“In several areas we saw students coming in lower than 50 percent on proficiency or distinguished levels,” Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason Glass said during a virtual news conference. “Again, that’s disappointing but not unexpected as we have seen other states also already come forward with their data.”
Absences from state testing won’t affect districts nearly as much as past years thanks to a federal accountability waiver that Kentucky and other states received in response to COVID-19 pandemic.
Without test scores for the 2019-20 school year, the report card does not include state accountability scores in areas like proficiency, growth and transition readiness; identification of significant achievement gaps; and star ratings assigned to districts and schools based on performance.
Though the state expects to pay more than $300,000 to Pearson for printing and binding test packets, the materials were never actually sent to Kentucky, said Toni Konz Tatman, interim communications director for KDE.
The Kentucky Department of Education submitted the waiver request Friday, the same day officials with the U.S. Department of Education hosted a conference call with states regarding its testing waivers.
“It's almost like we're living a dream or watching a movie or kind of in a twilight zone,” said Christine Garnett, who teaches math and computer science at Harrison County High School.
The Kentucky Department of Education notified Jefferson County Public Schools of the inquiry on Dec. 13.
Kentucky's education commissioner gave his second State of Education Address on Tuesday and said elementary test scores showed black youth are falling behind academically.
Nearby school district results on 2018-19 assessments varied, with most showing a blend of proficiency improvements and regressions in reading and math proficiency rates.
Jefferson County Public Schools, ranked a two-star school district, saw scores in reading, math slip from last year as more of its schools were identified among the lowest performing in Kentucky.
