We are making sure that we are providing the services and allowing them to excel and achieve the best that they can.

So it's really about removing barriers and providing opportunities.

>> Find out what schools around the state are doing to help students succeed.

>> This is best practice for kids.

This is how they're going to learn to read.

>> How one Kentucky County has seen success after implementing a new way to teach reading.

>> There are so many things that make it valuable for our young students.

That is more than just learning cursive.

>> Plus, cursive writing is making a comeback in Kentucky.

>> Production of Kentucky edition is made possible in part by the KET Millennium Fund.

>> Good evening and welcome to a special education focused edition of Kentucky edition.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Hope you've had a great day, and we thank you for winding down your evening with us.

Earlier this year, KET brought back our Education Matters series, focusing on different topics in the world of education for parents, teachers, and students.

Tonight we're highlighting some of those discussions.

Host Kelsey Stark sat down with a panel of experts to talk about the Kentucky academic standards and how those standards are being implemented at the local school level.

>> Now, you mentioned the Kentucky Academic Standards, and that is milestones for each grade in reading, writing, math, science, social studies and their family guides for these, right.

So you can get online and see what those standards are.

And you can figure out if your child is meeting them.

Explain how how how those standards who who determines those?

>> Well, you know, once again that, you know, the state determines the standards of exit for grade level performance, then that Arc is working with that family and students without mentioning names.

There was a school in Northern Kentucky that we work with.

For example, we had two students that had an IEP that graduated with an associate's degree before they got their high school diploma.

So it shows you that the potential is there when you take a standard process, individualize it.

Those individual students still needed some literacy help and writing, and those services were provided to that student while they were in high school, but they were exceeding the high school grades.

And we might talk about this a little bit.

So they really are gifted in some other areas.

Just because they have an IEP doesn't mean that they're not gifted.

We are making sure that we are providing the services and allowing them to excel and achieve the best that they can.

So it's really about removing barriers and providing opportunities.

>> Yeah, and I think a lot of families also may not know what their child should know at each grade level.

And that's where those Kentucky academic standards come into play.

So everybody's on the same page.

It's right there.

It's written out.

These are the goals and we're going to help you get there.

So Carrie, I want you to explain to you how those goals, which are statewide, are implemented at an individual school level.

Every school is different, I would imagine, just like every student is different.

>> So the academic standards are the minimal guidelines that a student needs in order to be ready to move on to the next grade level.

So this this is a minimal level that we need to accomplish.

So that is that is broad at the state level.

But at each individual school then determines how they're going to implement those standards.

So that work goes back to another acronym that we use called PLCs.

And those are learning communities that our teachers are are part of.

And our teachers are weekly breaking down those standards they're determining with their school principal, their academic leads.

What are we going to teach this week?

What standard is going are we going to focus on?

And then how are we going to assess that at the end of the week to determine which students achieve that standard, which mastered that standard, who needs extra support?

And then we pull in our extra support teams.

We work with those individual students, and it's just a continual cycle of teaching the standards, monitoring the standards, assessing the standards, reteaching.

And we work through that all through the school year.

And the key is we have to make sure that our teachers are covering every standard in their grade level by the end of the school year, in order to give every child the opportunity for success.

So it's a constant monitoring at the school level, and that's right down to every classroom teacher doing that.

>> We thank Kelsey for that.

In the education space, the term exceptional students refers to students who need special educational programs or services to get the maximum benefit from school in Kentucky.

This includes students with disabilities as well as gifted and talented students.

Our Laura Rogers sat down with Doctor Julia Link Roberts, executive director of the center for Gifted Studies at the Gatton Academy at Western Kentucky University.

To learn more about this group of students.

>> Doctor Roberts, we know that our gifted students often need specialized services and activities to help them reach their full potential in the classroom.

So I'd like to begin, though, with that term giftedness, and what we mean by that in this space.

>> Well, giftedness has many meanings to it.

And right off the bat, these are kids who learn quickly, who are very curious.

But there are so many different ways that giftedness shows up.

Kentucky has five categories of giftedness intellectual giftedness, giftedness, and a content area gifted with creativity and the visual and performing arts and leadership.

So if we're looking at school giftedness, we have many different ways of identifying and then needing to offer services in areas of strength.

>> Sure.

And so it may be something that doesn't necessarily show up in a test score or in the traditional grades in a classroom.

What are some traits and characteristics that parents and teachers and guardians may need to look for to identify that, hey, this student is gifted and needs some extra services?

>> Well, I think it is interest that's pretty intense in something, and that's pretty much what they want to talk about.

Think about, ask about, and that probably is an area in which that child has an intense interest that needs to be nurtured and followed up in.

>> So I want to ask why it's so important that we challenge these, these gifted students that we do give them a little extra to make them work a little harder, if you will.

>> I consider it incredibly important for every child to learn in school, and you cannot learn what you already know.

So differentiating to ensure that challenge is there for all students is just bottom line.

And what we must be doing in schools.

You can't learn what you already know.

>> And if a student is bored, perhaps they might not even work to perform at the status quo.

Do you find that that students can get impatient in a classroom setting if they're not feeling like they're being challenged?

>> Yes.

And they can misbehave.

Yeah.

Filling up time when they don't have things to think about often leads to either acting out or to kind of just becoming lazy and not willing to do your best.

>> And then let's talk about at home what parents and guardians can do if they have a gifted child in in their home, are there things that they can do or ways that they can show support for that child?

>> Absolutely.

Remember, the first teacher is the parent.

And so it's what we're modeling for children.

They see what we do.

If we read, they likely read.

If we are curious, they talk with us about things that were mutually curious about.

It is so important to stay off your phone so that kids stay off their phone.

Parents have the biggest influence, even when we don't necessarily, as parents, think we do.

Maybe when they're in middle school, but they're watching.

They're learning.

Parents can make almost everything.

You do a learning experience by asking questions, learning with your child.

>> And let's talk again about strategies in gifted education and what you're seeing from all of your research and your observation in these years of working in this space and and what's working for these.

>> Kids.

The most talked about strategies is differentiation in the classroom.

And this means making sure that everyone at various levels of readiness has the opportunity to learn.

And you can do that with pretty small modifications.

So teachers being ready to modify instruction for children so that the end of each day, everybody has learned.

>> And that's what we are all setting out to do, right?

That's the goal.

>> Absolutely.

That's what school is about.

>> To prepare these kids for their future.

>> That's why advanced coursework in every school is so important, so that even those students who are at grade level or above are learning every day.

>> Absolutely.

Doctor Julia Roberts, executive director of the center for Gifted Studies here at Western Kentucky University.

We appreciate your time so much.

Thank you.

>> Thanks for the opportunity.

>> And thank you, Laura.

According to the Kentucky Department of Education, there are more than 64,000 gifted students in the state.

The Kentucky General Assembly passed the Read to Succeed Act in 2022, with the goal to support Evidence-Based Literacy instruction and Investing in teachers to increase student success in reading.

State Representative Tina Bojanowski was one sponsor of the Read to Succeed legislation.

When asked about the bill two years ago, she said to not expect immediate changes in test scores.

Our Christie Dutton recently sat down with the state representative, who says she has new concerns.

>> Representative Bo Janowsky, thank you for being here.

You were the sponsor of the Read to Succeed Bill, which supports the science of reading.

So tell me, why was that important for you to get this bill out to our state?

>> Well, as I started researching how reading was taught in Kentucky, it became gravely concerning that we were using a methodology that wasn't supported in the current research.

And so with the Read to Succeed Bill, you know, one of the most important things to me personally is that I did the letters training, which is a two year intensive training program, and that was part of the funding of read to Succeed.

So giving teachers the training to expertly teach children how to read is just going to be a very, very essential step to improving the achievement of all of our students.

>> So a lot of people now think that there should be an increase in reading scores for children in Kentucky.

Now, if we've changed it for them to learn to read better, but we're not seeing that.

Can you explain why?

>> Well, so what we are doing with Read to Succeed is on foundational basic reading and what we are measuring in the KSA end of year test is none of that.

So we're measuring higher level comprehension and vocabulary concerns.

So I believe that there needs to be a measure specific to the basic reading.

Now we do know it in our buildings and in our districts, but it's not the measure that happens during our accountability testing.

Those standards are not included in that test.

So a couple of different things.

So in order to to look at the test scores, to decide the effectiveness of read to succeed, I'm concerned will never be at a statistically significant level for two reasons.

Number one, because of the design of the standardized test.

So a standardized test is designed to differentiate students.

It's to differentiate our distinguished students from our apprentice novice students.

And to move a child into another category is not as simple as just answering more questions correctly.

It also is contingent upon what questions are asked of them.

And so my major concern is that even though we've got the millions upon millions of dollars invested, very, very deservingly so into instruction in reading to only look at the test scores as the answer to if it's working may be problematic.

>> So what's the solution if that is a huge investment?

And and, you know, people want to know if that investment is working, how do you how would you measure that?

>> Well, I think you need a measure that's direct to what you're doing.

So the measure might be, you know, in my classroom I measure how many words a student can read.

I've got a very direct measure on what I'm doing.

So we could include in our accountability systems measures of foundational reading skills.

Another kind of partial solution is the Department of Education has been working for several years on reimagining our accountability system.

And one of the aspects is an adaptive assessment.

And so rather than every third grader being given the same questions, the questions change.

If you have a student who's struggling, you'll back up to figure out exactly where they are.

If you have a student who's excelling, it pushes up further and it can measure actually where they are.

And so by having an adaptable system, you can target in to what specific areas where a child might need support, as opposed to just giving everyone the same test and saying classes.

All core content teachers at the high school level are trained in the science of reading.

Another change to curriculum this year is cursive writing.

Kentucky is one of 24 states that has mandated cursive writing instruction.

Senator Lindsey Tickner was the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 167 that requires Kentucky elementary school students learn cursive writing that went into effect this school year.

We go back to Christie Dutton, who also sat down with Senator Tickner, who explains her perspective and introducing this legislation.

>> I just think cursive is such a foundational skill, and as I started to do more research, I was able to discover how beneficial cursive is in so many ways.

It helps with comprehension.

Obviously, it helps kids learn how to read, helps them learn how to spell.

It helps with fine motor skills, and it helps build neuropathways in the brain in order to help them memorize content.

And it is fascinating how much cursive helps.

And it's just that continuous motion of continuity that's strengthening the brain and those neural pathways.

And it helps with so many things.

>> Because a lot of people would say, now kids are typing and using computers and phones and not putting pen to paper as much.

So talk a little more about these benefits, the fine motor skills.

Talk a little more about that.

>> Well, you think about just just learning to hold a pencil and what that does just for your muscles.

When you teach a kid how to tie their shoe, right?

All those skills, all those muscles, just fine motor skills of being able to do something that is takes a lot of of attention.

You're making your brain connect with those muscles in your hand to be able to make those motions.

And it strengthens your brain and it builds it builds that, that pathway.

So when you look at a typing and there's actually been a study on this in 2020, there was a really interesting study and it looked at the brain and compared by imaging it compared what's going on in the brain when they're typing and what's going on when they're actually pen on paper, writing in cursive.

And they were able to see such a huge benefit with that cursive writing and building those pathways that help kids to memorize and comprehend information.

And so there's a lot of a lot of studies out there about cursive writing.

And, and when you pull all that together, it's not just a benefit for a kid to be able to sign their name.

Of course, that's just a skill I think everybody needs.

But it really does lay a great foundation for learning in general.

>> It makes me think that even adults should be writing cursive every once in a while as well.

It should be putting pen to paper.

So why did cursive writing go away?

How did it go away in schools?

>> Well, I think it was 2010.

Common core moved came down from the federal Department of Education, and it got taken out.

And in Kentucky standards, we kept some level of cursive in recognition of letters, but it wasn't reinforced.

So what we've put back into our standards is a requirement of proficiency before they graduate elementary school.

So by fifth grade, they need to be proficient in cursive writing.

I think just the onset of technology and and utilizing computers more frequently in the classrooms and for different curriculums, I think that was probably why they just started to move away from it.

And it was interesting.

When I filed the bill, I was just talking to some of my district leaders and education, and a couple of them did say some things like, it's archaic.

It's, you know, it's antiquated.

We don't need it anymore.

And I really just argue that it does help strengthen the brain and, and build a foundation for kids to be able to learn well.

And I'm hopeful we're going to see some improvements in in literacy as this gets implemented.

>> The type of cursive writing that students are learning may look a little different from how you or I learned cursive.

Some students are learning something called the New American Cursive, which is a method developed by a handwriting specialist from right here in Kentucky.

Our Kelsey Starks had the chance to sit down with Iris Hatfield, who explained how cursive can help students with much more than writing skills.

>> Iris Hatfield is a handwriting specialist for more than 55 years and creator of The New American Cursive, which is being taught in Kentucky and across at least 24 other states in the country.

So this is your passion handwriting, and you are a specialist who has created this program.

But in this digital age, why do you think this skill is so important still for for students right now?

>> Yes, that's a great question.

There are many reasons why it's still important for our young students to learn to write in cursive.

We want them to be able to read documents.

Family information the rest of their life.

But cursive is faster than the stop and start of printing, so they can get their thoughts down quicker.

Then just writing printing it out.

Also, it stimulates the brain as they are learning the different letters, the scientific information that's coming out now is so exciting how much it lights up the brain as they are writing, as opposed to tapping on a keyboard.

It is a method that when they learn cursive, they are also learning other things.

They're learning to focus.

It gets them off of the screen, and they can learn to focus, to write, to pay attention, to, detail, to get some benefits from learning the letters.

It helps with reading.

It helps with spelling.

The words are in one unit as opposed to the stop and start of printing.

So they build that muscle memory and that makes it faster for them.

It's good for their hand-eye coordination.

The physical part, the ability to use their hand, use their brain.

It takes a lot for us to write.

There's a lot of brain power going on.

You have to remember what the letter is and then the pressure, the spacing, the rhythm, the.

Size.

And so there are so many things that make it valuable for our young students.

That is more than just learning cursive.

>> The type of cursive writing that will be taught to students will be determined by each individual school district.

One of the first school districts to adopt read to succeed, which we heard about earlier, was in Hancock County.

KET Laura Rogers takes us into a classroom for a firsthand look at how it works.

>> This is best practice for kids.

This is how they're going to learn to read.

>> That practice is orton-gillingham and the science of reading.

Now in its fourth year.

>> At Hancock County Schools.

>> It's really given teachers some tangible concepts.

>> The district turned to this method to raise low reading scores they saw during the pandemic.

>> The numbers, you know, they just kept dropping.

>> And that wasn't acceptable.

>> That's not good enough.

You can't let kids keep going from one grade level to the next grade level.

And not being able to read.

We knew we had to do something to catch those kids up.

>> Not only have kids caught up, they're now exceeding expectations.

>> Now, we've gotten so methodical about how we're teaching, and it's so sequential that you don't see all those holes.

It's everybody's getting everything they need.

>> Holly Pate, the mother of four children, agrees.

>> Decades of neuroscience research that's implemented into classroom practice.

>> As a nurse and graduate student, she's excited and encouraged by that research, calling it a blanket language that works for all students.

>> The ability to apply orton-gillingham to my student who does not experience the dyslexia challenges, and my student who does experience the dyslexia challenges.

And that standard language in our home allows us to enjoy reading more.

>> Took part in an Orton-gillingham parent training this summer and partnership with the local public library.

>> Same day I went home and pulled out some words from last year for my first grader, and I pulled these out and I implemented some of the the mechanics and how they taught parents how to assist in school learning at home.

And he got it instantly.

>> Those or.

>> It's been able to give them the tools that they need to be able to be good spellers and good writers.

>> When test scores indicated gains in literacy, but still some challenges with vocabulary, educators implemented morphology and grades two through ten.

>> Morphology is where you're breaking apart different words into prefixes, suffixes, and root words.

>> They just have access to a lot more vocabulary words, deeper comprehension and understanding of text.

>> Teachers say the district's collective approach across all schools and subjects makes the methodology successful.

>> There we go.

>> Having that science of reading background and having that professional development through KDE, we've really all shared the same vocabulary.

We all talk about reading in the same ways, right?

>> We all have a certain sequence that we're following.

We all use the same routines.

>> First grade teacher Betty Jane Mitchell had previously only taught math, science, and social studies.

>> I was kind of scared of teaching reading.

>> But then she was trained in both Orton-gillingham and letters Language essentials for teachers of reading and spelling.

>> It was the first time that I felt like I could actually teach a kid to read, and I could successfully do it.

>> Heather Bold says her training gave the same confidence.

>> My eyes just.

>> Gleamed like I soaked everything in like a sponge.

I wanted to grab a kid and teach them how to read.

>> She teaches reading and math at the middle school, specializing this year in reading intervention.

>> I can't tell you how beneficial this has been to middle school kids where yes, they know they struggle, but they know that they're getting the help that they need.

>> Teachers get the help they need too, with a system for support and continued learning.

>> We keep growing the sustainability, the leadership that's going to keep helping our teachers.

>> It's actually asked that in my interview, and I was very honest and told them, I don't know a lot about the science of reading, but would love to learn.

And they definitely did that for me.

>> Hannah Maddox believes the success lies in the multisensory approach.

>> They're not just hearing it, they're not just saying it.

They're not just writing it.

It's like a mixture of everything.

In one.

>> With more than 30 years in education, Brianna Pulliam just wishes it had come sooner.

>> We didn't have this training many years ago.

I wish we would have because it is that life changing.

>> What's I going to say.

>> For KET?

I'm Laura Rogers.

>> Thank you so much Laura and that will do it for us.

You can check out a lot of educational resources on our website.

Online on demand at ket.org.