2008 CATS Scores released

First, a little shout out

to my friends and colleagues

at Cassidy School,

recognized as Pacesetters,

and ranking 16th

at 111.6

You still make me proud.

This from KDE:



(FRANKFORT, Ky.) -- Results from the 2008 administration of the Kentucky Core Content Tests (KCCT) show improvement in most scores for all grade levels and subject areas, and fewer schools are in need of assistance as a result of their performance over the 2007-2008 testing cycle.


Scores from the April 2008 administration of the KCCT, the primary component of the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS), were released today. Nonacademic data, which is another component of school and district accountability indices, was released in May. ACT results for juniors, which contribute to high schools’ accountability indices, were released last week.


Every two years, schools are classified as Meets Goal, Progressing or In Assistance, depending whether they have met their unique goals for the biennium. The ultimate goal is for all schools to reach proficiency – 100 on a 140-point scale – by the year 2014.


More than 431,000 students in grades 3-12 participated in the 2008 assessments, which covered seven subject areas: reading, mathematics, science, social studies, arts & humanities, practical living/vocational studies and writing. Schools are held accountable for their students’ performance on the tests, for nonacademic factors (such as dropout, attendance and retention rates) and, for high schools, 11th-grade students’ performance on the ACT.


Schools must meet dropout rate and novice reduction requirements. The dropout rate requirements are that a school must have an average dropout rate of less than 5.3 percent over the biennium or an average rate that is at least one-half of one percent lower than its average rate of the previous biennium.


The novice reduction requirements are that a school must reduce its percentage of novices so that, by 2014, it has only five percent of its students in the novice category.



Schools are expected to have accountability indices of 100 (on a 140-point scale) by the year 2014. During this cycle, 91 schools have reached or exceeded 100 on their 2007-2008 combined indices...