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For some key groups, but not Black students, Kentucky results are better than many states
In last fall’s Top 20 report, we noted how Kentucky educational results compared to other states, including rankings on 2017 NAEP assessments of reading and math and 2015 NAEP science. Since real excellence needs to include students of all backgrounds, here comes a look at NAEP results for four student groups that have long been…
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Credentials Earned: Trends in Kentucky Higher Education
The Council on Postsecondary Education is celebrating some good news: “The total number of undergraduate degrees and credentials conferred increased 2.9% in 2017-18 over the prior year, exceeding the 1.7% average annual increase needed to stay on track. This increase includes both the public and independent institutions.”
Based on data from Council’s terrific interactive tables, this post…
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Excluded from Class: Race, Discipline and Our Lack of Improvement
From 2015 to 2018, Kentucky’s African American students faced “in-school removals” at astounding rates. Outside Jefferson County, there were more eighty removals per 100 African American students every year, with no net improvement over the four years. Jefferson County deserves separate attention because the reported removal rate there moved from 64 to 158 per 100…
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New Thoughts on “The Reading Mind”
Literacy is an astonishing accomplishment of human societies. In each generation, that capacity must be rebuilt in each wonderfully distinctive young human’s mind.
I’ve just finished Daniel Willingham’s short, potent 2017 research synthesis, The Reading Mind, and I’m a bit dizzy from thinking about all the elements that combine into fluent reading.
Nevertheless, I want to share…
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K-12 Funding and Low-Income Enrollment: Notes on the New OEA Analysis
Last November, Kentucky’s Office of Education Accountability released a valuable study of “State And Local Funds Distributed To Higher Poverty Schools.” Here, I’ll spotlight some valuable findings and then share the law, data, and policy implications I see.
Right at the outset, readers should know the report’s one recommendation is that the General Assembly “may wish… -
Enrollment declines rarely yield matching cost reductions. Here’s why.
What is likely to happen to costs when a school district loses 5% of its enrollment? Here comes some thinking and some estimation on some key factors, starting from the simplified budget for a imaginary district serving 2,000 students shown below.
If that district loses 100 students, here’s my take on what can happen to each…
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Changes and Puzzles in Proposed New ESSA Plan
The Kentucky Department of Education has invited public comment on proposed revisions to the state’s plan for compliance with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, widely known as ESSA. The deadline for those comments is the close of business on February 27, so here’s my quick take: three major changes being proposed and three puzzles about…
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Clarifying Transitions: Were 60.9% of Graduates Transition Ready?
I think I know how this works, and I think these are the relevant numbers:
46,447 students graduated from Kentucky public high schools in 2017-18
28,283 of those graduates were identified as transition ready (meaning academic ready, career ready, or both)
60.9 percent is the rate of transition readiness that results from dividing transition ready… -
New School Report Cards: Big Upgrade, Still With Some Challenges
Kentucky’s new School Report Cards are here! The new format for annual data on our schools has a friendlier layout and some important innovations, so I’m going to share what I saw in my first tour of the site.
When you arrive at the main landing page, you can choose any public school or district: my… -
Puzzle: African American Proficiency Much Lower Than Kindergarten Readiness
In elementary school, something seems to work very differently for African American students than for other student groups. That’s the pattern that emerges from comparing KPREP proficiency rates for the last two classes of third graders to the kindergarten readiness rates when those classes started school. For Kentucky’s African American students:
44.2% were kindergarten ready…
Susan Perkins Weston has created 64 entries
Susan Perkins Weston
