KASC: Achievement Gaps Remain Severe

This from KASC:

Achievement gaps continue to impair Kentucky's overall education progress, according to an analysis of state test scores released today by three statewide groups. Kentucky schools are falling especially short with African-American students and students with limited English proficiency, with low-income and Hispanic students also scoring below their peers.

The analysis, presented in a "Disaggregated Index Report," was developed by the Council for Better Education, the Kentucky Association of School Councils and the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence to monitor school performance during the three years that Kentucky is moving from the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System to a system based on new state standards and testing. The new system was mandated in legislation (Senate Bill 1) enacted by the 2009 General
Assembly.

The Disaggregated Index is based on a formula similar to the one used in past years by the Kentucky Department of Education to compare student results based on race, income, gender, and other factors. The partner groups applied the formula to state test scores results, and found that:

• Of all groups studied, only gifted students have reached proficiency at all three levels: elementary, middle, and high school.
• African-American, Hispanic, low-income, migrant and limited English students showed improvement at all levels, but the rate of improvement since 2007 has been too slow to put them on track for proficiency by 2014.
• White students at the elementary level are on track to reach proficiency by 2014. At the middle school level, white students scores are improving too slowly, and in high school, white scores have not increased over the 2007 level.
• On the 0-140 scale used in the analysis, gaps of 15 points or more separate African-American students and students with limited English proficiency from their classmates at every level.