September 12, 2012
“We welcome TFA and hope they stay,” says Sharron Oxendine, president of the Kentucky Education Association...
Get to Know Floyd County Schools
Under the leadership of Superintendent Henry Webb, and in collaboration with community members, the school board and the Big Sandy Community and Technical College, Floyd County Schools will be launching an Early College Academy during the 2012-2013 school year.
This academy will make it possible for high school juniors and seniors to attend classes at the local community college while earning dual credit for high school and college. At the end of their senior year, students will graduate from their respective high school with a diploma and an associate’s degree—putting them on a path to not only graduate from college, but do so on an abridged timeframe. Floyd County doesn’t only want to get students to college - they want to make sure they get through it as well. Their investment in students’ futures doesn’t stop there, though. If a student returns to Floyd County to teach math, science, or foreign language, the school board will give them an additional stipend for choosing to do so.
The Early College Academy demonstrates how rural districts have an advantage in creating and quickly implementing bold education reform strategies without some of the bureaucratic hurdles that exist in larger urban settings. Communities in Appalachia, like Floyd County, aren’t waiting around to see what works in other districts before attempting challenging, bold, innovative new strategies.
In Floyd County Schools, it’s all about kids.
Region Timeline
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Berea College founded by abolitionist Rev. John G. Fee to provide interracial education. Today Berea is known for serving a predominantly Appalachian population and for providing all students with a full-ride.
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Cora Wilson Stewart, the Superintendent of Rowan County, created "Moonlight Schools" to combat adult illiteracy. Twelve hundred residents attended the first meeting, and the program spread across the state over the next three years.
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Bert T. Combs, a Clay County native, is elected Governor and is remembered for improving the quality of education for all eastern Kentuckians and being a staunch supporter of better access roads to many parts of eastern Kentucky.
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Kentucky Education Reform Act (“KERA”) passes into law. KERA is introduced after the state supreme court ruled Kentucky’s schools inefficient and inequitable. KERA revamps both the way money is appropriated to schools and the state testing system.
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Senate Bill 1 is passed and, again, revamps the state’s assessment and accountability system. Kentucky becomes the first state to adopt the “Common Core Standards.”
Press
September 11, 2012
"In Appalachian Kentucky, the coming of TFA teachers has stirred hope that their sharp minds, youthful energy, diverse backgrounds and fresh perspectives are invigorating rural schools..."
October 2, 2011
Will Nash, executive director of Teach For America-Appalachia, discusses the organization's efforts to recruit 90 new teachers for positions in Eastern Kentucky.
From The Blog
June 28, 2012
"I sat in back of the room at Lynn Camp High School in Corbin, Kentucky, and listened..."
