FIRST RESULTS FROM UNBRIDLED LEARNING ACCOUNTABILITY MODEL RELEASED

This from KDE via Press Release:

COLLEGE/CAREER READINESS IS A BRIGHT SPOT IN DATA

            (FRANKFORT, Ky.) – The first results from Kentucky’s Unbridled Learning accountability model indicate that, in 2011-12, slightly more than 47 percent of the state’s public high school students were prepared for college and/or careers, the Kentucky Department of Education announced today.

            This is a nine-percentage-point increase from the 2010-11 school year, for which the average college- and career-readiness rate was 38 percent.

“This increase, which translates to more than 4,500 students, is a direct result of Kentucky’s schools’ and districts’ focus on college and career readiness,” said Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday. “The overriding goal of the state’s public education system is to prepare students for the paths they want to take after high school, and these data show that we are making progress toward that goal.”

            College/Career Readiness is one of five major components of the Unbridled Learning accountability model, which was applied to test scores and other data for the first time for the 2011-12 school year. The data released today is the first from the new model and includes information about Achievement, Gap, Growth, College/Career Readiness and Graduation Rate.

            Public schools and school districts receive overall scores on a scale of 0 to 100 in the new model. On average, the statewide school overall score was 55.2. For elementary schools, the average was 57.3; for middle schools, 53.5; and for high schools, 54.8.

 

OVERALL SCORE AVERAGES AND COMPONENT POINT TOTALS
	Overall	Achievement	Gap	Growth	College/Career Readiness*	Graduation Rate
Elementary	57.3	69.6	40.5	60.5	N/A	N/A
Middle	53.5	67.4	37.9	60.4	44.1	N/A
High	54.8	56.7	28.8	58.5	51.8	77.8

* College/Career Readiness includes the bonus calculation for accountability.

            Five components contribute points to the overall score; each is weighted: 

·         Achievement – student performance on tests of reading, mathematics, science, social

       studies and writing

·         Gap – comparing performance of students who are members of traditionally underperforming groups (ethnic minorities, special education, poverty and limited English proficiency) to the goal of 100 percent proficiency

·         Growth – comparing an individual student’s score to the student’s academic peers to determine if typical or higher levels of growth have occurred

·         College/Career Readiness -- high school graduates who have successfully met an indicator of readiness for college and/or careers

·         Graduation Rate – the percentage of on-time graduates

 

WEIGHTS FOR UNBRIDLED LEARNING COMPONENTS
Grade Range	Achievement	Gap	Growth	College/Career Readiness	Graduation Rate	Total
Elementary	30%	30%	40%	N/A	N/A	100%
Middle	28%	28%	28%	16%	N/A	100%
High	20%	20%	20%	20%	20%	100%

            Schools are rank-ordered by overall score and by elementary, middle and high school levels. Districts are rank-ordered without dividing by levels.

            Overall scores for elementary schools range from 28.0 to 85.2; for middle schools, from 29.3 to 91.6; and for high schools, from 27.9 to 87.3. Overall scores for districts range from 38.0 to 81.4.

SCORE RANGE	ELEMENTARY	MIDDLE	HIGH	DISTRICT
0 – 19.9	0	0	0	0
20.0 – 29.9	1	1	1	0
30.0 – 39.9	24	24	5	2
40.0 – 49.9	139	83	50	32
50.0 – 59.9	269	138	120	109
60.0 – 69.9	224	76	46	27
70.0 – 79.9	71	9	6	3
80.0 – 89.9	5	1	2	1
90.0 – 100.0	0	1	0	0
TOTAL	733	333	230	174

            Based on their percentile rankings, schools and districts are placed in one of three classifications:

·               Distinguished – Above 90th Percentile

·               Proficient – 70th to 89th Percentile

·               Needs Improvement – Below 70th Percentile

 

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS BY CLASSIFICATION
	Needs Improvement	Proficient	Distinguished
Elementary	507	149	77
Middle	232	65	36
High	160	46	24
Total Schools	899	260	137
Districts	121	35	18

            Specific 2011-12 overall scores are associated with the 70th, 90th and 95th percentiles.

OVERALL SCORE LINK TO PERCENTILE RANK
	70th Percentile (Proficient)	90th Percentile (Distinguished)	95th Percentile (School/District of Distinction)
Elementary	62.5	69.8	72.5
Middle	58.7	64.9	68.2
High	58.0	64.4	67.7
District	58.4	63.3	65.2

“Because this year’s data is the first from the Unbridled Learning model, I encourage educators, parents, communities, elected officials and others with a stake in public education to think of these classifications as a starting point for improvement,” said Holliday. “Although more than two-thirds of schools and districts are in the Needs Improvement category, this is not an indicator of failure. The Unbridled Learning model is one of continuous improvement, and schools and districts now have a wealth of data to use as they plan for improvement in student learning and achievement.”

            Schools and districts also are placed in Rewards and Assistance Categories, based on overall scores and other data.

 

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS BY REWARDS AND ASSISTANCE CATEGORY
	School/District of Distinction	Highest Performing School/District	Focus School/District	Priority School/District
Elementary	40	37	103	0
Middle	17	17	106	9
High	11	8	75	32
Total Schools	68	62	284	41
Districts	9	9	17	N/A

Rewards and assistance categories are:

• School/District of Distinction -- a high-performing elementary, middle or high school or district that:
  • meets its current year AMO starting in 2012-13, student participation rate and graduation rate goal
  • has a graduation rate above 60 percent for the prior two years
  • scores at the 95th percentile or higher on the overall score
  • for a district -- does not have a school categorized as a focus school or priority school
• Highest Performing School/District -- an elementary, middle or high school or district that:
  • meets its current year AMO starring in 2012-13, student participation rate and graduation rate goal
  • has a graduation rate above 60 percent for the prior two years
  • scores at the 90th percentile or higher on the overall score
  • for a district – does not have any schools categorized as Focus Schools or Priority Schools
• Focus School -- a school that:
  • has a non-duplicated student gap group score in the bottom ten percent of non-duplicated student gap groups scores for all elementary, middle and high schools
  • has an individual student subgroup within assessment grades by level with a score in the third standard deviation below the state average for all students
  • has a graduation rate that has been less than 60 percent for two consecutive years
• Focus District -- a district that has a non-duplicated student gap group score in the bottom ten percent of non-duplicated student gap group scores for all districts
• Priority School -- a school that has been identified as a “persistently low achieving (PLA)” school as defined by Kentucky Revised Statute KRS 160.346; does not apply to districts until the system has been in place for three consecutive years

COLLEGE/CAREER READINESS

            The cornerstone of the Unbridled Learning Accountability model is college and career readiness. Kentucky reported College/Career Readiness Rates for schools and districts for the first time in 2010; those data were not used for accountability purposes, but served as a baseline.

            Compared to 2010-11, the data for the 2011-12 school year show a nearly nine-point increase in the percentage of public school students who are considered ready for college or careers.

NUMBERS AND PERCENTAGES OF STUDENTS CONSIDERED COLLEGE AND/OR CAREER READY
YEAR	Number of Graduates - Students with High School Diploma or Certificate of Attainment	College-Ready	Career-Ready	College and Career Non-Duplicated Total Count	Percentage of graduates College and/or Career Ready	Accountability Points with Bonus
2011-12	43,116	18,741	3,413	20,343	47.2%	51.8
2010-11	41,784	15,056	1,142	15,746	38%	N/A

• College-Ready -- graduates who met the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) Systemwide Benchmarks for Reading, English and Mathematics on any administration of the ACT; also, students who passed a college placement test like Compass or KYOTE
• Career-Ready -- graduates who met benchmarks for Career-Ready Academic (ASVAB or ACT WorkKeys) and Career-Ready Technical (KOSSA or received an Industry-Recognized Career Certificate)
• College and Career Non-Duplicated Total Count -- includes only individual graduates who received high school diplomas or certificates of attainment and are college-ready and/or career-ready
• Accountability Points with Bonus – includes percentage of graduates college- and/or career-ready plus a half-point bonus for graduates meeting both college-ready and career-ready benchmarks

ACHIEVEMENT

            Early estimates indicated that the percentages of students scoring at the proficient and distinguished levels on Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress (K-PREP) tests in reading and mathematics would be as low as 40 percent (reading) and 36 percent (mathematics) at all grade levels. However, student performance was better than expected.

PERCENTAGE PERFORMING AT PROFICIENT/DISTINGUISHED LEVELS
	Elementary	Middle	High
Reading	48.0%	46.8%	52.2%
Mathematics	40.4%	40.6%	40.0%
Writing On-Demand	31.7%	41.4%	43.8%
Science	68.8%	61.8%	30.3%
Social Studies	59.8%	58.6%	39.5%
Language Mechanics	49.1%	38.4%	50.7%

            In 2010, Kentucky adopted the Common Core State Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. These standards, which are more rigorous that previous standards, were implemented in the state’s public school system in the 2010-11 school year. Students were first tested on the new standards in the spring of 2012.

            The Common Core State Standards have been adopted by nearly every state, and work is underway on common standards in science and social studies.

            Public school students in grades 3-8 take K-PREP tests in reading, mathematics, science, social studies, writing and language mechanics. Their performance is categorized as novice, apprentice, proficient or distinguished.

            High school students take K-PREP tests in writing and language mechanics, plus End-of-Course assessments in English II, Algebra II, Biology and U.S. History. Their performance is categorized in the same manner as elementary and middle school students’ performance.

            Student performance in subjects other than reading and mathematics showed traditional patterns of performance. The assessments for science and social studies are based on standards in the Kentucky Common Core Assessment 4.1, which was last revised in 2006. The language mechanics assessments are part of the norm-referenced test items, which provide national comparisons.

GAP

            Kentucky’s goal is 100 percent proficiency for all students. The distance from that goal or gap is measured by creating a student Gap Group — an overall count of student groups that have historically had achievement gaps. Student groups combined in the overall count include ethnicity/race (African American, Hispanic, Native American), special education, poverty (free/reduced-price meals) and limited English proficiency.

To calculate the combined student Gap Group, non-duplicated counts of students who score proficient or higher and are in any of the student groups are added together. This yields a single gap number of proficient or higher students in the Student Gap Group, with no student counting more than one time and all students in included groups being counted once.

In general, the data indicate that Gap Group students at the elementary level are closer to the goal of 100 percent proficiency in most subject areas than students at the middle and high school levels. The largest gap for elementary school students is in writing; the largest for middle school students is in language mechanics; and the largest for high school students is in science.

PERCENTAGE OF NON-DUPLICATED GAP GROUP STUDENTS PERFORMING AT PROFICIENT/DISTINGUISHED LEVELS
	Reading	Mathematics	Science	Social Studies	Writing	Language Mechanics
Elementary	37.5	30.3	59.4	48.9	23.1	38.6
Middle	34.8	28.7	50.1	46.0	30.8	27.6
High	38.4	27.9	18.5	26.3	31.5	38.6

GROWTH

The Growth category uses a Student Growth Percentile, comparing an individual student’s score to the student’s academic peers. It recognizes schools and districts for the percentage of students showing typical or higher levels of growth in reading and mathematics. For elementary and middle schools, growth is based on annual reading and mathematics tests in grades 3-8. At high school, the same model of recognizing student performance uses the PLAN (grade 10) and ACT (grade 11) composite scores in reading and mathematics for comparison. Points are awarded for the percentage of students showing typical or higher growth, which is defined as being at the 40th percentile.

The percentage of students showing academic growth is comparable across all grade levels.

PERCENT OF STUDENTS SHOWING ACADEMIC GROWTH
	Reading	Mathematics	Reading and Mathematics Average
Elementary	60.5	60.4	60.5
Middle	60.4	60.4	60.4
High	59.0	57.9	58.5

GRADUATION RATE

As reported in August, the public high school graduation rate for the 2010-11 school year improved slightly over the rate for the previous year. The statewide Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR) for the 2010-11 school year was 77.8 percent, an increase from 2009-10’s 76.7 percent. (Graduation rate data is lagged by one year for accountability purposes.)

For the Unbridled Learning accountability model, a graduation rate for each high school and district that contains one or more high schools is reported annually, and the rates receive a weighted point total, just as the other four components will.

For more details, including disaggregated data, visit the School Report Card on the Kentucky Department of Education’s website. Not to be confused with student report cards, these Report Cards provide information about each school and district, including test performance, teacher qualifications, student safety, awards, parent involvement and much more. The School and District Report Cards were established by statute, KRS 158.6453, and regulation, 703 KAR 5:140. Additionally, the Report Cards must incorporate the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.