About the Task Force

TEK task force will be catalyst to reinvigorate public support for K-12 education in Kentucky.

In a move to re-energize the support of public schools that nearly 20 years ago sparked Kentucky to implement the nation's most comprehensive school reform, Gov. Steve Beshear launched his new education initiative, Transforming Education in Kentucky (TEK). The goal is to create a unified vision of what schools in the Commonwealth need to offer in order to better serve students today and tomorrow.

“Our world has changed dramatically since the reforms of 1990,” said Gov. Beshear. “We must now turn our focus to the future and again to our schools to ensure that our strategies and programs are designed to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
To that end, Gov. Beshear appointed the TEK Task Force to help develop new strategies while reinvigorating public and business support for K-12 education in the Commonwealth.

The members of the task force include education advocates, teachers, superintendents, legislators, business leaders and others who have been handpicked for their commitment to education and to Kentucky.

The group will examine efforts currently underway in the state such as:

• Implementing Senate Bill 1 – a revision of academic content standards to ensure alignment from one education level to the next.
  
• Common Core Standards Initiative - States are getting 
  together to develop a common set of college-ready or 
  career-ready standards so that somebody who graduates 
  at a proficient level – no matter whether he or she is from
  Kentucky or Idaho – will have the same knowledge. And 
  these learning standards will be benchmarked to 
  international standards.

        On Feb. 10, the Kentucky Board of Education, the Council 
        on Postsecondary Education and the Education Professional 
        Standards Board will meet as one group to formally adopt
        the Common Core Standards in English/language arts and 
        mathematics.

        Kentucky, as I understand it, will likely be the first state to
        adopt these standards, which I think shows again our
        leadership in the education reform field.

• Graduate Kentucky - led by First Lady Jane Beshear with 
  support from the America’s Promise foundation, this 
  initiative is working to increase Kentucky’s graduation 
  rate.
  
• The Gates Foundation and the Southern Regional 
  Education Board are working with Kentucky to accelerate
  college and career readiness.
  
• Race to the Top competition – Kentucky has applied to 
  obtain some of the $4.35 billion in grants available through
  the Race to the Top competition, federal dollars designed
  to reward states creating conditions for education 
  innovation and reform.
  
• The Governor’s Task Force on Early Childhood Development
  and Education is formulating ways to link existing programs into a system that will ensure each child has the opportunity to enter school healthy and ready to learn.
  

Against this backdrop of renewed energy and activity, the panel will recommend ways to channel all of these efforts into an integrated and comprehensive system of education in Kentucky.

In addition, the task force will explore career and technical education, expanded use of technology for learning, increased opportunities for students to earn college credit in high school and other issues that affect student success.

The goal is to formulate recommendations by the end of 2010, for consideration during the 2011 legislative session.

“This effort seeks to build off the progress of the last 20 years in order to lay the foundation for the 20 years ahead,” said Gov. Beshear. “I’m calling on our state and our people to recommit ourselves to ensuring the future of our children.”