Kentucky Department of Education

Kentucky's educational reforms are based upon the principle that schools must be held accountable for the progress of their students. Frequent, meaningful testing is required to assess the extent of student progress toward proficiency; accurate, understandable reporting is required so that all stakeholders in Kentucky education have the data needed for making effective decisions concerning school policies, programs and curricula.

Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT)

The KCCT is a major component of the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS).  The results of this test are used to evaluate the school program in the state accountability system. The results from the reading and math content areas are also used to meet federal testing and reporting requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

 

            Depth of Knowledge

District Assessment Coordinators’ Weekly Newsletters

KCCT Blueprint

            ORQ Answer Grid

            Released Items

Reference Sheets and Rulers

 

           

Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS)

In July 2006, Senate Bill 130 was passed by the Kentucky legislature. The bill amended KRS 158.6453 to include the provision that “no later than the 2007-2008 school year, and each year thereafter” the Commonwealth’s assessment program shall include a high school readiness examination in grade 8, a college readiness examination in grade 10 and the ACT college admissions and placement examination in grade 11. These three examinations — EXPLORE, PLAN and the ACT — comprise the Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS).

            EXPLORE Guide

            PLAN Guide

ACT Guide

 

 

Mathematics Diagnostic Tests for Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II

These assessments were designed as tools for teachers to determine if students are learning important mathematics at appropriate depth-of-knowledge levels in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II.  For this purpose, teachers might administer the assessments at the beginning of the year to establish baseline knowledge levels for students or at the end of the year to assess growth in student knowledge.  For these uses, teachers might consider using several days to administer all relevant clusters for the relevant assessment. The Kentucky Department of Education suggests that teachers administer individual assessment clusters at the end of appropriate units throughout the school year to determine if student are learning important mathematics content at sufficient depth of knowledge levels.

 

 

End-of-Course Exams

The purpose of end-of-course assessments is to ensure that districts and schools provide consistent and rigorous experiences in these vital courses.

 

Algebra I and Geometry

KDE worked with the University of Louisville Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Teacher Development, teachers and university faculty across Kentucky to create assessment items for the end-of-course assessments for Algebra I and Geometry. These assessments are aligned with Kentucky's Program of Studies and Core Content for Assessment, as well as Achieve's American Diploma Project Benchmarks, ACT mathematics College Readiness Standards and 12^th grade National Assessment Educational Progress (NAEP) objectives.

 

Algebra II Multi-State Consortium

State department staff, high school teachers and university faculty members from Kentucky and other states have been involved in defining the content and test design of the American Diploma Project Algebra II End-of-Course Assessment An initial field test was conducted among these states in October 2007; another round of testing was administered in May 2008. Pearson NCS and Achieve, Inc. continue to collaborate –on the refinement of these assessments that have been used by all consortium member states.