The Author’s Role in KERA
The perspectives presented in this book are those of a "participant
observer." As Governor Wallace Wilkinson’s Secretary of Education and
Humanities, he provided education policy advice to the Governor and advocated
for the school reform initiatives proposed by the Governor. After the Kentucky
Supreme Court abolished the Kentucky public school system in 1989, Governor
Wilkinson named Foster as one of his six appointees to the Task Force on
Education Reform that was created to draft the legislation. He was a member of
the Curriculum and Finance Committees of the Task Force. Foster also was a
member of the Council on School Performance Standards, created by Governor
Wilkinson prior to the court decision, whose work provided the foundation for
the curriculum policies later incorporated in KERA.
Foster was actively involved in the implementation of KERA. He served on
the Council on Education Technology; the panel that reviewed the first contract
to implement the Education Technology plan; the committee that selected the
first Commissioner of Education; and the panel that reviewed the initial
contract for the design and administration of the state accountability system.
He is widely recognized as an authority on the KERA policy framework and its
implementation.
After leaving public office in 1991, Foster worked with over 50 Kentucky
schools to help them understand how to implement the policies and programs of
KERA, some of which he worked with for three or more years. Thus he also brings
to the book his experience of working with people at the school level as they
tried to understand and implement this massive legislation. Their achievements,
frustrations, and problems provided valuable insight into just how hard it has
been to make the transition. Foster’s
views on the problems facing public education in America and their solution are
set forth in his earlier book If I Could Make a School published in 1991.