In 1990, in response to court orders, Kentucky took the unprecedented step of throwing out the state's entire public educational system. Using outside consultants, they fashioned a model for education reform that many experts have hailed as the best in the United States. The Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) has become a beacon of hope for a…

This guide is intended to provide direction to Kentucky districts and schools as they develop local curricula designed to meet the state's six learning goals and academic expectations as identified in the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Specifically, the guide provides direction to local curricula development teams; effects change by…

Under the Kentucky Education Reform Act, Kentucky has redesigned curricular policies and instructional practices and has set in motion a process for restructuring teacher education by defining new standards for effective teaching and new requirements for certification. Guiding principles to prepare a teaching force able to implement school reform…

In 1988 the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld a previous decision that the state public education system had failed to provide an efficient system of common schools. The Kentucky Educational Reform Act (KERA, 1990) came from this decision. This paper reviews the restructuring of a primary school under the KERA, focusing on one collaborative effort…