The Community Problem Solving team at Johnson Central Middle School doesn’t initiate solutions to a problem and then discontinue the effort to improve the situation.  After winning the 2017 International Problem Solving Competition, the students are not only continuing...

The excitement is obvious at Johnson Central High School when students and ATC staff discuss their first tiny house project!  The trailer, purchased at P & J Trailer Service in Paintsville, has been modified by the welding class to...

A positive partnership between parents and teachers goes a long way in creating a plan that best meets the needs of a child. Working together, parents, teachers, and children can inform each other about the most successful ways to...

Students from the 22 school districts in Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) will be spearheading “The Second Annual KVEC Educonomy Summit: Education, Workforce, and Economic Development: Visionary and Entrepreneurial Thinking and Doing” in Hazard, KY on Thursday, September 21. ...

The Hechinger Report is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based at Teachers College, Columbia University.  Their mission is to “cover inequality and innovation in education with in-depth journalism that uses research, data and stories from classrooms and campuses to show the...

“Educators have been seeing great outcomes in using Microsoft Learning Tools for their students over the past year. We’ve heard from Lauren Pittman’s class in Georgia, Jeanne Caudill’s students in Kentucky, and an English Teacher in Macedonia. Spurred by...

There are many success stories in rural eastern Kentucky relating to the Race to the Top District grant received by Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) in 2013.  One notable initiative was recently recognized in an article published in the...

Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) will be hosting a one day training on September 18, 2017, by Gilder Lehrman Institute presenters entitled Teaching Literacy through History (TLTH).  The initiative is tailored to the instructional needs of all Social Studies...

How exciting would it be for students to design, build and fly their own drones?  How cool would it be for students to have access to flight simulators in their schools?  How neat would it be for students to...

Selected high school juniors and seniors from 17 schools in the KVEC region participated in the ARI Student Senate induction ceremony at the courthouse in Pikeville, KY, on Thursday, August 17, 2017. The Harlan Daily Enterprise recognized the two senate...

Emma Pinkley, a senior member and president of the Harlan County High School choir, has recently been named to the National Honor Choir. For the link to the story in the Harlan Daily Enterprise, click below: http://www.harlandaily.com/news/education/21623/hchs-student-named-to-national-honor-choir

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability, resulting from a neurological disorder that affects the brain functioning.  In the state of Kentucky in 2000, 1,032 or 1.09% of children ages 3-21 who received special education services had autism. In 2014-2015,...

Do you remember the last time you saw a twinkle in the eyes of a child?  Was it at Christmas, a birthday or another special occasion?  Children enrolled in a popular early literacy program within several Kentucky Valley Educational...

The Challenger Learning Center in Hazard was the first of the 47 Challenger Learning Centers to be located in a rural area.  The centers were established by the families of the Challenger astronauts tragically killed in the 1986 Space...

Press Release from Reading Recovery Council of North America HAZARD — Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative Teacher Pamela Slone is attending the University of Kentucky for a full-time year of study focusing on how best to help first graders who are struggling...

STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. STEM integrates the four disciplines based on real-world applications (https://www.livescience.com/43296-what-is-stem-education.html). According to...

Kentucky Valley Education Cooperative (KVEC) has launched a nationally recognized project to increase student achievement and community prosperity in eastern Kentucky.  The initiative will engage teachers, principals, parents and community members in innovative personalized professional learning and concrete outcomes...

According to Dr. Reuven Feuerstein, “Everyone – regardless of age, etiology or disability – has immeasurable ability to enhance their learning aptitude and heighten their intelligence” (http://equippingminds.com/equipping-minds-cognitive-development-program/).  Dr. Feuerstein developed Feuerstein’s Instrumental Enrichment (FIE) Method in the 1950’s.  FIE...

The eclipse is coming!  Kentucky has been excited by the prospect of being in the path of totality for the 2017 solar eclipse for a while now.  We are even counting down and it is only a few weeks...

Larry Jacobs, host of the Education Talk Radio Show, commented that we often tend to stereotype certain things.  Dr. Jeff Hawkins, Executive Director of Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) in Hazard, dispelled many stereotypes about education in rural eastern...

The Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Innovation Fund, sponsored by Education First, the NoVo Foundation and Rockefeller Philanthropy, recently awarded over $1,000,000 to teachers and school districts who submitted innovative ideas on how to improve systems that foster social and...

KVEC is offering the opportunity for special education staff in the region to apply for sixty Special Education Learning Innovation grants.  Eligible districts within the special education cooperative include:  Lee, Owsley, Wolfe, Breathitt, Jackson, Magoffin, Floyd, Pike, Pikeville Independent,...

Madeline Will, Education Week Teacher Assistant Editor, published a blog July 21 on how micro-credentials could possibly be a professional development solution in rural eastern Kentucky.  The article discusses how access to high-quality teacher training is not easily accessible...

Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative was recently represented by Mrs. Lisa Fugate, FMD teacher at Marie Roberts-Caney Elementary School in Breathitt County, and Mrs. Tammy Cook, FMD teacher at West Whitesburg Elementary School in Letcher County, at SPLASH summer training...

As the state of Kentucky conducts a study surveying its aerospace industry and determining the direction for the future, several entities in the KVEC region are focusing on bringing a drone port to eastern Kentucky.   Former Governor Paul Patton...

Across the country, educators are engaging in conversations regarding job-embedded, personalized professional learning based on the needs of the students identified through the analysis of classroom assessment data.  This research-based model, micro-credentialing (MC), provides the opportunity for teachers and...

As school enrollment in the KVEC region continues to decrease, so does the needed funding to provide adequate resources for student achievement.  Ron Daley, Strategic Partnership Lead, has addressed these issues in an article posted by Kentucky Forward, Kentucky's...

A column published recently in the Lexington Herald-Leader entitled "Survey surprise: Most Kentucky companies face a talent shortage" by columnist Tom Eblen prompted Jeff Hawkins, Executive Director of the Kentucky Valley Education Cooperative (KVEC), to respond with an editorial that elaborates on...

Over the last several years, the role of the principal in a school has changed drastically.  The principal is no longer just the building manager, but has duties and responsibilities that require him or her to monitor instruction and...

A recent article posted on the Holler recognized Jeanne Caudill's innovation grant project receiving the 'Kids' Choice Award' at the Global Microsoft Educators Exchange in Toronto, Canada.  Ms. Caudill, first grade teacher at Mullins Elementary in Pike County, has...

“It all began with ARI (Appalachian Renaissance Initiative)”, says Jeanne Caudill, first grade teacher at Mullins Elementary in Pike County.  And her story is phenomenal! Each year KVEC awards Learning Innovation Grants to teachers who submit applications for original and...

The Race to the Top Grant awarded to the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative has provided a variety of resources and programs for educators and students in the twenty-one district region.  Two years ago, under the supervision of Paul Green,...

Brian Bentley, Jenkins Independent, Piloting Summit Personalized Learning Transitioning from a traditional classroom to a personalized learning classroom is not an easy task.  The process requires hard work and a strong commitment by teachers and school leaders.  Educators in the...

For the fourth year, retired organic chemist Gary Booth has sponsored the Wolfe County STEM Camp.  He says it’s not expensive to pay a few teachers and to purchase the materials needed for the five day camp but it...

A fun and productive day for 30 teachers and administrators from eleven districts in the KVEC region consisted of them choosing and discussing their topics of interest, sharing ideas and utilizing online resources.  An extensive list of free and...

Kelli Thompson, Student Agency Lead, was one of nine participants selected for the 2017 Community Leadership Institute of Kentucky (CLIK).  CLIK provides opportunities for collaborations between academic centers and community leaders to affect change in health disparities in rural...

              The amazing work illustrated in the construction of three tiny houses built by students at Phelps Area Technology Center (ATC) in Pike County, Lee County ATC and Knott County ATC this past school year will be expanded in 2017-18...

Girls attending the Nontraditional Summer Camp at Lee County Area Technology Center (ATC) proved that they can do anything boys can do!  During the week of May 22-26, they could be found changing oil in a car, checking tire...

Where can students with complex needs go for a day that is both fun and educational, is within driving distance of regional schools, and is flexible enough to provide accommodations as needed for the children?  The East Kentucky Science...

How does a district ensure that students are ready to enter college and/or the workforce prepared?  After intense planning and research in the early 2000s, educators in Johnson County decided to do away with the diploma system they had...

Johnson County Middle School principal Joey Estep’s thoughts on Operation Ordinary include the statement that “this whole project defines what I think education is all about…inspiring others, reaching out, connecting with others”. Pam Burton, academic team coach, recalls how Brenda...

An element of the Appalachian Renaissance Initiative’s (ARI, created through KVEC’s Race to the Top Grant) mission is to identify, support and promote innovative practices in education and to also support and promote those educators and their students who...

Linking educational opportunities to improving the economy in eastern Kentucky through the development of a drone port near Hazard draws the attention of Education Week in an online article: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/05/17/in-kentucky-rural-schools-betting-on-drones.html?cmp=soc-tw-shr  

“In the world of education, innovation comes in many forms. There are innovations in the way education systems are organized and managed. There are innovations in instructional techniques or delivery systems. There are innovations in the way students are...

Being a small district of two schools, one elementary and one middle/high school, and having a student population that is 89% free/reduced lunch eligible, has not hindered the Owsley County School System in Booneville, KY, from becoming one of...

Middle school students at South Floyd Middle School in Floyd County have been exploring a variety of real-life problems in eastern Kentucky and through research and experimentation have discovered some viable solutions to the issues.  Rebecca Morrison, science teacher,...

Flight simulators, drones, ham radio, robotic cars and a wind tunnel are not items that you typically see in a high school lab.  However, if you visit Middlesboro High School the students in Luke Gilly’s aerospace and engineering classes...

Permission to reprint from Amanda Nelson, UK Now LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 5, 2017) — When Chelsea Adams graduated from the University of Kentucky, she had18 guests come to the ceremony — her parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and people she describes as family,...

Lee County Middle High School students are fortunate to be members of Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS), a program that helps high schools throughout the U.S. build and grow sustainable computer science programs. TEALS pairs trained computer...

How many professional development sessions do educators attend that do not pertain to the content area they teach or do not strengthen their instructional skills in the classroom?  Any teacher or administrator can verify that in the majority of...