Analysis: Schools' Progress Too Slow

An analysis by three statewide education groups, including the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, indicates most Kentucky schools are improving too slowly to reach 2014 proficiency goals.Kentucky is moving from the old Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, or CATS, to a system based on new standards and testing mandated in Senate Bill One. During the transition, the Prichard Committee and two other education groups, wanted to see what kind of progress schools are making. An analysis of the last four years of state test scores indicates elementary schools are on track to reach proficiency by 2014, but that’s not the case for middle and high schools.“The middle schools, only 39 percent are moving at that rate. And then unfortunately for the high schools, only six percent of the high schools are moving at a rate that would get them to a score of 100 by 2014,” says Ronda Harmon of the Kentucky Association of School Councils.Harmon says there’s obviously work to be done, but she remains optimistic all levels will continue to show improvement. Also participating in the analysis was the Council for Better Education.