The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) released annual School Report Card data from the 2021-2022 academic year on Oct. 18, as required by statute and under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.
Assessments were fully administered to more than 383,000 students in grades 3 through 8 and 10 through 11 during the spring of 2022. Accountability and federal statuses – such as Comprehensive School Improvement and Targeted School Improvement – are being reported for the first time since 2019.
“As expected, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on our students and our schools as they continue to recover from the interrupted learning that occurred over the past two years,” said Education Commissioner and Chief Learner Jason E. Glass. “These assessment results will serve as the baseline from which we will move forward as we look to new and innovative learning opportunities for all of Kentucky’s students.”
Glass said Kentucky’s results are consistent with what other states are experiencing.
“There will be no quick fix for the challenges our students endured during the pandemic,” he said. “It will take time and resources.”
Kentucky has received more than $2 billion in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act to help accelerate learning and get additional support to districts and the students who need it the most. Glass said helping students recover and thrive will take collective action, dedication and resources from local, state and federal partners.
Glass added: “It’s important for all of us to use this data responsibly to help inform parents and families about their students’ schools and to allow local leaders to target resources to communities and schools that need them most.”
This year’s assessment and accountability report cannot be directly compared to previous years due to significant changes in the assessment and accountability systems. Beginning this year, Kentucky’s 2022 School Report Card will feature the state’s new color-coded accountability system, which was previously a 5-star system.
Using data from the 2021-2022 school year, the accountability system provides a color-coded rating for all schools at each level (elementary, middle, high) ranging from red (lowest) to blue (highest). Districts and the state receive a separate color-coded rating for each level of schools (elementary, middle, high).
Kentucky’s Senate Bill (SB) 158 (2020) made significant changes to the statewide accountability system, including:
- Performance based on a combination of academic and school quality indicators and measures, known as “state indicators;”
- Requirements that a school’s indicators, overall performance, status and change be displayed on an online colored dashboard; and
- Requirements that state indicators be evaluated on “status” and “change,” and defines the terms.
Status represents a school’s performance for the current year, while change represents the school’s performance for the current year compared with the previous year. Change will not be reported until next year.
Academic Performance/Assessment Results
Kentucky administers state tests called the Kentucky Summative Assessment (KSA), previously called the Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress (K-PREP). In spring 2022, the tests were fully administered for the first time. The tests were developed by Kentucky teachers and align with the Kentucky Academic Standards.
Assessment results are just one of several strategies KDE is conducting to evaluate school recovery and create a more robust and equitable education system. It is important to remember that in any year, a single test score does not provide a complete or precise measure of student achievement. Families are encouraged to consider their student’s results within the context of the variety of potential learning disruptions they may have encountered. Families will receive an individual student report from their child’s school district that details their performance on the KSA.
The assessment and accountability results are additional information about areas where students and schools need support. This supports the data teachers gain through their daily interaction with students and a collection of performance information from a variety of opportunities students have to show what they know and can do. Families can keep up with the day-to-day performance of their students using the Infinite Campus mobile app or web portal.
The tables below contain the percentage of students performing at each performance level on KSA tests. The goal is to move all students to a higher performance category and ultimately to the proficient performance level or above. Student performance on these tests serves as the basis for several indicators in Kentucky’s accountability system.
Additional state data, including all indicators and breakdowns by student group for each subject and performance level, can be viewed on the School Report Card.
2021-2022 Elementary School Performance Level Percentages by Subject for All Students
| Subject | Novice | Apprentice | Proficient | Distinguished | Proficient/ Distinguished |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 28 | 27 | 28 | 17 | 45 |
| Mathematics | 32 | 30 | 28 | 10 | 38 |
| Science | 16 | 55 | 23 | 6 | 29 |
| Social Studies | 34 | 29 | 24 | 13 | 37 |
| Editing and Mechanics | 23 | 29 | 27 | 20 | 47 |
| Writing On-demand | 23 | 45 | 25 | 8 | 32 |
| Combined Writing | 20 | 43 | 30 | 7 | 37 |
2021-2022 Middle School Performance Level Percentages by Subject for All Students
| Subject | Novice | Apprentice | Proficient | Distinguished | Proficient/ Distinguished |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 31 | 26 | 28 | 16 | 43 |
| Mathematics | 35 | 28 | 28 | 9 | 37 |
| Science | 36 | 42 | 20 | 2 | 22 |
| Social Studies | 37 | 27 | 23 | 13 | 36 |
| Editing and Mechanics | 26 | 29 | 31 | 15 | 45 |
| Writing On-demand | 27 | 35 | 32 | 6 | 38 |
| Combined Writing | 24 | 37 | 33 | 5 | 39 |
2021-2022 High School Performance Level Percentages by Subject for All Students
| Subject | Novice | Apprentice | Proficient | Distinguished | Proficient/ Distinguished |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 32 | 25 | 28 | 16 | 44 |
| Mathematics | 34 | 30 | 26 | 10 | 36 |
| Science | 45 | 41 | 13 | 1 | 14 |
| Social Studies | 39 | 27 | 22 | 11 | 34 |
| Editing and Mechanics | 26 | 28 | 28 | 18 | 46 |
| Writing On-demand | 24 | 40 | 30 | 6 | 36 |
| Combined Writing | 23 | 39 | 33 | 5 | 38 |
Kentucky’s new accountability system provides an overall color performance rating for each Kentucky school and district by level shown in the tables below.
Overall Performance Ratings - Schools
| School Level | Total Number of Schools | Red | Orange | Yellow | Green | Blue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elementary | 721 | 33 | 217 | 297 | 115 | 59 |
| Middle | 318 | 19 | 93 | 125 | 53 | 28 |
| High | 228 | 12 | 64 | 83 | 58 | 11 |
Overall Performance Ratings - Districts
| District Level | Total Number of Districts | Red | Orange | Yellow | Green | Blue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elementary | 172 | 2 | 56 | 87 | 19 | 8 |
| Middle | 172 | 5 | 53 | 81 | 25 | 8 |
| High | 168 | 3 | 47 | 75 | 36 | 7 |
Graduation Rate
The Graduation Rate indicator is consistent with previous accountability systems. Using the federal definition, the percentage of students earning a high school diploma is compared to the cohort of students starting in grade 9.
Kentucky uses a 4-year adjusted cohort rate and an extended 5-year adjusted cohort in accountability, which recognizes the persistence of students and educators in completing the requirements for a Kentucky high school diploma. The 4-year and 5-year rates are averaged for accountability reporting.
SB 128 (2021) allowed any student enrolled in a Kentucky public school in grades kindergarten through 12 during the 2020-2021 school year to request to use the 2021-2022 school year as a supplemental school year to retake or supplement the courses or grades the student has already taken. High schools where students remained in the supplemental year may have a negative impact on their graduation rate.
2022 4-Year Graduation Rate Percentage Trends
| Student Groups | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Students | 90.3 | 90.6 | 91.1 | 90.2 | 89.9 |
2022 5-Year Graduation Rate Trends
| Student Groups | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Students | 91.3 | 91.6 | 92 | 92.3 | 92.0 |
ACT
Since 2008, all Kentucky’s public school juniors participate in the ACT, which assesses English, mathematics, reading and science and is scored on a scale of 1 to 36. The cost of the exam is paid for by state funds.
Results for students who were juniors during the 2021-2022 school year show an increase in composite scores and most subject area scores.
ACT Subject Area Scores Kentucky Public School Juniors
| Year | English | Mathematics | Reading | Science | Composite | Total Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-2018 | 18.8 | 18.8 | 19.8 | 19.2 | 19.3 | 45,672 |
| 2018-2019 | 18.2 | 18.5 | 19.5 | 19.1 | 19.0 | 45,217 |
| 2019-2020 | 18.5 | 18.7 | 19.4 | 19.1 | 19.0 | 43,687 |
| 2020-2021 | 17.1 | 17.7 | 18.5 | 18.3 | 18.0 | 42,078 |
| 2021-2022 | 17.5 | 17.7 | 19.0 | 18.6 | 18.3 | 44,138 |
Federal Classifications: CSI, TSI and ATSI
Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI), Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) and Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (ATSI) are federally mandated school identifications that are based on the overall school score that is generated by the state accountability system.
CSI status schools were identified based on two criteria: If the school is in the bottom 5% of all schools based on the overall school score, or if they have a graduation rate below 80%. Normally, a third criteria is used to identify a CSI school, which includes any ATSI school that fails to exit the category within three years. KDE secured a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education that allows KDE to not count the previous two years during the pandemic, so no schools will be identified as CSI using that category.
KDE also did not identify any new ATSI schools this fall, but there may still be ATSI schools that were identified prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and did not meet the established exit criteria.
TSI schools are those who have a student group performing at or below the bottom 5% of all schools. TSI schools will be identified this fall based on 2021-2022 data.
Federal Classifications
| School Level | Total Number of Schools | Total Number of Title I Schools | Total Schools identified for CSI (CSI I and CSI II*) | Total Schools identified for TSI | Total Schools identified for ATSI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elementary | 721 | 663 | 33 | 164 | 0 |
| Middle | 318 | 245 | 12 | 162 | 1 |
| High | 228 | 108 | 6 | 77 | 3 |
| Total | 1,267 | 1,016 | 51 | 403 | 4 |
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