By Rebecca Feldhaus/KPR
Frankfort, KY – An education summit in Lexington tomorrow hopes to combine the efforts of a number of organizations to improve education for Kentucky's youngest students. The Great By 8 summit kicks off a new program of the same name. Department of Education spokesperson Lisa Gross says it will include a number of organizations that are already working to eliminate achievement gaps in students up to eight-years-old.
"They were sort of operating by themselves and there are lots of resources out there that these organizations can share. And they have, in some cases, a slightly different focus on this very important issue, and so Great By 8 helps bring them all together at the same table."
Gross says the education department has recorded achievement gaps between several types of students in their testing, based on race, family income and disability. She says this program will help identify the problems that are creating those gaps, and find ways to address them.