The following post is from Jana Bryant, a 2013-14 Hope Street Group Fellow and Math Staff Developer for Daviess County Public Schools in Owensboro, KY.
After moving in support of my husband during his military rotations for 11 years, I have chosen to come home to Kentucky to continue my career as a mathematics teacher. While I have mathematics and physics degrees that would allow me to pursue highly marketable positions with greater yearly salaries in the private sector, I have chosen to teach. I have chosen to impact and to influence our community’s future workforce.
Every student deserves an excellent teacher. Every student deserves that same opportunity for a high-quality education. All students can achieve when given fair access to the right resources. The access to quality education creates a pathway out of poverty and opens doors for further opportunities. Adequately funding K-12 education in Kentucky is a critical need as state and federal budgets are being contemplated.
As a Common Core advocate, I am proud to be a teacher in Kentucky, the first state to adopt the Common Core State Standards.
Kentucky is making great progress increasing college- and career-readiness, but this progress cannot continue by failing to fund needs like textbooks and technology, necessary teacher training to implement the Common Core, and support services that increase opportunities to uplift underperforming and underrepresented students suffering from academic defeat and under realized potential.
Kentucky must invest in the power of education for its students. What must we do to invest in the children in our community?