Kentucky is changing how students learn to read.

After a steady decline in reading levels over the past decade, more than half of Kentucky students are not proficient readers. As a result, Kentucky is joining dozens of other states to implement new curriculum to teach ‘science-based reading.’

In Early Literacy: A KET Forum, host Kelsey Starks is joined by a panel of educators and policy analysts to discuss the new approach to teaching reading, how it will be implemented and what this means for Kentucky’s students and schools.

Early Literacy: A KET Forum
KET Monday, Aug. 28 • 8/7 pm
Watch on-demand at KET.org and on the PBS app

Panelists appearing on the program include:

• Rep. James Tipton, from Taylorsville, chair of the House Education Committee
• Sen. Stephen West, from Paris, chair of the Senate Education Committee
• Micki Ray, chief academic officer with the Kentucky Department of Education Office of Teaching and Learning
• Lindsay Brooks, first grade teacher at Chancey Elementary with Jefferson County Public Schools
• David Whaley, Ph.D, dean and professor with the College of Education and Human Services at Murray State University
• Phil Howell, associate head of school at DePaul School in Louisville
• Christie Biggerstaff, director of early literacy with Kentucky Department of Education Office of Teaching and Learning

The KET Forum will be presented before a live studio audience.

KET is Kentucky’s largest classroom, where learning comes to life for more than two million people each week via television, online and mobile. Learn more about Kentucky’s preeminent public media organization at KET.org, on Twitter @KET and at facebook.com/KET.