As high-tech industries pour into Kentucky, they’re bringing a boatload of good jobs with them — an estimated 150,000-plus job openings annually for those with advanced academic credentials.
The state has made substantial investments to build up the local workforce so it can fill those positions, including new and improved training facilities, increased apprenticeships and work study and accreditation programs. But state leaders and advocates are aiming to create not just a pipeline of talent for the near term but the roots of an educational “ecosystem,” where students leave high school primed to tackle jobs of the future and solve bigger and more complex challenges.
One new initiative gaining momentum in the pursuit of that goal is “accelerated education” — automatically advancing students to higher level coursework when they’ve met or exceeded benchmarks on statewide assessments.
Kentucky state Rep. Robert Duvall filed legislation recently to make it state law. His bill would require school boards to develop localized accelerated learning plans and advanced coursework for students, starting in grade three, who demonstrate that they are ready.
“What if we have a student in Kentucky that has the potential to cure cancer? What if they have the potential to build the next supercomputer? What if we have a student in Kentucky that has the ability to build the next spaceship to take humanity into the stars?” Duvall asked in an interview with WKBO-TV in Frankfort. “Well, if they’re not challenged at a young age and exposed to advanced courses, that potential may never be realized.”
Traditionally, students are advanced only upon teacher recommendations or after motivated parents advocate for a student to be advanced. The “accelerated education” approach streamlines the process and helps ensure students are not overlooked.
Duvall is not the only one who likes it.
“This is a simple and straightforward approach,” says Brigitte Blom, president and CEO of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence in Kentucky in an email. “When we put students who are ready into advanced courses, they have a better shot at realizing their potential and accessing opportunities they might have otherwise missed.”
The approach may be simple and straightforward, but it helps to address a problem in Kentucky and across the country — employer confidence in graduate preparedness. According to a Prichard Committee report, only 12% of Kentucky employers express strong confidence in the preparedness of high school graduates.
That’s a problem when the state is projected to create some 237,000 jobs annually for the next six years. Only 17,000 of those jobs will be for those with less than a high school diploma.
“While we are proud of Kentucky’s high graduation rate, we know Kentucky’s students are capable of more,” Blom said. “With advanced learning the diploma becomes more meaningful and valuable—for the student as they consider their post high school path and for the employer as they seek skilled workers.”
Duvall is betting that introducing more students to advanced education will help provide that credibility.
“I believe that this bill is going to give our state the opportunity to educate those that are in the Gifted and Talented Program and the overachievers, if you will,” he said. “It’s going to give them the opportunity to be the best that they can be and to reach their potential. That will hopefully have them staying in Kentucky and that will also contribute to the economic growth long term for Kentucky.”
A growing number of states are thinking the same way. North Carolina and Texas have implemented similar legislation in their respective states with bipartisan support and great success. “This is the absolute best piece of legislation I’ve done,” said Rep. Chris Malone of the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Kentucky has much to be proud of for addressing education challenges head on. Its Math Achievement Fund, for instance, provides important grants to schools and districts for math coaches, high-quality materials and extra professional development.
Adopting this accelerated education policy will only improve and build upon those efforts and help more students succeed in the Bluegrass State.