Under the new system, required in part by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act and in part by Senate Bill 1 (2017), the state identified schools performing in the bottom 5 percent of all schools (CSI) and schools where one or more subgroup of students performed at or below the level of the schools in the bottom 5 percent (TSI). (
Flow chart of CSI, TSI designations)
Schools were measured by student performance on state assessments and other measures, such as growth and/or graduation rate.
The outcome was an accountability system that put an emphasis on low performance and does not highlight achievement, said Montgomery County Superintendent Matt Thompson.
“If we created a new grading scale for our students that assigned Fs to failing students, Ds to students who struggled on one assignment, and then gave everyone else a grade of “Other,” would that make sense?” he said. “I believe our parents would have grave concerns about a grading scale like that. Yet that is what this new accountability system does to our schools.”
Commissioner Wayne Lewis also emphasized the negative aspects when the results were released.
“There are not a lot of positives here,” he said. “For the past five years there has been virtually no movement. We are not improving.”
While the results showed student achievement remained relatively flat, there were some bright spots including small increases in reading proficiency in elementary and larger gains in reading and math among English language learners. Middle school students made gains in both reading and writing, while proficiency rates in math and social studies declined. Following a national trend, the percent of high school juniors meeting ACT benchmarks also fell.
No matter what the test scores show, Bellevue Independent Superintendent Robb Smith said he believes teachers at every school in the state are working hard for their students.
“Any data can be useful if we want to use it in the correct way,” he said. “That’s always been my message, let’s use this to inform what we are doing.”
Smith said the data showed progress in his district, including an increase in the number of students in five of six elementary and middle school grades who are performing at proficient and distinguished levels.
“But unfortunately that’s not going to be in the local newspaper,” he said. Despite the state discouraging ranking, someone will find a way to create a ranking.
“For whatever reason, people love that,” Smith said. “Real estate agents love it, but I hate the notion of some hang banners and some hang their heads, these are all our kids and we should treat them as such.”
Board view: ‘Put kids first no matter what’
For McCracken County school board member Chris Taylor, this year’s accountability release felt like an attack on public education.
“To put it bluntly, to be a homegrown Kentuckian, and to see what these politicians have done to degrade the education system of Kentucky, is just an outright shameful act,” he said.
Overall, McCracken County students performed above state averages, the results showed. However, three of the district’s five elementary schools were labeled as Targeted Support and Improvement – two because of the performance of students with a disability and one because of African-American student performance.
“There are some areas that we need to improve on,” Taylor said, noting that the district already had a plan in place to address the disparities at one of the elementary schools.
“My direction, as one board member, is whatever the superintendent and his team at the board office and leadership team need to do needs to happen now,” he said. “We need action now because before you know it it’s going to be test time again.”
Taylor, who has children attending McCracken County Schools, said he has full confidence in Superintendent Brian Harper. Taylor advises all Kentucky school board members to examine the assessment results and then support the district’s leaders.
“Let the superintendent take care of what needs to be taken care of,” Taylor said. Local leaders are equipped to make the best decision for students, he said.
“As long as we are putting students first, we are going to be OK,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s from the food they eat in the cafeteria to the condition of the bus they ride home on, we’ve got to put kids first no matter what the state says, no matter what the state implements. We’ve got to put students first.”