Kentucky’s new education standards are working

Recently there has been a lot of attention paid to the work Kentucky has done, and will be doing, in education. Whether the interest comes from Washington, D.C. or right here in Kentucky, I welcome the opportunity to talk about the amazing work happening in classrooms like mine across the state.

As an educator for 10 years, I’ve seen firsthand how students are responding to the challenge of high standards. In the years since Kentucky incorporated the Common Core into the Kentucky Academic Standards, the number of students graduating from high school ready for college and career has grown.

In 2015, the college- and career-readiness rate jumped to 66.9 percent, up from 62.8 percent in 2014 and 54.1 percent the year before.

Since I incorporated higher standards into my classroom, I’ve seen my students embrace the opportunity to be more creative with their learning. They are discovering what it means to think critically, put ideas into their own words and understand concepts beyond basic formulas and memorization.

And, believe it or not, many of my students are now finding themselves as excited to wake up and come to school each morning as they are to cheer on a Wildcats basketball game.

But even though the majority of teachers in Kentucky support higher standards, there are still myths surrounding this debate.

One of the greatest myths about higher standards is that they are a federal mandate. That is not true. Each state freely chose their own standards, and fortunately Kentuckians chose what was best for students by adopting higher standards.

A state-led initiative, the Kentucky Academic Standards, gives teachers the flexibility to teach to their students instead of at them. In my classroom, students are discovering their passions and strengths earlier because high standards are challenging them like never before.

Some have suggested that we drop the standards educators have worked tirelessly to implement and develop new ones. Not only would that effort be devastatingly costly to the people of Kentucky, but it would undermine the growth our students have made. It would undercut the rigor that characterizes so many classrooms in Kentucky.

Instead of starting from scratch and writing new standards, let’s have faith in the growth our students and teachers have made. Students are achieving and learning more than ever and they are overcoming challenging barriers. The standards are working.

Abandoning our standards and developing new ones would also negatively impact the children of families — and particularly the children of our dedicated servicemen and women — who relocate for work.

If a student from a military family moves from Colorado to Kentucky, that student deserves to have uniformity in her learning to receive the highest quality education. With the Kentucky Academic Standards, which are aligned to high standards in many other states, that student will experience a smoother transition and more continuity in her learning.

We’ve made a lot of progress here in Kentucky, but there is still work to be done. While assessment scores and college-readiness rates are on the rise, the achievement gap between wealthy white students and their peers persists.

The new federal education law — the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) — gives states more authority and flexibility to address the achievement gap, but it’s up to us to make sure we continue to move forward when it comes to maintaining high expectations for our students.

Students deserve to be challenged in the classroom — it makes them better learners. They deserve to be prepared for the real world by understanding the knowledge and skills needed in each grade level. But in order for students to rise to these challenges and be successful, we need to take a strong stand in support of high standards. Now is not the time to waver.

This story was originally published October 21, 2016 at 11:04 PM with the headline "Kentucky’s new education standards are working."