Rural eastern Kentucky school districts have utilized the innovative learning practices and digital teaching platforms they have used for years to jump start the “Non-Traditional Instruction” (NTI) programming necessary when school in person classes were forced to shut down in mid-March because of...

Jackson Independent School District students in Breathitt County are excited about their community’s future and expressed their desire to create their own jobs.  And, while the J.D. Vance book “Hillbilly Elegy” has not been a positive portrayal of Breathitt,...

Eastern Kentucky middle school students demonstrated their entrepreneurial and creative abilities during the 2019 Regional Entrepreneurial Competition held in Knott County showing their potential to help grow the economy. Overall this competition gave 540 middle school students, from seven schools,...

Kentucky K-12 educational leaders increased their voice and power of collaboration by establishing a state chapter and joining the National Rural Education Association (NREA) last week in Louisville. For most rural school districts in the nation, collaboration is not a...

Kentucky Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis held the second town hall forum in Hazard on Thursday, October 10 seeking public feedback on the state's new minimum high school graduation requirements. Lewis and Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) staff will hold two...

The Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) focuses on innovative methods for addressing educational and community-based challenges throughout Eastern Kentucky. Ron Daley a strategic partner lead for KVEC recently published on Kyforward (Kentucky's Online Newspaper). A story highlighting how ...

In addition to providing quality education preparing students for the workforce, the Wolfe County School District is a major economic driver in the community.  The school district directly contributes to the educational attainment and future earnings of its youth. The...

J. D. Vance's 2016 book "Hillbilly Elegy" about his family's life in Breathitt County does not reflect the people I have been neighbors with for the past 44 years.  Even though this Yale Law graduate spent his life in...

Two years ago, 17-year-old Taylor Williams of Hazard, Kentucky had a tough decision.  Should she accept admission and scholarships to Harvard, Yale, Vanderbilt, or accept the Singletary Scholarship and attend the University of Kentucky? Now as a 19-year-old pharmacy student at...

You are never too old to get a tattoo. Early last month the thought jumped into my mind to get a tattoo honoring my parents who have passed. I was born in North Dakota above the Theodore Roosevelt National...

In addition to providing quality education preparing students for the workforce, the Knott County School District is a major economic driver in the community.  The school district directly contributes to the educational attainment and future earnings of its youth. The...

In addition to providing quality education preparing students for the workforce, the Owsley County School District is a major economic driver in the community.  The school district directly contributes to the educational attainment and future earnings of its youth. The...

In addition to providing quality education preparing students for the workforce, the Lee County School District is a major economic driver in the community. The school district directly contributes to the educational attainment and future earnings of its youth. The...

Founded in 1969, KVEC is the state’s oldest K-12 educational cooperative and acknowledged throughout the nation as one of the most innovative. The Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) consortia of 22 local school districts serves over 50,000 students and over...

As amazing as it sounds, Tara Howard’s teaching career began in Magoffin County while she was a grade school student.  Her innovative teaching style now is helping prepare students for the New Economy workforce. The Salyersville Grade School teacher...

Magoffin County teacher, Andrea Parsons, was inspired to go into teaching by her high school art teacher, Connie Cecil. Now she is inspiring her students to tell their stories through art. The student narratives have changed Andrea while providing...

Two Letcher County teachers have been working together for the past two years with their students to collect and showcase the rich history and culture in central Appalachia that they believe is not or very rarely promoted to the...

Stacey Davidson, the instructional supervisor in the Owsley County School District, feels that she was called into the service of teaching at an early age even though she wanted a different career path.  She has recently started a blog...

Middlesboro High School teacher Luke Gilly is sharing his fascination with space travel and the universe in his teaching preparing his students for possible careers in aviation and aerospace. After teaching math for 10 years, Luke had an opportunity to...

Teresa Miller is using her 21 years of teaching experience at RW Combs Elementary in Perry County School District to help her students communicate their thoughts and feelings through art. “Art Makes You smart” is her present project through an...

Innovation comes to Breathitt County Jason Hall’s passion for learning and desire to become a teacher started an early age. Jason, a fourth-grade instructor at Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) Elementary in the Breathitt County School District recalls wanting to become...

Ashley Haynes has embraced an innovative approach to improve learning in her 8th-grade math classes at Hazard Middle School. Ashley describes her “Flipping and Swiveling Project” as a set of strategies to enhance student learning and achievement by reversing...

https://youtu.be/9lh5VCY8uQs Grethel Jones, an Early Childhood instructor at the Jackson Independent School District in Breathitt County, has developed a creative learning project that involves using art indoors and outdoors.  She was able to fund her idea by applying for and...

https://youtu.be/AZI74_wzZh0 Kelly Scott is cooking up learning and science at Pikeville High School with creative teaching strategies.   Kelly is using the kitchen as her science classroom. Seeing students learn, be part of our classroom family, seeing them come up with...

Crystal Smallwood, in her 32nd year in education, is utilizing technology in creative ways as the librarian at Jenkins Independent to promote learning for students who may not have Internet access at home. https://youtu.be/QZVjsv7M9ho  Crystal credits her parents, who were both...

While being a student in the Paintsville School District, Laura Carroll dreamed of returning home and becoming a teacher in the district.  She is in her fifth year of teaching at Paintsville Elementary having taught 4th/5th split class, 5th...

Christin Roberson said she felt like Santa Claus as she watched her two aerospace classes excitedly open the drone kits on Friday, November 3 at Sheldon Clark High School. The students will conduct research in order to learn how...

  The Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) Appalachian Technology Initiative (ATI) has made remarkable progress in three years preparing students for high tech career pathways. Only two KVEC school districts had computer science programs serving less than 25 students at that point.  Despite...

Over 100 persons joined educators and community leaders to honor state legislators while showcasing the amazing work of mountain teachers and students at the Legislative and Leadership reception Feb. 7 at Rupp Arena/Hyatt conference center. The 21 superintendents representing...

This initial panel discussion on December 12, 2016  explored reasons while other Appalachian coal states has made greater progress economically than eastern Kentucky.  Future discussions and interviews will be held and broadcast on The Holler concerning this topic. Since the...

The KY Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) staff  have prepared this Community Tool Kit to help prepare your county for the New Economy and enhanced use of broadband to strengthen the regional economy with digital jobs.  The kit includes active...

#KVECEDUCONOMY KVEC Educonomy Summit: Education, Workforce, Economic Development  Visionary Thinking and Doing #KVEC Educonomy Summit attracted over 200 eastern Kentuckians Over 200 persons attended the first “KVEC Educonomy Summitt: Education, Workforce, and Economic Development” in Hazard, KY. on September 16, 2016. Another 250 persons...

June 21, 2016 10 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Hazard Community and Technical College, First, Federal Center Experts will share the extraordinary federal funding opportunities available to east Kentucky including Promise Zone and USDA programs,  (Abandoned Mine Lands, PowerPlus, ARC). The event is intended...

Students from four counties representing the KY Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) S.T.A.R.S. (Students Transforming Appalachia with Real-world Solutions) shared their entrepreneurial projects and ideas for the future of the region at the East Kentucky Leadership Conference in Morehead, KY on...

The Appalachian Kentucky traditions of ingenuity, adaptability, craft, and blacksmithing have prepared the region to be successful in the New Digital Economy. The pioneers and their ancestors who have lived in these hills have displayed a rural genius that translates...

“Creating and Training Workforce for the Present and Future” Through the KVEC Workforce Development Alliance, school districts in the KY Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC), and other partners are committed to building a strong base of business, industry, and community support...

Is it possible for a major K-12 conference to be held in Eastern Kentucky in which thousands of people from around the nation and world can participate? Is it possible for there to be 10 simultaneous live streams of mountain...

Educational carpetbaggers and poverty pimps beware. Kentucky's Appalachian coalfield has the talent to resolve its own challenges, and we will no longer tolerate people and institutions who use our pockets of poverty to fund their operations. We are tired of those...