News Update From the Council on Postsecondary Education

COUNCIL NEWS:

Postsecondary education wins "Best of Kentucky" awards

"Best of Kentucky" awards, recognizing outstanding individuals and programs that have made information technology contributions to the public, were recently awarded at the Kentucky Digital Summit. The Council's Kentucky Postsecondary Education Data Portal won the "Most Innovative Use of Technology" award. The Kentucky Education Network (KEN) won for "Best IT Collaboration Among Organizations." CPE shares this award with the Kentucky Department of Education, the Education Professional Standards Board and the Education Cabinet. The Kentucky Virtual Campus partnered with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, EPSB, Jefferson County Public Schools and Sullivan University to win "Best Application Serving the Public" with the Learning Now Online Consortium for Accelerated Learning. Another education award went to the University of Louisville for "Best Business Continuity Initiative" for its campus Converged IP Network.

Regional stewardship efforts planned at EKU, KSU and Morehead

Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), Kentucky State University (KSU) and Morehead State University (MoSU) will receive $400,000 over the next two years to support the development and implementation of regional stewardship programs. The institutions will use these funds to hire staff and create regional stewardship offices on their campuses. The offices will have primary responsibility for implementing regional stewardship plans on each campus. The Council approved funding for Northern Kentucky University's regional stewardship program in Sept. 2006 and programs for Murray State University and Western Kentucky University in Jan. 2007.

Kentucky Virtual Campus partnership offers free college credit to GED students

Jefferson Community and Technical College's Learning Now Online Consortium and the Gateway Adult Learning Center are offering three hours of free college credit through the Kentucky Virtual Campus to 100 GED students or graduates who enroll in Learn Anytime ENG 101 Enhanced courses. Learn Anytime offers self-paced, online college classes that students can begin at any time.

Internet2 presentation featured at national conference

CPE, the Kentucky Department of Education, the Education Cabinet, Frankfort Independent Schools and Fayette County co-presented at the Internet2 Spring Member Meeting in Arlington, Virginia, April 25. Their presentation, Moving Kentucky's Internet2 Initiative toward the Next Stretch, told the unique Kentucky story – how P-20 collaboration makes possible the Kentucky Education Network (KEN) and the Kentucky Internet2 initiative. Internet2 applications, via high bandwidth and high performance, enable collaboration among researchers, instructors, and students across the world and enable interactive access to information and resources in a way not possible on today's Internet.

Kentucky's new satellite program the focus of May 3 conference

The Council is a sponsor of the first annual KentuckySat (KySat) Conference May 3 at the Four Points Sheraton in Lexington. Sessions will focus on Kentucky's satellite program as well as the broader space, science and engineering issues surrounding the emerging small satellite industry. There will be presentations and discussions on satellite design, launch and on-orbit operations, future SmallSat/KySat payloads, space science issues and education. The conference is open to all interested individuals.

CPE awarded grant to enhance Go Higher Kentucky Web site

Kentucky, Florida and Minnesota are the recipients of $100,000 federal Department of Education grants to test three "consumer Web sites." The sites, which are scheduled to be redeveloped and online in August 2008, will provide students with information about financial aid, academics and comparative information about colleges and universities. Kentucky will focus its redevelopment efforts on www.gohigherky.org, the state's comprehensive, online college information Web site. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the grant recipients during the national summit held in March to discuss the implementation of the final report of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

Attorney general issues consumer alert

The Kentucky Attorney General and the Council on Postsecondary Education-Kentucky Adult Education recently issued a consumer alert to students to beware of misleading GED information available on the Internet. Consumers were warned that many Web sites falsely claim to offer the GED diploma for a fee. Only a state may issue the GED diploma to people who meet the passing scores. The GED tests may not be taken online as claimed on these Web sites. The exam, which takes approximately seven hours to complete, is a paper and pencil test administered only at official GED test centers. Kentucky Adult Education offers instruction online and at local adult education centers free of charge.

Kentucky creates ACT Council

The Council on Postsecondary Education recently formed an ACT Council for Kentucky, comprised of representatives from middle school through postsecondary institutions and adult education providers. The ACT Council will identify critical issues related to Kentucky student readiness and success in postsecondary education and provide leadership to educators across the state to improve student progress. The current priority issue for the group is the successful implementation of ACT's Evaluation, Planning and Assessment System (EPAS) that assesses student achievement in the eighth, tenth and eleventh grades to support student planning for college and workplace readiness as mandated by Senate Bill 130. Senate Bill 130 was passed during the 2006 legislative session and requires that the EPAS system be implemented as part of the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS), requires that the Council assist schools and school districts in delivering programs to students who need help to improve their academic skills, and provides access to Kentucky Employability Certificates through the ACT WorkKeys test.

HOT RESEARCH TOPICS IN EDUCATION:

Doubling Kentucky's Degree Holders: Benefits and Challenges of CPE's Plan

This report by the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center shows clear economic benefits from the realization of the Council's five-step plan to double the number of bachelor's degree holders in Kentucky's adult population by the year 2020.

Improving ACT and SAT Scores: Making Progress, Facing Challenges

The Southern Regional Education Board's Challenge to Lead Goals for Education calls for more students to take college admission tests, to score higher on those tests and for SREB states to reduce gaps in test scores among all groups of students. This report looks at the underlying factors driving a state's college admission test scores, analyzes the most recent test results and makes recommendations for improvement.

ACT National Curriculum Survey® 2005–2006

This study points to a gap between what high schools are teaching students in their core college preparatory courses and what colleges want incoming students to know.

The Economic Benefits of Addressing the Nursing Shortage

Mirroring the national nursing shortage, SREB states and the District of Columbia are projected to have nearly 40,000 job openings for registered nurses every year through 2014. This report discusses the shortage of nurses in the region and gives state-level estimates of the tax revenues and other economic benefits that would be generated if these positions were filled.

Course Credit Accrual and Dropping Out of High School

Differences in the average number of course credits earned between high school graduates and dropouts, both within and accumulated across academic years, are examined in this issue brief in order to describe enrollment and completion behavior of high school graduates and dropouts.

Literacy in Everyday Life: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) assessed the English literacy skills of a nationally representative sample of more than 19,000 U.S. adults (age 16 and older) residing in households and prisons. NAAL is the first national assessment of adult literacy since the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey. Three types of literacy were measured: prose, document and quantitative. The findings discuss the relationship between literacy and employment status, occupation, weekly wage or salary, job training and participation in public assistance programs.

Closing the Expectations Gap 2007

This Achieve survey updates the efforts of all 50 states to align their high school standards, graduation requirements, assessments and accountability systems with the demands of college and work, and finds that at least 48 states are now actively engaged in reform efforts of some kind.