CATS provided statewide test results as percentages of students scoring at any of four performance levels: novice, apprentice, proficient and distinguished. Kentucky's goal under CATS was to reduce the number of students performing at the lowest of these levels (novice and apprentice), while increasing the number performing at the higher levels (proficient and distinguished).
Since Kentucky implemented CATS in 1999, students at all grade levels showed progress, with performance trends going up in all subjects. In addition, elementary, middle and high schools are reducing the percentage of novice-level learners every year.
Kentucky also reported results as content-area academic indices that are computed on the basis of a weighted average of student performance at each level.
Summary
With few exceptions, the percentage of Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT) novice learners at all school levels has decreased, and the combined percentages of proficient and distinguished students has increased each year since CATS' inception in 1999. Steady improvement is therefore shown in content-area academic indices since 1999, although some content areas show greater improvement than others.
Because of changes to the testing and accountability system in 2006, comparisons between prior years and the 2007 and 2008 data are invalid.
Elementary School Progress
The Elementary School Accountability Index increased from 87.7 in 2007 to 88.5 in 2008. This was a gain of 0.8 points.
The Academic Index goal for each content area is 100, with a maximum possible index of 140. In 2008, there were four content areas in the 90s -- reading, mathematics, science and the writing portfolio. There were three content areas in the 80s -- social studies, writing on-demand, arts & humanities and practical living/vocational studies. There was one content area in the 70s -- writing on-demand.
The highest percentage of students performing at proficient and distinguished levels was in the writing portfolio, where 69.5% were proficient and 5.9% distinguished.
The lowest percentage of students performing at proficient and distinguished levels was in arts & humanities, where 31.9% were proficient and 21.2% distinguished.
Middle School Progress
The Middle School Accountability Index increased from 79.0 in 2007 to 79.9 in 2008. This was a gain of 0.9 points.
The Academic Index goal for each content area is 100, with a maximum possible index of 140. One content area – reading – was in the 90s. There were six content areas in the 80s -- mathematics, science, social studies, writing portfolio, arts & humanities and practical living/vocational studies. One content area – on-demand writing – was in the 70s.
The highest percentage of students performing at proficient and distinguished levels was in reading, where 69.5% were proficient and 5.9% distinguished.
The lowest percentage of students performing at proficient and distinguished levels was in writing on-demand, where 34.5% were proficient and 5% distinguished.
High School Progress
The High School Accountability Index increased from 78.7 in 2007 to 78.2 in 2008. This was a loss of 0.5 point.
The Academic Index goal for each content area is 100, with a maximum possible index of 140. There were three content areas in the 80s -- reading, arts & humanities and practical living/vocational studies. There were four content areas in the 70s -- science, social studies, writing portfolio and writing on-demand. There were one content area in the 60s -- mathematics.
The highest percentage of students performing at proficient and distinguished levels was in arts & humanities, where 38.5% were proficient and 25.2% distinguished.
The lowest percentage of students performing at proficient and distinguished levels was in writing on-demand, where 25.9% were proficient and 3.8% distinguished.
For more information about CATS scores, including the highly detailed Kentucky Performance Reports for every school in Kentucky, please explore the links below.
CATS Briefing Packets
School Report Cards