Education

More than 260 Kentucky teachers were awarded national certification in 2012, ranking the state seventh nationally for the number of teachers earning that achievement.

National Board Certification is administered by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards as is considered a top achievement in the profession.

The Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board says in a news release that the top ten states with the highest number of teachers certified in 2012 were North Carolina, Washington, Illinois, California, Arkansas, South Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland and New York.

Charter school legislation has been introduced in the Kentucky House. It would allow a limited number of schools to pilot the concept, and supporters of the bill are hoping the less aggressive approach will appeal to those who have opposed past measures.

Shelbyville Rep. Brad Montell crafted his bill with help from the Kentucky Charter School Project. The group includes several organizations that have supported charter school legislation the past couple of years.

Spokesman Joe Burgan says the bill would pilot the charter school concept instead of allowing all schools the option.

“So instead of wide spread charter schools in Kentucky this would limit them top 75 schools over a five year period. So it’s starting small rather than trying to jump right in and get everything in one bill.”

An exhibit opens later this month at WKU featuring the photographs as well as reproductions of images in 3D. The gallery show opens January 24th and is called "Witness: Photographs of a Nation Divided."

The show will feature a collection of Civil War photography as well as a re-creation of Matthew Brady's photographs documenting the Battle of Antietam. That 1862 battle at Sharpsburg, MD is knows as the bloodiest single day in American military history.

The exhibit runs from January24th to March 29th, excluding the week of March 11th, in WKU's Mass Media and Technology Hall atrium and gallery.

Despite a short legislative session that’s expected to focus on pension reforms, Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday says lawmakers may consider some key education measures, too.

“I think you’re going to see a number of possible bills coming out following up from the Newtown incident.”

Holliday says lawmakers may also be interested in increasing funding for Kentucky’s Center for School Safety, which saw dramatic cuts to its budget in 2009.

He also expects the General Assembly to take up legislation that would allow the education department to move forward with reforming its teacher evaluation system. The new system would likely measure teacher performance based partly on student test scores, which has been controversial among some in education.