Kentucky is on track with education and career readiness goals

BOWLING GREEN Ky.-The numbers from Kentucky’s Progress Toward Post-Secondary Strategic Agenda goals show  the state of Kentucky as a whole is currently on the right path to reaching its educational attainment goal of 60 percent of the working age group to have some type of certificate or degree by the year 2030.

This stems from many of different factors, one of those of course being test scores. Vice president of outreach and community development at South Central Kentucky Community and Technical College James McCaslin said it all starts with skills picked up in high school.

“Test scores are very good here at SKTCTC, and I would attribute that to our strong collaborations with all our area high schools and technology centers. We’ve actually seen a dramatic decrease in the level of developmental education that we’ve had to provide. I think it’s because students can get a jump start in high school by doing college level work,” said McCaslin.

Superintendent of Bowling Green independent schools Gary Fields says this success is growing due to the high schools focusing on college and career readiness.

“It’s really exciting. All across the state of Kentucky, we’ve worked really hard in the area of college and career readiness. It’s an affirmation for our staff and all of our schools who have worked so hard to help our kids achieve high levels,” said Fields.

With the educational success in Kentucky, Fields said it’s more important than ever to keep up the pace.

“We need to be willing to evolve. I tell people all the time, we have 300 plus seniors this year, and we have 300 different ways to prepare them for the future. That’s the challenge to schools across Kentucky. We have to be able to address the needs of all kids in a lot of unique ways. I’m proud that it’s not just our school district, but the entire state that’s doing that,” said Fields.