KEA says Yes to Gov's Budget Plan

This from WHAS (now manned by Joe Arnold):

Kentucky Education Association President Sharron Oxendine today praised Governor Steve Beshear's plan to balance the state budget. "Despite record state funding shortfalls and a state economy that does not yet show signs of recovery, the Governor is maintaining his commitment to K-12 schools, students and school employees, and to keep Kentucky learning." Oxendine said.

KEA urges members of the Kentucky General Assembly to maintain school funding, either by passing Beshear's plan or creating one of their own that prioritizes education equally...

"We are heartened that the Governor literally is willing to put his money where his mouth is," said Oxendine.

According to the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center, Kentucky children face more educational obstacles than children in all but three other states. The center's research also indicates that Kentuckians get better results than almost any other state for their investments in public schools...

KEA also praised President Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and increased levels of federal reimbursement for Medicaid expenses. Oxendine said, "Without this federal stimulus funding, the Governor would almost surely have had to make deeper cuts to school funding." ...

Oxendine went on to say, "Of course, we are not satisfied with a budget that makes no increases to school funding. At the same time, KEA recognizes the difficult position the Governor and legislators are in with a projected deficit of nearly one billion dollars in the fiscal year that begins next month. Our children and our schools, however, continue to have real unmet needs."

KEA supports comprehensive tax reform to create a system that sustains important government functions like public schools through good times and bad. KEA supports a tax system that grows with the economy and taxes Kentuckians in proportion to their ability to pay. KEA supports legislative action to create such a system.

Oxendine said, "No one really likes taxes, but everyone wants good public schools, good roads, and safe communities. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said, 'Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.'"

H-L Touts Prichard Goals

This from the Herald-Leader:

...Metrics are the foundation of accountability.

With that in mind, Kentuckians should thank the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence for again raising our sights.

The citizens committee that did more than anyone in the 1980s to kindle education reform is now proposing that Kentucky aim to be among the top 20 states on key education measures by 2020.

Don't scoff. Reaching that goal would be a challenge, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility. Consider that Kentucky advanced from 43rd nationally in 1992 to 34th in 2005 on 11 key indicators compiled by the Kentucky Long-term Policy Research Center.

One measure in which Kentucky still lags is local and state spending per student in elementary and secondary schools, which is 80 percent of the national average.

Kentucky spent $7,827 in state and local funds per student compared with 20th-ranked Virginia's $9,958 in 2005-06.

Kentucky schools in the poorest districts receive just 83 percent of state and local funding per student available in districts with richer property tax bases.

Those funding disadvantages are something to consider when comparing Kentucky schools to one another and the state's performance nationally...

Jack Jennings on the new CEP Study

KSN&C recently posted a story on the new report from the Center on Education Policy, "Has Student Achievement Increased Since 2002?"

CEP presents what is at least the fourth study in the past two years to confirm the significant progress being made in Kentucky schools - one of only four states to show moderate-to-large gains in both reading and math.

Richard Innes, a Bluegrass Institute researcher, doubted the credibility of the study.

Last year, a Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center study revealed that Kentucky made across-the-board improvements in its rank among the states; growing from roughly from 43rd to the 34th.

The Bluegrass Institute doubted the credibility of that study, too.

The KLTPRC report mirrored two previous studies done outside of Kentucky. Kentucky was 34th in Education Week's Quality Counts 2007 Achievement Index and was 31st in the Morgan Quinto 2006-2007 Smartest State Index."

I assume BGI didn't think much of those studies either.

When Richard questioned the quality of this study, I contacted Jack Jennings, President of CEP for a comment.

Here's his response:

Mr. Day, you sent a message on Wednesday saying that a commentator had a question about the report we released on Tuesday about student achievement. In
particular, he claimed our report would have credibility problems because Kentucky had a decline in 8th grade reading on NAEP that had not been reflected in the results on the state’s test. I asked the authors of the report to look at this issue and to respond. This is what they say:

First, this is consistent with the CEP report. Table 4-F (in the national summary) shows a moderate-to-large gain on the state assessment but a moderate-to-large
decrease on NAEP for grade 8 reading.

In the state profile, the first bullet says: "From 2002 to 2006, student achievement increased in both reading and math at all grade levels analyzed, according to percentages proficient and effect sizes." This is true for the state assessment, and presumably this is what the e-mail author is referring to.

Kentucky changed its assessment in 2007, so it's possible (although admittedly quite a stretch) that performance dropped in 2007... which showed up on NAEP but we couldn't see on state testing.

The report provides several reasons why NAEP and state tests might differ.

After receiving your e-mail, I got a call from a person from an organization in Kentucky who was asking the same question about our report. I asked him if he had read the report and he said that he had not, and that he was probably the source of your question. I urged him to read the report before he started raising concerns about it.

By the way, the report—Has Student Achievement Increased Since 2002?—and the fifty state profiles, as well as all the test score data from the states is on our web site, CEP-DC.org.

Thanks.

Jack Jennings, President, Center on Education Policy

Now, Innes's suspicions were not irrational. Knowing that there was a decline in 8th grade reading on the NAEP seems inconsistent with the study's conclusions and knowing that the researchers accounted for the NAEP data is important.

But taken as a whole, BGI tends only to report the bad news about public schools...and I suspect he's was looking to discount the good news about Kentucky schools any time he can. It's probably in his job description.

It would seem any study that produces what BGI believes to be "the wrong answer" must necessarily be a bad study. This is a problem whenever one is hired to substantiate their boss's predetermine perception of reality.

Children at the Economic Margins Key to Sustaining Progress

A new study by the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center emphasizes the critical need for Kentucky to invest in education for children from all walks of life in order to raise our economic status.

Some highlights from the article include the following facts:

National picture:
Ø “As education and skill levels rise in the developing world, businesses are tapping into a vast pool of highly skilled, lower-cost talent. Engineers, accountants, architects, radiologists and computer programmers from India, China, and the Philippines, for example, now perform these jobs for U.S. entities for a fraction of the cost of their American counterparts.”
Ø “. . . Forrester Research predicts that roughly 3 million high-tech jobs will be relocated overseas by 2015.”
Ø “. . . it is widely acknowledged that more U.S. students need to pursue careers involving the STEM skills—science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
Ø “A National Science Foundation survey found that only 16.8 percent of first university degrees in the United States were in the STEM fields as compared to 33.3 percent for Asia, 64 percent for Japan, 52.1 percent for China and 40.6 percent for South Korea.”
Ø “. . . by high school, U.S. students fall behind most of their peers in industrialized as well as what many still regard as developing nations.”
Ø “We seem to be the only country in the world whose children fall farther behind the longer they stay in school.”


Kentucky landscape:
Ø “In general, the performance of the typical Kentucky student on national testing has steadily improved in each subject area. However, in spite of these gains, the academic performance of Kentucky students merely parallels and at times lags the national average, an unenviable benchmark, international testing suggests.”
Ø “Kentucky’s students have shown steady progress at all levels; however, the same pattern of lost ground at the middle and high school levels is observed.”
Ø “. . . the state’s overall profile is one of steady, measureable, and broadly recognized improvement. Nevertheless, just as U.S. students do not distinguish
themselves internationally, Kentucky students, with the notable exception of 4th-grade science students, have yet to distinguish themselves nationally.”
Ø “. . . Kentucky has improved its national education ranking from 43rd in 1992 to 34th in 2005, a finding consistent with Education Week’s Quality Counts 2007 Achievement Index, which also ranks Kentucky 34th, and the Morgan Quitno 2006-07 Smartest State Index, which ranks Kentucky 31st. This improvement has been driven by 4th- and 8th-grade science scores, 4th-grade reading, and the steady decline in the dropout rate from 5.6 percent in 1996 to 3.3 percent in 2004.”
Ø “Kentucky’s gains have come in spite of the considerable and broadly recognized liability of educating children who are at a profound economic disadvantage and lifting the educational status of a population that has historically been undereducated and disproportionately poor.”
Ø “Given the challenge that remains to be met, it will be necessary to maximize returns on the huge public investment we are making in education.”
Ø “. . . a RAND study of student performance on components of the NAEP and the effects of state-level spending identified key areas that exerted the most influence on test scores. While higher levels of investment per pupil clearly yielded higher results, strategic investments may matter more, suggesting that the wise use of even limited resources can improve academic performance. What’s more, RAND researchers conclude, increased investment in public education matters far more to less-advantaged students. While the effects of increased investment are negligible or nonexistent for more-advantaged students, they clearly affect minority and less-advantaged students, and the outcomes “can be large and significant if properly allocated and targeted.”
Ø “While surrounding states have caught up with the national average in per pupil spending, Kentucky continues to lag behind. Kentucky now spends just 82 percent of the U.S. average per pupil compared to 99 percent among surrounding
states.”
Ø “In spite of significant barriers that strongly influence educational outcomes—high poverty rates, low educational attainment levels, and lagging investment—two separate indices suggest that the efficiency of Kentucky’s investment is high.”
Ø “In a 2004 student using 2001 data, the Manhattan Institute concluded . . . Kentucky ranked fourth in the nation for school efficiency. Using similar criteria, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Education Report Card gives Kentucky a B for its “solid return on investment,” which it deems “strong relative to state spending.”
Ø “We calculate that Kentucky’s national ranking of 37th on NAEP proficiency is equivalent to a ranking of 25th on NAEP returns per dollar spent on students, and a ranking of 8th nationally when we control for factors such as poverty and the low level of education attainment in the state. In short, our state has achieved
measurable gains relative to our rather significant fiscal and cultural limitations.”
Ø “States with higher levels of achievement, RAND finds, also have more children in public prekindergarten programs, underscoring the critical role played by early
childhood education.”

Ø “. . . Kentucky ranks highly among states for its preschool efforts, which are free to at-risk children. However in light of research about early childhood development, they appear to be too little too late. . . Participation in state-funded
preschool programs is restricted to three-year-olds with a disability and four-year-olds with a disability or from low-income families.”
Ø “. . . the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education recommends programs for infants and toddlers be led by teachers with BAs. Kentucky falls egregiously short of this standard, requiring only that child care workers be 18 or older, have no criminal record, and be free of tuberculosis. Moreover, assistants to
state-run preschool teachers are not required to be credentialed, and facilities
are not monitored.”
Ø “Disadvantaged children arguably hold the key to Kentucky’s future. Their academic success will ultimately determine whether our state’s future remains one of disproportionate poverty or gives way to rising prosperity. An extensive and longstanding body of research clearly shows that economic disadvantage has a
significant negative drag on academic performance.”
Ø “Were we to close the substantial academic gaps associated with inequities, Kentucky students would be performing at dramatically higher levels relative to their national peers. . . . Kentucky’s 4th and 8th graders would rank among the nation’s leaders in reading and science and move into the top tier in mathematics. In short, our goals for education would be nearly realized.”
Ø “How we pay and reward teachers and where the best teachers are typically found have emerged as central issues. At present, we reward our veteran and, research suggests, most competent frontline educators by permitting them to choose from available slots based on seniority, rather than utilize their talents where they are most needed.”
Ø “Inarguably, teachers are key to rising levels of achievement. A landmark mid-1990s University of Tennessee study that grouped teachers by their longitudinal effects on student performance on standardized tests found teacher quality to be “the single most dominant factor affecting student academic gain.”
Ø “A growing body of more recent quality research, . . . further refutes a longstanding assumption that demographics are too powerful to overcome. These studies show that good teachers can raise student performance, regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds.”
Ø “Indeed, the human resource system for teachers may require restructuring if we are to ensure that all students, particularly poor and minority children and those from undereducated families, are given every opportunity to excel.”
Ø “To avoid continued economic stagnation, incomes that year after year lag the national average, Kentucky must continue to vigorously pursue its ascent in educational status. In some areas, research suggests the need for new investment, but a more informed, focused use of the significant resources we now deploy to public education may yield gains in the classroom, the workplace and our larger economy.”

Thanks to Jon and Dorie for passing this along.

The Great Yardstick Debate

The Bluegrass Institute recently picked a fight with the folks over at the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center.

At issue is whether Kentucky's system of public education (preschool through college) has improved in recent years and how Kentucky's schools compared to those in other states.

It all started when the KLTPRC issued its recent study indicating that Kentucky had made educational progress since 1992. This must have rubbed the Bluegrass Institute folks the wrong way. They spent some time looking for holes in the report.

BGI's response criticized the KLTPRC report alleging: misstatements of NAEP data, inappropriate use of dropout data, using the ACT to rank states, and more.

But a blogger on the NAEP beat, Susan Ohanian suggested to BGI that their biases were showing.

The Bluegrass Institute offers "free-market solutions to Kentucky's most pressing problems." That, of course, puts them in the Choice camp, which is a euphemism for vouchers. Not that they are at all hesitant about proclaiming their love of vouchers: "Vouchers allow parents to choose better schools."

So are they offering a scholarly critique of Kentucky's testing program--or a manifesto to drain public confidence in their schools?

As the Courier-Journal demonstrated recently, this kind of claim is a fundamental problem for any "Think Tank." It is incredibly hard for anyone to ignore their own biases, especially if they believe strongly in them.

Lord knows, I have biases.

I don't think I could fully trust anyone who told me they had no biases. I just want to know what they are.

My biases come from a career as an elementary school administrator in two Kentucky counties before KERA, during its rocky implementation and after Sen. Gerald Neal's SB 168 (and its data disaggregation, which is significantly more powerful than I first realized; and which predates NCLB.) Since graduation I have taught at UK, EKU and the private Georgetown College.

I am biased by the sum of my experiences; and compelling data.

I don't need reports from anyone to convince me that significant improvements have been made in Kentucky's system of public schools. Like other social institutions, they are far from perfect. But given the relatively modest financial resources Kentucky invests, on the whole, Kentucky should be right proud of its schools.

As education historian and scholar Diane Ravitch understands, what we really need is...

"...an independent, nonpartisan, professional audit agency to administer tests and report results to the public.

Such an agency should be staffed by testing professionals without a vested interest in whether the scores go up or down. Right now, when scores go down, the public is told that the test was harder this year - but when scores rise, state officials never speculate that the test might have been easier. Instead, they high-five one another and congratulate the state Board...for their wise policies and programs.

What the public needs are the facts. No spin, no creative explanations, no cherry-picking of data for nuggets of good news.

Just the facts.

In her presentation of the KLTPRC report at the group's recent conference (video), Dr Amy Watts presented data in support of two propositions: 1) that public education, writ large, in Kentucky is progressing, and that 2) Kentucky's relative standing among the states is improving.

The following is paraphrased from Watts' presentation.

On an incomplete data set, KLTRPC derived an Index considering an adjusted set of 11 indicators; which revealed across-the-board improvements roughly from the 43rd rank to the 34th. This report mirrors two previous reports done outside of Kentucky...Kentucky was 34th in Education Week's Quality Counts 2007 Achievement Index and was 31st in the Morgan Quinto 2006-2007 Smartest State Index."

The KLTPRC data set looks at two kinds of indicators: educational attainment and student Achievement.

Educational attainment indicators

These data refer to Kentucky adults (HS diploma, 2-year degree, Bachelor's degree) and show an upward trend...although a relatively flat one, that leaves Kentucky ranked near the bottom of US states.

Dropout rate shows progress; declining (which is good) about 2% over the last 7 years.

(KLTPRC used the definition insisted upon by the National Center of Educational Statistics: "The percent of high school students who left high school between the beginning of one school year, and the beginning of the next, without earning a high school diploma or its equivalent.")

Since not all states reported the data for all years, a percentile indicator was used
to show progress over time. That measure showed that Kentucky made progress
while outperforming other states; growing from the 32nd percentile to the 61st.

Student Achievement data

Rather than looking at the scores, these data focus on the percentage of students who performed at the proficient level or above - which is Kentucky's goal. The CATS Accountability Index grew over time for all levels (Elem, Middle & HS).

The 4th and 8th grade Reading, Math and Science data are reported using the National Assessment of Educational Progress. To put Kentucky's growth into a national context the scores are reported using a percentile scale.

4th grade Reading improved (in percentile terms, from about 25th to about 50th).

For 8th graders the trend is flat - not much growth - and in percentile terms Kentucky has fallen behind - dropping from average to below average).

In Math, 4th grade achievement is up from 13 percent proficient to 31%, but the gap between Kentucky's progress and that of the nation has widened over time (we're falling behind.)

8th grade Math is up from 10% up to 27% proficient, which is roughly equivalent to the rest of the nation.

In percentile terms, while Kentucky has progressed in 4th grade Math, it has not kept pace with the national average and Kentucky has fallen behind from a 20th percentile ranking, down now to the 16th percentile.

In 8th grade math the story is more mixed. Kentucky was making progress up to the year 2000, rising from 17th percentile to 37th, but has fallen off since that time. Now it's down to 27th. This is a concern...as math is seen by economists as a crucial area for the economic future of the state.

Science is a bright spot for Kentucky with 4th graders rising from average performance rankings up to the 81st percentile, while 8th grade rankings rose from below average to average.

To gauge high school performance, ACT composite scores were used. On the ACT, Kentucky has shown improvement while narrowing the gap between Kentucky and
the nation. This has resulted in a higher standing for Kentucky, up from 10th percentile rank to 24th.

KLTPRC then created a composite that suggests Kentucky moved from 43rd to 34th. This mirrors results from two other non-Kentucky studies.

In the Q & A, Chris Derry founder and president of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions queried Watts. In reality, he asked all three questions and sat down while Watts responded. Below, I have cut and pasted Watts's responses for the ease of KSN&C readers.

Chris Derry: "You and I have discussed this, but I want to take these questions to a higher level; and frankly because we're on the Internet. I would like for the basis of discussing the policy consequences of some of the data you've used - might lead people to conclude otherwise, if other data were used (sic).

For instance, you've used the data point of dropout rates, and in fact...the Kentucky Auditor Crit Luallen came out with a report that challenged the accuracy of the Kentucky...Department of Education's dropout rate, which are the dropout rates used in your calculation. (Luallen criticized the student information system with preventing accurate calculations - off by as much as 30%. That system is currently being replaced as per Luallen's 2006 suggestion.)

So I would say, if the Auditor has questioned that accuracy, why would you introduce it into this report?

Amy Watts: Regarding the dropout rate ...the dropout rate that I'm using here is a consistent definition that is used over time and the NCES, the National Center for Education Statistics, and officials at KDE work diligently to ensure the accuracy of these data.

In fact, the [NCES] can't even compute a national dropout rate because several of the states don't adhere to their very strict definition.

So in this context, with these data, we are able to place Kentucky in the national setting and how we've progressed in this particular indicator over time based on the fact that these are nationally recognized standards of data collection and methodology and that is consistent. That's the biggest benefit of using that particular indicator.

As far as the Auditor's report, it really did help to point out where they can ...continue to make sure that ...the systems that they already have, the ...internal audit systems that they already have in place, to ensure ...the accuracy and ...how clean these data are, that that is maintained. So it helped highlight some places where they can really strengthen this and make it even better than it already is.

Derry: ...the ACT is an essential test that is really is an international standard because of so many students both abroad and domestically, who are required to take that test, to qualify to enter college. ...And Kentucky, I believe, Illinois and Colorado are the only states, beginning this year, in which all students in those states are required to take the ACT.

But because other states do not have that 100% requirement, and because their percentages of test takers is so low, ACT has cautioned against comparing one state versus another; yet you've done that in this report.

Watts: The ACT, does not warn against using these data in the context in which we have used them.

They've cautioned that you have to take into account demographic differences across that states and we were very transparent in the data that we used here. You can go to the ACT website and the methodology and some of these cautions that you've talked about are made readily apparent there.

So, definitely, we were very transparent in these data so that you could understand exactly what went into calculating the indexes used here and the rankings that we found.

Derry: ...a big part of the emphasis in this report is on census data; and looking at the age category of age 25 to 64.

As indicated in your report you say...'sufficient time has passed since the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 and the Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997 to ask, 'Are we making educational progress in Kentucky and if so are we gaining relative to the nation?'

When you use census data you're including ...hundred of thousands of people who were not in KERA. And yet, you're making the claim in this, that they should be included as an indication of the progress under KERA.

Watts: Yes the census data, those are, again, readily accepted indicators of educational attainment and progress that are used time and time again by tons of different researchers.

So ...it seemed like it would be ...incomplete without this data in an index of educational progress.

...They do not reflect directly upon how KERA or the Postsecondary Education
Act of 1997 have contributed to where we've come.

This is kind of a spot check of; 'let's look. Let's see where we are now. Let's see where we were. Now, let's begin to see where we're going based on these data that really give us an overall accurate picture of what's happening in Kentucky.'

Before any of this happened, I had already read the report, saw its construction as well as its transparency.

KSN&C wrote at the time:

Kentucky's funding levels may still be in the basement, and some areas of progress are certainly stronger than others, but overall student achievement gains are undeniable.

Student achievement is a lagging indicator and Kentucky is realizing the benefits of earlier (and continued) effort. This would seem to be the very definition of "an efficient system of common schools throughout the state," which is the legislature's constitutional mandate.

Viewed as a cost/benefit ratio, Kentucky schools are providing its citizens a better educational program than the state has a right to expect.

This is essentially what Judge Thomas Wingate alluded to when he struck down the Council for Better Education's most recent effort to force the General Assembly to keep its commitment to school reform.

For the amount of oil we put in the engine, this seventeen-year-old Chevy is runing pretty well.

Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center Conference 2007

Making Money Matter:

Maximizing Student Achievement

with Our Investments in Education

In any discussion of wise investments for Kentucky’s future, increasing spending on education is at the top of many policymakers’ priority lists. But how exactly should education funds be targeted in order to have the greatest impact? What specific expenditures will best help boost students’ academic achievement?

The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center attempted to answer these questions and more at their recent conference. Now, thanks to KET, you can attend anytime (except real time) via the web.

Conference Sessions

Welcome/Setting the Context (24:58)

Brad Cowgill, President, Council on Postsecondary Education; Chair, Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center
Dr. Bob Sexton, Executive Director, Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence
David Adkisson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce

The Dynamic Global Labor Market (57:03)

Dr. Marc Tucker, President and CEO, National Center on Education and the Economy

Educational Progress in Kentucky (29:30)

Dr. Amy Watts, Policy Analyst, Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center

The Effects and Cost-Effectiveness of Educational Investments (41:50)

Michael T. Childress, Executive Director, Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center

2007 Hellard Award/Keynote Address (49:53)

Hellard Award recipient: John R. Hall, civic leader, philanthropist, and former CEO of Ashland Inc.
Keynote address: Doug Mesecar, Acting Assistant Secretary for Planning Evaluation and Policy Development, U.S. Department of Education

Early Childhood Development (46:10)

Dr. M. Rebecca Kilburn, RAND
Rick Hulefeld, Children Inc.
Dr. Kim Townley, University of Kentucky

The Achievement Gap (48:37)

Ross Wiener, The Education Trust
Claude W. Christian, Kentucky Department of Education
Stu Silberman, Superintendent, Fayette County Schools

Teacher Compensation (52:20)

Dr. Patrick J. Schuermann, Vanderbilt University
Mary Ann Blankenship, Kentucky Education Association
Dr. Allyson Hughes Handley, Council on Postsecondary Education

Wrap-Up (5:01)

Kentucky's schools: a new reality

Former Owensboro Mayor and current President and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Dave Adkisson has an Op-Ed in the Courier-Journal supporting the idea that Kentucky has indeed made progress as measured by the recent Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center study.

For the past two years, I've traveled the state and talked to hundreds of business, education, political and community leaders, and I've tried to get a handle on whether we've made progress in education and, if so, how much. That has proved to be a difficult task. I have concluded that, as average Kentuckians, we simply don't know.

A conversation about educational progress (or lack thereof) can quickly become a mind-numbing discussion of test scores, which test scores, funding, spending, accountability, governance and other matters. For the 99.9 percent of us who are not professional educators, our eyes quickly glaze over, and we end up bewildered, not knowing whether we've made progress or not.

One news story about ACT scores sounds pretty good, and then we hear how few Kentucky workers have a bachelor's or associate degree. We don't know whether to feel good or feel bad.

The recent release of a study by the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center sheds a bright light on the question of progress and, more important, offers reason for hope and optimism.

The LTPRC took 11 major national rankings that are widely accepted as important measures of student achievement, combined them into a single index and charted them from the early 1990s through 2005, the latest year for which the rankings
are available.

Dramatic findings

What the combined index reveals is dramatic. Kentucky has made impressive progress in education, and we have clearly moved out of the bottom tier and toward the middle of the pack of all states. Overall, we moved from 43rd in 1992 to 34th in 2005. The move is even more impressive when we look at what happened to some other states, especially those who shared the basement with Kentucky in 1992: Alabama moved from 48th to 46th.

Mississippi moved from 50th to 48th.

North Carolina -- often cited as an example of what Kentucky should try to be -- began in 42nd place and moved up to 35th, one slot below Kentucky.

Other recent reports support the positive conclusions about Kentucky: Our fourth and eighth graders are performing above the national average in science and reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the nation's report card. Education Week's Quality Counts 2007 Achievement Index ranks Kentucky at 34th, and the Morgan Quitno 2006-07 Smartest State Index ranks Kentucky at 31st.

This is huge!

Kentucky's schools have made major gains in less than one generation. And we have proved that with a concentrated and sustained public effort to help all students learn at high levels, our schools can -- and do -- improve.

The gains are even more impressive when considered against the backdrop of Kentucky's high poverty level, the influx into our public schools of thousands of immigrants (many of whom are still learning English) and the low education levels of our adult population. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently gave Kentucky a "B" in its national report card for "return on investment."

In other words, for the tax dollars we're investing into education, we're getting a good dividend in student achievement.

Are there areas that still need attention?

Absolutely. I don't think many of us are going to rush out and paste "We're No. 34!" bumper stickers on our cars to celebrate our new rankings.

Kentucky students rank 33rd....sorta...kinda

More on Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center study

As Kentucky School News and Commentary reported last week, a recent Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center study said that Kentucky has moved up from 43rd to 34th nationally in education over the last 13 years driven primarily by increases in 4th and 8th grade science scores and 4th grade reading, along with a steady decline in the dropout rate .

But not everyone is impressed with the report. Absent a uniform interstate data set, the study cobbled together available data to make it's determination. This might be upsetting if there was a better tool present, but there isn't. There ought to be. Even if states continue to shy away from national standards we would have a more precise idea of how America's students were progressing if states could agree on how we measure progress.

And in Kentucky, there is progress.

As it is, the KLTPRC report only serves to verify two previous studies. This morning's Herald-Leader reported, "Kentucky was 34th in Education Week's Quality Counts 2007 Achievement Index and was 31st in the Morgan Quinto 2006-2007 Smartest State Index."

H-L also collected some quotes:

Robert F. Sexton, Exec Dir of the Prichard Committee: Called the report convincing. "To an older generation, the saying about education in Kentucky was always, 'Thank God for Mississippi'...This is far from the case now...the challenge is how to move forward...The frustration is so many people don't understand where Kentucky started and how far we've come...This is by no means victory, but we're better off than the last generation."

State Sen. Majority Leader Dan Kelly, R-Springfield: "I think everybody recognizes we've made progress in Kentucky, but obviously not at the rate we anticipated or hoped for. There's still lots of work to do." (One can only wonder how much faster Kelly expected gains to be made based on the bargain basement dollars being contributed to the effort.)

Brad Cowgill, interim president of the state Council on Postsecondary Education: "This report is good news for Kentucky. It represents a more comprehensive way of understanding education progress at all levels in the commonwealth." He warned against complacency.

I am certain Cowgill understands Kentucky's historical tendency toward education - to 'fund it and forget it.'

This from the Herald-Leader.

Kentucky making educational progress

Out of the basement - onto the main floor

The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center issued their most recent policy brief this monthy that confirms Kentucky's educational progress since 1992.

“Sufficient time has passed since the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 and the Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997 to ask: are we making educational progress in Kentucky and, if so, are we gaining on the nation?

…Using 11 educational indicators we examine Kentucky’s progress from 1992 to 2005 and conclude that we have made substantial progress, both in an absolute
sense as well as relative to the nation. However, we cannot afford to lose the
spirit of reform because we are still trailing roughly two-thirds of the states.

These indicators of educational progress show an across-the-board improvement from 1992 to 2005.

Educational attainment, as measured by the percentage of the population with a high school diploma, two- or four-year degree, and the high school dropout rate, steadily improved. Likewise, each measure of educational achievement, from ACT scores to the percentage of students scoring proficient or higher on the NAEP exams, was at or near its highest level in 2005.”

But as Kentucky has made progress, so has the the nation. The Long Range Policy Research Center calculated relative standings using percentile ranks.

But knowing the rankings does nothing to explain the distances between one position and another. For that, the researchers averaged the top 10 states...to show how far Kentucky still has to go.

The report concludes:

“…As we reach the 10-year anniversary of postsecondary education reform and approach the 20-year mark of primary and secondary education reform, these data illustrate real educational progress, both compared to our past as well as relative to the nation. Kentucky has moved from the bottom fifth of states in educational performance in 1992 to just over the bottom third in 2005. However, comparing Kentucky to the top 10 performing states in 2005 reveals that the Commonwealth has far to go in almost every facet of educational attainment and achievement. We should celebrate our progress to date, and remember that educational reform is not a destination, but rather a constant work in progress.”

Kentucky's funding levels may still be in the basement, and some areas of progress are certainly stronger than others, but overall student achievement gains are undeniable.

Student achievement is a lagging indicator and Kentucky is realizing the benefits of earlier (and continued) effort. This would seem to be the very definition of "an efficient system of common schools throughout the state," which is the legislature's constitutional mandate.

Viewed as a cost/benefit ratio, Kentucky schools are providing its citizens a better educational program than the state has a right to expect.

This is essentially what Judge Thomas Wingate alluded to when he struck down the Council for Better Education's most recent effort to force the General Assembly to keep its commitment to school reform. All in all, student achievement is progressing pretty well.