Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

Kentucky ranks number seven in the country in high school graduation. However, less than two-thirds of our graduates are prepared for the next step, whether its college or the workforce. Interim Commissioner of Education Wayne Lewis asked "why are we granting high school diplomas to kids that we don’t believe are prepared for the next steps in their lives?” In order to change that, the Kentucky Board of Education is meeting today to consider implementing new high school graduation requirements in order to measure basic math and reading skills.  The goal is to ensure that kids are ready for the real world. Otherwise the diploma they hold may give them a false sense that they know more than they think they know. If the higher standards pass, they will go into effect, in the fall of 2019.