KDE releases 2023-2024 accountability and assessment data

(FRANKFORT, KY) – The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) publicly released assessment and accountability data for the 2023-2024 school year on Oct. 3, as required by state statute and the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.

This is the second year the current accountability system, with status and change as ways to evaluate state indicators, has been in full implementation.

“The picture we see with the 2023-2024 school year data is not a straightforward one. There are several areas to be proud of, some areas of concern and some areas where we as a Commonwealth have plateaued,” Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher said. “The Kentucky Department of Education is working with districts across the Commonwealth to improve outcomes in many areas for our students.  For example, we believe that the investments that our General Assembly has made in literacy and numeracy, along with our collaboration with local school districts in these areas, will enable our students to achieve even higher levels in the years to come.”

The percentage of students who performed at proficient or distinguished levels maintained or rose with the 2024 assessment data in several areas, including reading and mathematics across all assessed grade levels. The rate of students performing at proficient or distinguished levels in writing on-demand and combined writing rose at the middle and high school levels, while elementary school students maintained the same numbers as last year following an increase from 2022.

KDE has been working on literacy initiatives to help Kentucky students, including the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) professional development through the Kentucky Reading Academies. The first cohort of teachers to go through LETRS training just finished the two-year course in the spring of 2024.

“We have heard from educators that the LETRS training is extremely relevant and is proving to be helpful in supporting teachers in meeting the diverse needs of our earliest readers, and I’m hopeful that progress will only grow as more teachers finish the training and apply what they’ve learned to the classroom,” Fletcher said.

KDE also is developing new statewide supports for mathematics teaching and learning. Following the passage of House Bill 162 (2024), the Kentucky Numeracy Counts Act, KDE is working on new K-8 teacher academies that provide professional learning for educators on evidence-based practices in instruction, instructional materials and assessment in mathematics. The legislation also focuses on providing a seamless multi-tiered system of supports and having strong screening and diagnostic mathematics assessments in place to provide reliable guidance on where a child is at with their learning. KDE and its partners will implement these statewide supports over the next few years.

One of the key areas of concern Fletcher said he observed was around science assessment data. The rate of students testing at a proficient or distinguished level in science was lower across all grade levels than any other content area, continuing a multi-year trend.

“Science performance is concerning. We need to analyze science assessment, instruction and student performance with the goal of developing actionable steps to improve science education and performance for Kentucky’s students,” he said.

Chronic Absenteeism and Teacher Shortages

Fletcher highlighted a couple of issues that impact the overall performance of schools in Kentucky: chronic absenteeism and the ongoing teacher shortage.

KDE defines a student as chronically absent if they have missed more than 10% of the enrolled time in school. This includes both excused and unexcused absences.

“When students frequently miss school, they fall behind in their studies, which can lead to lower academic achievement and decreased engagement,” Fletcher said. “Addressing chronic absenteeism is crucial for improving educational outcomes and ensuring that all students have the opportunity to succeed.”

KDE launched a public messaging campaign this year to raise awareness of the issue, which includes ads on television, radio and billboards across the Commonwealth emphasizing that attendance matters. KDE also revamped its Chronic Absenteeism webpage with new resources for schools, families and communities.

“We believe that it takes everyone – schools, families and communities – to reduce the chronic absenteeism statistics in Kentucky,” Fletcher said. “No matter how engaging the lesson plan is, our students won’t benefit if they aren’t in the classroom. It’s essential we work together to find ways to overcome any challenges that may be standing in the way of our students attending school regularly.”

Fletcher said a similar public messaging campaign to address long-standing teacher shortages is being planned for 2025, aiming to recruit more people into the profession and help alleviate staffing issues facing all of Kentucky’s schools.

“With fewer teachers available, class sizes often increase, which can lead to less individualized attention for students,” Fletcher said. “We owe it to our children to ensure there are enough teachers to boost student engagement and learning outcomes.”

KDE Providing Assistance

KDE has been working diligently to help schools address other areas where assessment data shows room for improvement:

• The Reading and Writing Instructional Resources Consumer Guide and the Mathematics Instructional Resource Consumer Guide help districts select high-quality instructional resources;
• The Standards Implementation Guides help schools and districts identify available resources to help with standards implementation;
• Evidence-Based Instructional Practices help provide equitable learning environments with a viable curriculum that is aligned to the Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS); and
• Standards Family Guides help families understand the content of each grade level’s standards.

Kentucky’s assessment and accountability data indicates a performance gap in several areas based on demographic groups, mirroring national trends when it comes to the discrepancies between White students and students belonging to Black and Hispanic communities.

“Kentucky and many other states must do a better job of making sure every community has the resources and services they need to succeed in our schools,” Fletcher said. “The Kentucky Department of Education is dedicated to ensuring every student has access to opportunity, and we know that this imperative will require continued collaboration among all stakeholders, including KDE, school districts, local businesses, our General Assembly and many other groups.”

Graduation rates among White, Black and Hispanic students have all increased from 2023, and the difference between the groups is much less significant than with other indicators.

How to Access 2023-2024 Assessment and Accountability Data

KDE will release 2023-2024 assessment and accountability in a phased approach. The data is initially available in datasets in Open House. This platform provides comprehensive information on school performance, enabling stakeholders to review and analyze educational outcomes.

Due to a vendor change, a new School Report Card dashboard will be available later this year. The dashboard highlights key topic areas and performance indicators at the school, district and state levels.

Color-coded Performance Ratings for Schools, Districts

Following the passage of Senate Bill 158 in 2020, which established status and change as ways to evaluate state indicators, the 2023-2024 academic school year is the second year where change is factored into a school or district’s overall performance rating

In Kentucky’s accountability system, schools are evaluated on a combination of academic and school-quality indicators and measures. Using data from the 2023-2024 school year, Kentucky’s accountability system combines data from all available indicators to provide a color-coded overall performance rating for each school, district and the state by level, ranging from red (lowest) to blue (highest).

Status represents a school’s performance on a state indicator for the current year, while change represents the school’s performance on the indicator for the current year compared with the previous year. Status and change combine to provide a performance rating for each state indicator.

Fletcher said the change component plays a crucial role in influencing school results.

“Student learning and performance can fluctuate due to various factors. Students may experience periods of rapid progress, plateaus or even setbacks,” Fletcher said. “Similarly, change isn’t always a linear process, nor is it always positive. In the second year of change as a component of Kentucky’s accountability system, the fluctuation of change is impacting school performance.”

Since this is the second year where change has been implemented, comparisons to last year’s data can be made. Comparisons may be made in assessment performance for the last three years: 2022, 2023 and 2024. Accountability comparisons can be made between schools at each level (i.e., elementary to elementary) to the 2022-2023 data.

“It’s important to look deeply into the data rather than just focus on the color ratings,” Fletcher said. “A deeper analysis provides valuable insights into specific areas of strength and opportunities for improvement, creating a more comprehensive understanding of a school or district’s performance.”

The accountability system is designed to meet both state and federal requirements. At all levels (elementary, middle and high school), these indicators include:

• State assessment results in reading and mathematics;
• State assessment results in science, social studies and writing;
• Quality of school climate and safety; and
• English learner progress.

Additional indicators at the high school level include postsecondary readiness and a combination of 4-year and 5-year graduation rates.

Academic Performance/Assessment Results

During the 2023-2024 school year, Kentucky public school students in grades 3-8, 10 and 11 took assessments called the Kentucky Summative Assessments (KSA) and the Alternate Kentucky Summative Assessments (AKSA) in reading, mathematics, social studies, science, editing and mechanics and on-demand writing. Students take reading and mathematics assessments annually in grades 3 through 8, and in grade 10. Other subjects are assessed once per grade level, with social studies and editing and mechanics and on-demand writing assessed in grades 5, 8 and 11. Science continued to be assessed in grades 4, 7 and 11.

It is important to remember that in any year, a single test score does not provide a complete measure of student achievement. 

The assessment and accountability results are additional information about areas where there has been positive movement or 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.

More data can be found in the media briefing packet located on the KDE Communications webpage.

The first sets of data below show the overall performance ratings for Kentucky schools and districts for 2024 and 2023.

2023-2024 Overall Performance Ratings - Districts

2023-2024 Overall Performance Ratings - Schools

The tables below contain the percentage of students performing at each performance level on KSA and AKSA 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 is available in the Open House datasets.

Elementary School Performance Level Percentages by Content Area

Middle School Performance Level Percentages by Content Area

High School Performance Level Percentages by Content Area

School Climate and Safety

The quality of school climate and safety indicator is designed to measure the school environment. Perception data from student surveys is used to measure insight to the school environment.

Across all grade levels, more Kentucky schools and districts entered the top green and blue ratings for the quality of school climate and safety indicator rating in 2023-2024 compared to the previous year.

“The safety of our children and the climate around them in school are crucial parts of their education,” Fletcher said. “While the work on improving school safety is constant, it’s a point of pride knowing more and more Kentucky students feel like their schools are safe and provide a quality learning environment.”

More Kentucky schools and districts in the Commonwealth reported either an increase or a significant increase in the quality of their school climate and safety compared to the previous year as well.

Number of Schools and Quality of School Climate and Safety Indicator Rating

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.

2024 4-Year Graduation Rate Trends

2024 5-Year Graduation Rate Trends

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.

Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, schools have been identified for CSI and ATSI every three years. The next identification of CSI I, CSI II and ATSI will be in 2025.

CSI status schools were identified based on three criteria: If the school is in the bottom 5% of all schools based on the overall school score; if they have a graduation rate below 80%; or if they fell under ATSI status for at least three years.

TSI schools are those who have a student group performing at or below the bottom 5% of all schools. TSI schools are identified annually and will be identified this fall based on the last three years of data, as required by state law. During the 2023-2024 school year, eight schools previously identified as CSI have exited this status. Additionally, 88 schools previously identified as TSI have exited as well.

“Though there remains a considerable amount of work to ensure all students demonstrate proficiency on the state assessments, it is critical to acknowledge the dedication and commitment of our educators throughout Kentucky,” Fletcher said.

Federal Classifications

*CSI Schools are not newly identified for 2024, but were previously identified and did not meet exit criteria.