"Kentucky is making solid progress in education, but just as in every state, much work remains to be done," said SREB President Dave Spence on the report's release.
Kentucky’s public school enrollment increased from 1996 to 2006, and it is expected to increase from 2006 to 2016. About 685,000 students were enrolled in public schools in Kentucky in 2006.
In 2006, Kentucky’s poverty rate among children was higher than the U.S. rate and the same as the rate for SREB median states.
In 1990, 41 percent of children in Kentucky lived in low-income households. By 2006, the
percentage had climbed to 57 percent.
The changes in the composition of the Class of 2021 in Kentucky will parallel those in the nation. Black and white students are expected to decline as proportions, and Hispanic students will grow as a proportion.
Fall 2006 enrollment in Kentucky’s publicly funded pre-K programs (state-funded and Head
Start) was an estimated 174 percent of 4-year-olds living in poverty, the same percent as in fall
2004.
In 2008, the National Institute for Early Education Research reported that Kentucky met eight of the 10 standards of quality for prekindergarten.
In Kentucky, 68 percent of fourth-graders scored at or above the NAEP Basic level in reading in 2007, up since 2003.
In 2007, 33 percent of fourth-graders in Kentucky students scored at or above the NAEP
Proficient level — a 2 percentage-point increase from 2003.
In Kentucky, 79 percent of fourth-graders scored at or above the NAEP Basic level in mathematics in 2007, up since 2003.
In 2007, 31 percent of fourth-graders in Kentucky scored at or above the NAEP Proficient level — a 9 percentage-point increase from 2003.
The percentage of black fourth-graders in Kentucky who scored at or above the NAEP Basic
level in reading was 46 percent in 2007, up since 2003. In 2007, the percentage of white students who scored at this level was 71 percent, up since 2003.
In Kentucky, 57 percent of fourth-graders from low-income families scored at or above the NAEP Basic level in reading in 2007, up since 2003 — and above the national and regional levels.
In Kentucky, 72 percent of fourth-graders met state standards in reading in 2007 — close to the percent scoring at or above the NAEP Basic level (68 percent) but higher than the percent
scoring at or above the NAEP Proficient level (33 percent). This means Kentucky’s state
standards for fourth-grade reading appear somewhat low because they are set close to the
NAEP Basic level but much lower than the NAEP Proficient level.
In Kentucky, 60 percent of fourth-graders met state standards in math in 2007 — lower than the percent scoring at or above the NAEP Basic level (79 percent) but higher than the percent
scoring at or above the NAEP Proficient level (31 percent). This means Kentucky’s state
standards for fourth-grade math appear about right because they fall between the NAEP
Basic and Proficient levels.
In Kentucky, 73 percent of eighth-graders scored at or above the NAEP Basic level in reading in 2007, down since 2003.
In 2007, 28 percent of eighth-graders in Kentucky scored at or above the NAEP Proficient level in reading — a 6 percentage-point decrease from 2003.
In Kentucky, 69 percent of eighth-graders scored at or above the NAEP Basic level in math in
2007, up since 2003.
In 2007, 27 percent of eighth-graders in Kentucky scored at or above the NAEP Proficient level in math — a 3 percentage-point increase from 2003.
The percentage of black eighth-graders in Kentucky who scored at or above the NAEP Basic
level in math was 42 percent in 2007, up since 2003. In 2007, the percentage of white students
who scored at this level was 73 percent, up since 2003.
In 2007, 37 percent of Hispanic eighth-graders scored at or above the NAEP Basic level in math in Kentucky.
In Kentucky, 57 percent of eighth-graders from low-income families scored at or above the
NAEP Basic level in mathematics in 2007, up since 2003 — and above the national and regional
levels.
In Kentucky, 65 percent of eighth-graders met state standards in reading in 2007 — lower than the percent scoring at or above the NAEP Basic level (73 percent) but higher than the percent scoring at or above the NAEP Proficient level (28 percent). This means Kentucky's state
standards for eighth-grade reading appear about right because they fall between the NAEP
Basic and Proficient levels.
In Kentucky, 49 percent of eighth-graders met state standards in math in 2007 — lower than the percent scoring at or above the NAEP Basic level (69 percent) but higher than the percent
scoring at or above the NAEP Proficient level (27 percent). This means Kentucky’s state
standards for eighth-grade math appear about right because they fall between the NAEP
Basic and Proficient levels.
In Kentucky, 38 percent of eighth-graders took Algebra I (or higher) in 2007, up 3 percentage
points from 2005.
Kentucky’s eighth-grade enrollment in pre-algebra or Algebra I (or higher) was 70 percent, up 1 percentage point from 2005.
In Kentucky in 2005, there were 13 more ninth-graders for every 100 eighth-graders in 2004.
In 2007, Kentucky’s percentage of seniors taking the ACT and its recommended college-prep
courses exceeded the national percentage by 5 percentage points. Kentucky’s percentage rose
from 1997 to 2007, while the national percentage dropped.
In Kentucky, the average composite ACT score in 2007 for graduating seniors who completed
the ACT-recommended courses was 21.4, compared with 19.4 for students who did not.
In 2007, 20 percent of Kentucky’s graduating seniors took at least one AP exam, an increase of 9 percentage points from 2000.
Kentucky’s average ACT score increased by 0.6 point from 1997 to 2007. Kentucky’s average
ACT scores were higher than regional averages and lower than national averages over the 10-
year period.
In Kentucky, 75 percent of all graduating seniors in 2007 took the ACT, up 8 percentage points from 1997. Kentucky increased both the average composite test score and the percentage of students taking the test.
The average salary for a beginning teacher in Kentucky was lower than the averages in all
bordering states, except Missouri and West Virginia, in 2005.
From 2002 to 2006, Kentucky improved its rating on one indicator of developing a learning centered school leadership system, and it currently rates “promising progress” on one indicator.
Kentucky is considered a “pacesetter” state in providing support for aspiring and newly
appointed principals. Admission to a principal preparation program requires that candidates have a signed agreement of district support. The state appropriates funding to provide a stipend for aspiring principals and their mentor principals to pay for substantial school-based learning
experiences. Newly appointed principals and assistant principals are provided with trained
mentors and ongoing training on school improvement.
In Kentucky, two-thirds of GED credentials in 2006 were awarded to 16- to 24-year-olds, and
31 percent were awarded to adults ages 25 to 49.
The GED pass rate in Kentucky was above the national and regional averages in 2006.
In Kentucky, 14,211 adults — or 9 percent of 25- to 44-year-olds without a high school diploma — enrolled in adult education programs in 2005.
In Kentucky, students from median-income families needed about $4,800 in state or institutional aid to afford college without loans in 2006.
Kentucky’s college enrollment rate of recent high school graduates in 2004 was higher than the rate in the nation and the same as in SREB states.
Kentucky’s college enrollment rate of recent high school graduates improved from 1994 to 2004.
In Kentucky, the average faculty salary at four-year colleges and universities in 2006 was $6,722 lower than the national average and $2,890 lower than the SREB average.
The average faculty salary at two-year colleges in Kentucky was $8,660 lower than the national average and $569 lower than the SREB average in 2006.
In Kentucky, funding for public four-year colleges and universities increased by $426 million, or 43 percent, from 2001 to 2007. Full-time-equivalent enrollment at public four-year institutions increased by 15 percent. Total funding per full-time-equivalent student increased by $2,894 (25 percent), from $11,731 to $14,625. When adjusted for inflation at 4 percent per year,
Kentucky’s per full-time-equivalent student funding fell by $377 (3 percent). Kentucky’s funding increases for four-year institutions lost ground to enrollment growth and inflation from 2001 to 2007.
1 comment:
There is a ton of very poor and misleading reporting going on in the education world. A lot of it paints an inaccurate picture of Kentucky’s performance. Frequently, misuse or over-representation of data from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) is involved. Report after report ignores some of the NAEP’s administrators’ very important cautions.
The 2007 NAEP Report Cards for reading and mathematics both have easy to understand language on this topic. Regarding changing rates of exclusion from NAEP for English language learners, students with learning disabilities and changes to the rates of students receiving testing accommodations on the NAEP, the report cards say on page 7, “Variations in exclusion and accommodation rates, due to differences in policies and practices regarding the identification and inclusion of students with disabilities and English language learners, should be considered when comparing students’ performance over time and across states. While the effect of exclusion is not precisely known, comparisons of performance results could be affected if exclusion rates are comparatively high or vary widely over time.”
Page 7 of the report cards also says, “Changes in performance results over time may reflect not only changes in students’ knowledge and skills but also other factors, such as changes in student demographics, education programs and policies (including policies on accommodations and exclusions), and teacher qualifications.”
Now, consider the new SREB report. It doesn’t even contain the words exclusion and accommodation, let alone make any attempt to correct for them. How are you going to fairly compare West Virginia, North Carolina, and Mississippi’s NAEP reading results when those states only excluded two percent of their raw samples in 2007 due to severe learning disabilities, while in Kentucky we excluded at least seven percent of our raw sample (CATS data for 2007 indicates that the NAEP sample was biased, by the way, and the effective exclusion rate for Kentucky was nine percent)?
And, I really love the comments in the last paragraph of this post which say that, “Total funding per full-time-equivalent student increased by $2,894 (25 percent), from $11,731 to $14,625. When adjusted for inflation at 4 percent per year, Kentucky’s per full-time-equivalent student funding fell by $377 (3 percent). Kentucky’s funding increases for four-year institutions lost ground to enrollment growth and inflation from 2001 to 2007.”
Run $11,731 in 2001 dollars through a real CPI calculator and it equates to only $13,734.21 in 2007, not $14,625. That works out to a real funding increase in 2007 dollars of plus 6.5 percent, not a 3 percent decline.
How did SREB get something very different? They used a concocted price index invented by the college crowd to hide the bloat in college costs. If the real inflation numbers don’t look bad enough, invent your own, I guess.
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