COVID-19 has put many things “on-hold” over the past 2-3 years, including the state accountability system for schools. During this time, the Kentucky Department of Education made some major changes in the overall accountability system. Furthermore, since this is the first year for the new system, schools could not be scored based on the growth that was made from one year to the next. Elementary, middle, and high schools had the following “indicator” groups in common:
- Indicator 1 – Ready and Mathematics (combined)
- Indicator 2 – Science, Social Studies, and Writing (combined)
- Indicator 3 – English Learner Progress (if you had enough students whose primary language was not English)
- Indicator 4 – School Climate and Safety
The high school accountability model included two additional indicators:
- Indicator 5 – Postsecondary Readiness
- Indicator 6 – Graduation Rate
Each school was given scores based on the indicators listed above, then an overall color rating was assigned to each school. Schools were considered:
- “Blue” if student test scores had large percentages of students scoring proficient and distinguished and were among the highest in the state (in the top 6th-10th percentile, depending on grade level).
- “Green” if test scores were high and fell just below the “Blue” category.
- “Yellow” if test scores were close to the state median, above or below, and included approximately 38 – 42% of the schools in the state, depending on the category.
- “Orange” if a majority of the test scores fell in a mix of the novice and apprentice category and below the “yellow” status.
- “Red” if the test scores were among the lowest in the state with likely with the largest proportion of students falling in the novice and apprentice category (in the bottom 4 to 5% of the schools in the state)
For the exact percentages of schools scoring in each category, please see the charts below.
