jcps school assignment

• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Newsletters
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My watchlist
• Stock market
• Biden economy
• Personal finance
• Stocks: most active
• Stocks: gainers
• Stocks: losers
• Trending tickers
• World indices
• US Treasury bonds
• Top mutual funds
• Highest open interest
• Highest implied volatility
• Currency converter
• Basic materials
• Communication services
• Consumer cyclical
• Consumer defensive
• Financial services
• Industrials
• Real estate
• Mutual funds
• Credit cards
• Balance transfer cards
• Cash back cards
• Rewards cards
• Travel cards
• Online checking
• High-yield savings
• Money market
• Home equity loan
• Personal loans
• Student loans
• Options pit
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard

JCPS student assignment proposal: Here are 5 takeaways from the first West End forum

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jefferson County Public Schools may be on the cusp of one of its biggest changes in decades: a new student assignment plan.

District leaders began a two-month tour of forums and feedback sessions on its latest proposal with a Tuesday night event co-sponsored by The Courier Journal and the Louisville Urban League.

"This educational system has not worked for our children. It is not designed to help our children," Sadiqa Reynolds, urban league president, said at the start of the event.

Under the proposal, unveiled earlier this week, West End families would get to choose between schools close to home or elsewhere in the county, giving them a de facto opt out of busing.

Background: Louisville student assignment plan poised for major change. Will it work?

A slew of changes designed to make every part of the magnet school process , from admissions to how students get "exited," are also on the table.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's event:

Resegregation seems inevitable

As West End families pick a school closer to home, schools across the district are likely to grow more segregated.

Panelist Raoul Cunningham, who leads the Louisville NAACP, asked what the difference was between the proposed "dual resides" approach and "neighborhood schools" — the idea that everyone should go to the school closest to home, even if means a return to segregated schools.

West End families who pick the close-to-home school will likely create a concentration of poverty in the West End schools.

Interested in education? Sign up for our education newsletter, The Hall Pass

Under the current proposal, East End families would have fewer options to pick from in the West End, meaning fewer ways to balance out school diversity.

Panelists acknowledged this Tuesday evening, with JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio saying high-poverty schools are impossible to avoid when two-thirds of JCPS students live in low-income households.

East End not coming west

Ultimately, while West End families gain choices, the challenge of integrating schools remains on their shoulders.

Pollio acknowledged asking East End families to be bused to diversify schools, like West End families have been forced to do for years, isn't an option.

Is it "the case that the idea of requiring the East End families to do what these families have been through for years is never going to happen," Mandy McLaren, a Courier Journal reporter moderating the panel, asked.

"I think that is a fair statement," Pollio responded.

Past wrongs need to be acknowledged

Admitting the district's current plan is racially inequitable is a first step, panelist Kish Cumi Price, commissioner of workforce investment with the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, and others signaled.

But there are other "skeletons in the closet" district and city leaders need to address, Price said.

Price thought the impact of parent-teacher associations on the school experience still needs to be examined. Wealthier schools tend to have more PTA and booster funds to add events or pay for extra teachers, whereas poorer schools have far less money, if they have an active PTA at all.

Magnet proposal: See how your school will be impacted under JCPS' magnet proposal

Another thing that needs to be discussed? Root causes of why high-needs schools see more inexperienced teachers and struggle with attracting educators to open classrooms, Price said.

Teacher compensation primed to change

A persistent teacher shortage runs headlong into JCPS' proposal, which seeks to improve compensation for educators in West End schools.

Higher pay can help attract teachers when educators are hard to come by. Pollio wants to see a separate pay scale for educators who work and stay in the toughest schools, so they start at a higher salary and gain more as they stay.

Related: Thousands of teachers needed subs this year. Not all of them got them.

Panelist Brent McKim, the president of Louisville's teachers union, didn't rule out the concept of a separate pay scale during Tuesday's event. The union would be "open" to discussing it, he said, but it could also work to use additional stipends to attract teachers. (JCPS already offers cash stipends to transfer to and work at high-needs schools.)

JCPS will need to weigh whether it will help students more to spend extra on teacher salaries or to use that money to provide other resources, like counselors or therapists, McKim said.

JCPS no longer worried about 'white flight'

Magnet schools in Louisville came to be as a way to keep white families in JCPS.

That mindset is done, said panelist Amanda Averette-Bush, who leads student assignment work in JCPS.

Magnets are meant to create diverse learning environments in cities' urban cores, Averette-Bush said, not be exclusionary programs.

Many of the proposed magnet changes seek to move toward those diverse, engaging magnets.

When asked later in the evening what JCPS will do to prevent future white flight, Averette-Bush responded bluntly.

"We can't have magnets in response to white flight," she said.

Reach Olivia Krauth at [email protected] and on Twitter at @oliviakrauth .

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS student assignment proposal: Takeaways from first West End forum

• Community News
• Area Births
• In the Courts
• Marriage Licenses
• Real Estate Transfers
• West Virginia News
• National News
• International News
• Local Sports
• Local Sports Columns
• West Virginia Sports
• Ohio Sports
• National Sports
• News and Sentinel Races

Local columns

• Letters to the editor
• Anniversaries
• Engagements
• Coronavirus
• Classifieds
• Garage Sales
• Statement of Values
• Terms of Service
• Submit News
• Browse notices
• Place a notice

• Today's Paper

Subscribe Today

Mov parent: time management for school homework assignments.

(Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)

I feel a strong need to discuss the significance of homework. There is nothing that irritates a teacher more than students who procrastinate completing their homework assignments.

Throughout the remainder of this writing, I will offer ideas for doing homework. I am writing it specifically for students; therefore, it is imperative that parents share this important information with their school-aged children. Now let’s begin with the following athletic analogy.

Coaches, first and foremost, want all their players to gain positive experiences from athletics. To accomplish this goal, the participants need to be as committed as their coaches. A major part of that dedication includes hours upon hours of drills.

Although the majority of athletes hate drill work, they know that to be successful in their sport, it is a very necessary evil. As with athletics, the same is true with the academic realm as well. But in the case of studies, it is known as that dreaded activity referred to as “homework.”

The key to proper homework preparation is “time management.” Many students do not know how to wisely organize their daily studying routine. Hence, homework is either turned in late or never completed. Furthermore, such problems can lead to student anxiety and feelings of always being in a rush.

What I want to share with you from this point on are some helpful hints for homework. Likewise, I also devised a generic time schedule for “after school” study habits.

Helpful Homework Hints

1. Try to eliminate dead hours. Accomplish something every free moment of the day. Research has demonstrated that an hour of daytime study is worth an hour and a half of studying at night.

2. Always allow enough time to eat good, nutritious meals. As they say, “You are what you eat.”

3. Do not follow a schedule that could cause lack of proper sleep. All evidence supports the importance of acquiring the basic eight hours of sleep a day.

4. Determine how much time you really need to study each subject area, and develop your homework schedule accordingly.

5. When you are faced with lengthy homework projects, double the time you think it will take and start early. Keep in mind, big assignments always take longer than you originally expected.

6. During the day, look for small blocks of time in which you can get minor tasks accomplished. For example, if you take a school bus to and from school, you could be reading a chapter in one of your textbooks at these times.

7. Always schedule your most difficult homework during a time of the day when you feel totally alert. This time will vary from student to student.

8. When studying at home, select a homework site with no distractions. You can’t learn when the television is on or family members are having discussions near your study area.

Generic Time Schedule for After School Hours

* 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. – Recreational or Sports Practice Time.

* 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. – Chore Time, etc.

* 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. – Evening Meal.

* 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. – Homework Time. (Note: Allow 10 minutes of each hour for a study break.)

* 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. – Recreational Time for Watching Television, Calling or Texting Friends, etc.

* 10:00 p.m. – Bedtime

To be quite honest, at first you can anticipate having some difficulty putting together a daily time schedule for homework and other activities. Here is where parents can assist their child, having more lifetime experiences in organizing their personal and professional affairs.

Moreover, please realize that your child’s schedule may need to be revised or adjusted from time to time.

I have one final tip for students who take their schooling seriously. Even if you are not sure how to complete a homework assignment for a certain class, always hand something in when it’s due – be it right or wrong. Believe me, this is very sound advice from my own educational experiences.

With the above approach to studying, all your teachers will realize that you have made sincere efforts to perform homework assignments. Likewise, should a completed homework paper be incorrect, your teacher will know where you are having learning problems. Thus, your teacher will be able to guide you toward better understanding of the material being taught.

On the other hand, when students fail to hand in homework assignments, their teachers will think they don’t care, and nothing can be learned by anyone. Hence, the bottom line is: “Do Your Homework!”

Bill Welker, EdD, is an educator who has 40 years of experience as a K12 classroom teacher in both public and private schools. He was the recipient of the prestigious “Jasper N. Deahl Award” from West Virginia University for his accomplishments as a certified reading specialist.

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News

Backyard Gardener: Sedum – beautiful, low-maintenance plant for the landscape

MOV Parent: Should schools ban cell phones?

Senior Legal Aid can help provide solutions

By Deb Miller West Virginia Senior Legal Aid A recent call to West Virginia Senior Legal Aid was from Charlie. ...

Legal-Ease: ‘Do I need a trust?’

About 20 years ago newspapers had advertisements placed by non-lawyers, advising, “Everybody Needs a ...

Reporter’s Notebook: Empty pockets

Starting at $2.99/week..

Parents frustrated over JCPS decision to hold middle school football games at high school fields

Despite two years of repairs, no varsity games will be played on newburg middle school football field after jcps middle school football changes.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Parents at Newburg Middle School are frustrated over JCPS Athletics’ decision to hold varsity middle school games on high school fields.

After two years of repairs to their football field, parents of the school’s varsity players were looking forward to playing at home and hopefully bringing in some extra funding for the program.

“When we first had our parent and coaches meeting, we were told that we were actually going to be able to use our field this year which was so exciting,” said parent Jennifer Schumacher. “We were going to have our concessions and money from this and that was going to go back to different things, but most of it was going to go back to Newburg and our team.”

The field has been gone through upgrades to repair divots, level the field and improve drainage. Parents say the field has undergone a number of changes including new fencing, repairing holes, re-painting lines, and even adding a new concession stand.

With those repairs now finished, parents say they were surprised to see no home games on their football schedule.

Instead, the games will be played at PRP High School, Shawnee High School, and Westport Middle School until repairs at Marion C. Moore High School are finished. Those repairs are expected to be finished around Labor Day, at which point the Westport games will be moved to Moore.

A JCPS spokesperson said the decision was made to give middle school players the experience of playing on the high schools’ new turf fields.

Newburg Middle School’s junior varsity team will be playing on the school’s field, but parents of eighth grade varsity players say they were looking forward to playing on their home field in their last year at the school.

“Concessions we’re able to get and help fund middle school programs,” said parent Deandra Hereford. “The fact that our middle school money is going to be taken out of middle school and put into high school is ridiculous – and the fact that that is not in our community.”

Aside from the missed opportunity for funding, parents say the new schedule creates one more transportation headache as they now have to coordinate driving players to Saturday games at schools that are upwards of a half hour away for some.

“We have no type of activity buses to get these kids to and from games, so we carpool,” Hereford said. “We get together and we transport, so it’s left up to the parents.”

“Several of us carpool other kids and help out parents,” Schumacher said. “JCPS has us bringing our kids to school, having to pick them up, now we’re having to go 30 minutes out so that we can play football with our kids on a high school field? Why aren’t we on our own?”

JCPS tells WAVE the funds for the repairs of the school’s football field came from a city grant but couldn’t say exactly how much was spent. The district spokesperson said the Newburg team’s games couldn’t have been moved back to their home field without re-working the entire middle school football schedule.

JCPS Athletics plans to reassess its scheduling at the end of the football season by asking middle school football coaches and athletic directors where they prefer to play.

Copyright 2024 WAVE. All rights reserved.

All lanes on I-64 West near Simpsonville estimated to be closed 10 hours due to crash

Jeffersonville police arrest couple both armed with AR-15 style rifles

Silver Alert for Fort Wayne girl canceled

5 people, including 2 doctors, charged in connection to Matthew Perry’s death, authorities say

'My biggest fear is that I'm going to lose my job': JCPS mom struggles to work around traffic issues

Arrest made in connection with deadly Baxter Ave. shooting

LMPD investigating ‘cutting’ incident at McDonald’s location in downtown Louisville

4th grader declared brain dead after collapsing at recess on first day of school, family says

Latest news.

Cortez Stone embraces role change as he leads Central into new season

Father and son reunite in the Bats clubhouse

UK Athletics releases 2024 Hall of Fame class

Lynn Family Stadium hosts Women’s Cup final, third-place match

Valhalla to host women’s international competition in 2028

• Services & Software

Back to School: Using AI to Create Writing Assignments Students Actually Want to Do

You may even have fun grading them.

Getting students excited about the work you have to grade later can be one of the more frustrating things about teaching , but when an assignment hits the right chord, it has the potential to inspire and impact not just the classroom, but the whole school and beyond.

Reconciling the curriculum and assignments with standards and learning objectives sometimes established out of a teacher's control can really sap the creative side of your brain. 

Here's how artificial intelligence can help broaden your horizons when trying to create assignments that make a lasting impression and keep your classroom excited about learning. (And for more AI tips for the back-to-school season, check out CNET's guides on  how to use AI to keep up with important dates and  how to use Microsoft Copilot to create notes on pretty much anything.)

Since there will need to be a fair bit of refinement to create an assignment that is both fun to complete for students and fun to review and grade for educators, I've used ChatGPT , the AI chatbot that uses machine learning and large language models to generate conversational style answers to search queries, so that I could go back and forth brainstorming ideas.

Maintaining teacher and student sanity

My area of study is media and communications, so for this example I'm putting together an assignment on media literacy , or the ability to think and interact critically with everything from TikTok content to front-page news. 

The goal is to create an assignment that's fun, collaborative and impactful for college students who interact heavily with digital media but might not be questioning what they're consuming.

The secondary goal was to create an assignment I won't hate myself for creating when it comes time to grade it.

On my first attempt, ChatGPT gave me a fully built-out assignment according to specific learning objectives around media literacy for college-level students, but it was about as fun as you'd think writing a 500-word essay on media literacy might be -- not fun at all.

Refine for fun, collaboration and focus

Since this assignment is in part about getting students to actually interact with media online in a way that's more impactful than just lurking or liking from the digital shadows, I refined the prompt to include using the student body in the assignment somehow and requested less emphasis on written analysis that will ultimately only be seen and evaluated by the teacher.

Here's what it came back with:

I was actually impressed -- not only did ChatGPT have students interacting with and analyzing media, but it also created a multi-layered assignment that gave students the opportunity to see firsthand the impact media literacy can make on a community as well as an individual.

This assignment would also be a darn sight more enjoyable to grade than 30 to 50 500-word analytical essays about whether the source of a Brat summer post on TikTok can be trusted.

Finally, ChatGPT offered submission requirements (like linking to the social media content used in completing the assignment and screenshots of the online interactions) and grading criteria for the assignment and even some examples of how the assignment might be executed.

Its example in particular about analyzing the role of political memes was timely and felt like a fresh take on an evolving reality of campaign media.

I personally would love to see videos from students collaborating on a discussion with their peers about their perception of Kamala HQ 's content and the presence of former President Donald Trump across social media. 

And who knows -- maybe the students might actually enjoy it too.

• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Newsletters
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My watchlist
• Stock market
• Biden economy
• Personal finance
• Stocks: most active
• Stocks: gainers
• Stocks: losers
• Trending tickers
• World indices
• US Treasury bonds
• Top mutual funds
• Highest open interest
• Highest implied volatility
• Currency converter
• Basic materials
• Communication services
• Consumer cyclical
• Consumer defensive
• Financial services
• Industrials
• Real estate
• Mutual funds
• Credit cards
• Balance transfer cards
• Cash back cards
• Rewards cards
• Travel cards
• Online checking
• High-yield savings
• Money market
• Home equity loan
• Personal loans
• Student loans
• Options pit
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard

Where is JCPS' new school going? Here's what we know

Project: Dr. J Blaine Hudson Middle School

Location: 18th Street and Broadway, next to the Dr. William H. Perry Elementary School.

Description: In June, JCPS announced the construction of west Louisville's first middle school building in nearly 90 years. To be developed in the California neighborhood, Dr. J Blaine Hudson Middle is finding its permanent home at the former location of the Passport Health Plan headquarters. The property, originally purchased by Molina Healthcare in 2022 for $8 million, was donated to JCPS but the organization will "maintain a presence on the site" in the form of a "one-stop help center" for health screenings and other programs, said Ryan Sadler, plan president for Passport Health Plan by Molina Healthcare. Construction is expected to be complete for the 2026 school year.

What's being replaced?: The Passport Health Plan headquarters, where construction stopped in 2019.

Cost: Nearly $34 million

Size: 129,000-square-feet

Developer: Molina Healthcare

Dr. J Blaine Hudson Middle School Molina Healthcare donates west Louisville property to JCPS for Hudson Middle

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Hudson Middle School begins construction in Louisville's West End

• Anniston/Gadsden

Alabama school test scores are rising: Find your district results

• Updated: Aug. 13, 2024, 8:37 a.m.
• | Published: Aug. 12, 2024, 6:40 a.m.

Desks at Clay-Chalkville Middle School in Jefferson County Schools in Alabama. Trisha Powell Crain / AL.com

• Trisha Powell Crain | [email protected]

Alabama’s public school student test scores are rising in every subject - English language arts, math and science - according to 2024 test results posted on the Alabama Department of Education website Friday.

Not all grade levels improved over the past year, but overall proficiency levels - across all grades combined - were up.

Statewide, the news is good, but results vary widely by district. Scroll down to see your school district.

District results

Scores were also released for individual schools . A look at district-level results shows the majority of Alabama’s 150 traditional and charter school districts made gains in all subject areas. And some districts showed impressive gains for low-income students.

Nineteen school districts improved English language arts proficiency results among low-income students by 10 percentage points or more, 16 districts did the same in science, and half a dozen districts did so in math.

Scores range widely among districts, with high-poverty districts struggling to reach high proficiency levels in general.

Scores in English language arts range from 19.7% proficiency in Greene County schools, where 90% of students are in poverty, to 86% in Mountain Brook City schools where 3% of all students are in poverty.

Math results show an even wider range, with two charter schools, Empower Community School in Bessemer and the Mobile Area Education Foundation’s charter schools showing fewer than 2% of students reaching proficiency. Between 85% and 90% of students are in poverty in those schools.

Mountain Brook again occupies the top spot in math, with 79% of students reaching proficiency in math.

The table below shows proficiency levels for all students in each of the three subjects. Click here if you are unable to see the table.

State level results

State Superintendent Eric Mackey presented state-level results to the board of education in July , looking specifically at third through eighth grade reading and math results.

The group of students making the largest gains in proficiency levels are students in poverty. Students in poverty, termed “economically disadvantaged” in federal reporting, have lower levels of students reaching proficiency overall when compared with all students grouped together.

That means they have farther to go to catch up, but at the state level, students in poverty are closing gap in English, math and science skills, little by little.

Overall test results show the steady rise of test scores over the past four years. That progress, broken down by subject, is shown in the chart below. The percentages combine student proficiency levels for all tests given at all grade levels. Click here if you are unable to see the chart.

Beyond poverty status, scores are also broken down by student group, including by gender, race and ethnicity, disability status and whether a student is in a military, migrant or foster family.

All groups improved performance in English language arts. Most groups of students made gains except for foster youth and migrant students in science and English learners in math.

The charts below show statewide scores by subject for students in each group. Click here if you are unable to see the tables for English language arts , math and science .

Which students take the tests?

The Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program, or ACAP, includes all tests given to Alabama’s students during their public school years.

The ACAP summative is given to students in math and English language arts in grades 2 through 8, and in science in grades 4, 6 and 8. Second grade results are not reported publicly but are used to determine growth scores for report cards, which are released in late fall.

The ACAP summative portions students into four levels: level 1 is below grade level, level 2 is “low grade level,” level 3 is proficient and level 4 means a student has mastered the academic standards. Students reaching levels 3 and 4 are deemed “proficient” in reporting.

Proficiency is not the same as grade level, which is a higher bar, Mackey said. “When we think about proficiency,” he said, “those would be students you expect to make A’s or A’s and B’s.” Grade level is a lower bar, he added.

Additionally, scores for students taking an alternate assessment due to their differences in abilities are factored into the results in those grades.

The ACT with writing is given to all high school juniors, and those results are factored into overall proficiency levels as well. Tenth graders take the pre-ACT, but those scores are used solely to determine academic growth from tenth to 11th grade.

More stories from the Ed Lab

• Alabama schools add metal detectors, new rules for safety and security
• 1 in 4 US students miss school often. An Alabama district is trying to solve the problem
• Alabama high school moves to virtual learning due to COVID outbreak
• Alabama school test scores trend up in English, math, science: Find your school

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

• Politics & Government
• National Politics

School enrollment boundaries could be changing. Here are the new JCPS maps