Fayette superintendent starts book club to help improve schools

Fayette County Superintendent Manny Caulk is starting a book club to spur community discussion about improving the district.

Already, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School students are using what they learned in the first book in the program to make suggestions about their school.

“As we work together to help every student fulfill his or her unlimited potential, I believe it is critical for our community to talk openly about ways to improve our education system. One way to spark these types of conversations is to have a shared reading experience,” Caulk said in a message to parents.

The first book is The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley, a former Time magazine reporter who chronicles the experiences of three American high school students attending school in some of the world’s top-performing education systems, Caulk said.

On Wednesday, Caulk met with teacher Wendy Turner’s class at Dunbar, where students are reading the book. Caulk took notes as students made suggestions, such as implementing peer tutoring so students help each other.

Ryan Gosky, 18, a senior, told the Herald-Leader that the book included case studies of American students who attended school in countries where education systems were superior and more challenging than in the United States.

“In America, we are far behind in education,” Gosky said. “I believe it’s pivotal that we address this. Education is key to being successful in your life’s endeavors.”

Gosky said that by meeting with his class, Caulk acknowledged that “students care about these problems, and we want to get them fixed.”

“When we began reading Smartest Kids in the World, I realized right away that we needed to be able to do something with the information we gained, so I decided to touch base with a Dunbar alum, Andrew Brennen,” who is involved with the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence Student Voice Team, Turner said.

“Once we began to realize why America isn’t achieving on a global scale the way other countries are, we started trying to find solutions that we could apply not only in Kentucky, but also here at Dunbar,” Turner said. “My students felt empowered by the experience. To have the superintendent come in and sit with them and listen to them, … giving students voice creates a sense of confidence in them.

“We were not only able to meet with the superintendent, the students are currently preparing presentations to present to our principal, Betsy Rains, so that she can hear all of their suggestions for positive change within our own school,” she said.

Two classes at Henry Clay High School and four at Dunbar are reading the book. Those students plan to Skype with the author on March 25.

Caulk had a book club at his last post in Portland, Maine. Book clubs are a mechanism that superintendents across the country are using to initiate conversations with the community about student achievement.

“As a school district, we face two moral imperatives: moving students who are approaching proficiency to proficiency, and pushing our already-proficient students to global competency,” Caulk said. “This first book speaks to our second moral imperative to help all students excel in a global society.”

Two community book club meetings are scheduled for March:

▪  5 to 6:30 p.m. March 22 at Joseph-Beth Booksellers’ Bronte Bistro, 161 Lexington Green Circle.

▪  6 to 7:30 p.m. March 24 at the Northside library branch, 1733 Russell Cave Road.

District officials said several copies of the book are available at the Lexington Public Library, and Joseph-Beth expects more books to arrive this week. Every school library has three copies for staff and students to check out.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Fayette superintendent starts book club to help improve schools."