Last vestiges of the CATS school testing era finally sunset

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) just announced that the last set of test scores to be based on now obsolete testing elements from Kentucky’s failed CATS school assessments will be made public on September 27, 2011.

Here is a summary extracted from the KDE news release:

Three report sections will be made publicly available on that day, posted in the KDE Open House section of the agency’s website.

The three report sections are:

Achievement
o No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Reports
o Interim Performance Reports
o Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT) Combined Reading and Mathematics Proficient/Distinguished Report
o Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT) Combined Reading and Mathematics Proficient/Distinguished Trend Report


Readiness for College/Career
o High School Graduates College/Career Readiness

Gap
o 2011 Combined Reading and Mathematics Gap-to-Goal Comparison Report

I’ll be taking a look as soon as the data is publicly available.

This pending release will include the last set of results from the Kentucky Core Content Tests (KCCT). This coming spring, our students will be assessed with new tests based on the new Common Core State Standards. Hopefully, these new tests will be much better aligned to what our students need for college and careers. As a consequence, I expect proficiency rates will drop, perhaps dramatically, when the new data is first released around September of 2012.