head back to our respective offices, our attention is rightly turning to recovery. For us at the Prichard Committee, that means education recovery. How do we take everything we’ve learned the last year, all the resources at our disposal, and all the creative capacity we can muster to stem the tide on learning loss, help our young people catch up, and accelerate learning to ensure we don’t have a lost generation?
We know a year into a global health pandemic, one which left our students and our teachers displaced and scrambling to keep up, sounds like the worst time to maintain state assessments. In our view, it’s actually the exact right time to measure the toll of COVID on student learning.
Let’s say I’m a health-conscious individual and over the holidays I splurged a little too often on food and drink and I backslid on exercise. I knew I wasn’t treating my body as well as I did before the holidays and it was time to get back on track.
There are high hopes for the work of the Commonwealth Education Continuum which was announced late last year. The meeting agenda describes the effort as a “multi-agency education initiative” and the objectives outlined suggest the focus will be to increase postsecondary attainment. A laudable and much needed focus for a state which ranks 4th in the nation for poverty and whose economy lags the nation considerably.
Whew, what a year it’s been! We’ve all weathered both collective and unique challenges in 2020 and, without a doubt, we’re pleased to the see the year come to a close. The core values we learned quickly to prioritize were innovation & engagement. As a team, we came together quickly in March to start providing answers and meaningful discussions during the early days of the pandemic with our Facebook Live Innovations in Education episodes.