By Gary Pitts
Frankfort, KY – Kentucky will serve as a demonstration state for a teaching professional development organization called Learning Forward. Kentucky is the only state selected from several that applied for the designation. Department of Education spokesperson Lisa Gross says the commonwealth will be sort of laboratory for the Learning Forward system.
"Kentucky will benefit from that because our teachers will get this high quality training that is directly related to the standards that these teachers are teaching. And it will help them to understand the connection of those standards to our ultimate goal of college and career readiness for all students."
Learning Forward spokesperson Joellen Killon says the organization works as an involved consulting group to help improve and streamline systems already in the state. She says their goal is to help make sure teachers are effectively working with the Common Core State Standards. Killon says the entire process takes around two years and costs about $1.4 million dollars, paid for by grants from outside groups. After the process is completed, Kentucky will serve as a model for other states.