Recently, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE)
released the first report on Program Reviews for arts and humanities, practical
living/career studies and writing programs. These Program Reviews were
required by Senate Bill 1 (2009) to be included as a part of the Unbridled
Learning accountability system. For more information about the results from the
Program Reviews, please see the news
release. I thought readers might
want to know a little more about Program Reviews and what comes next.
Why do we have Program
Reviews? Senate Bill 1 wanted to ensure that Kentucky children have access
to a balanced education. A balanced education includes core academic areas
(math, language arts, social studies and science) and areas such as
arts/humanities, practical living (health and physical education), career
studies, writing, world language and K-3 programs. Kentucky has had a vision
of a balanced education since the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act and Senate
Bill 1 continued that vision. Children are much more than test scores and test
scores do not tell the entire story about a class, school or district. As a former
high school band director, I am very proud that Kentucky includes an emphasis
on the arts in the state accountability system.
What are Program
Reviews? Program Reviews are systemic reviews of a program area that
includes components such as curriculum, instruction, student
assessment/performance, student opportunities and access, professional
development and resources. In Kentucky, we worked with many education groups
and educators to develop scoring rubrics for each of the components.
How valid and
reliable are Program Reviews? Any component of an accountability system
must be able to answer this question. All Program Reviews go through an
extensive process of piloting and field testing before becoming part of the
accountability system. Extensive research is done to address questions about validity
and reliability. However, now that the “real world” results are in for the
first year of inclusion in the accountability system, we are taking several
steps to continue to address validity and reliability issues.
1. KDE will initiate an audit process that was developed during the
last two years. This audit process will include a number of
random schools as well as “purposeful” schools. Purposeful
schools will be chosen by comparing other school data to
the Program Reviews scores for outliers.
2. KDE will start a research project to determine connections
between quality programs and their impact on student
achievement. Writing tends to work best since there is a
writing achievement score and a program review score,
however, we have to be cautious in this approach since
the writing scores are derived from either on-demand
writing or language mechanics. A successful writing program
addresses more than these two areas. In arts/humanities and
practical living, KDE will make some connections between
overall scores and Program Review scores.
3. KDE will work to find model programs that school staff
can use to assist their local scoring. Schools and districts
would use these exemplars just like examiners use
exemplar writing papers in training and calibrating scores.
4. KDE will continue to upgrade training on the rubric
and the scoring process.
5. Districts will receive support and training on how to
conduct local audits of Program Reviews.
1. KDE will initiate an audit process that was developed during the
last two years. This audit process will include a number of
random schools as well as “purposeful” schools. Purposeful
schools will be chosen by comparing other school data to
the Program Reviews scores for outliers.
2. KDE will start a research project to determine connections
between quality programs and their impact on student
achievement. Writing tends to work best since there is a
writing achievement score and a program review score,
however, we have to be cautious in this approach since
the writing scores are derived from either on-demand
writing or language mechanics. A successful writing program
addresses more than these two areas. In arts/humanities and
practical living, KDE will make some connections between
overall scores and Program Review scores.
3. KDE will work to find model programs that school staff
can use to assist their local scoring. Schools and districts
would use these exemplars just like examiners use
exemplar writing papers in training and calibrating scores.
4. KDE will continue to upgrade training on the rubric
and the scoring process.
5. Districts will receive support and training on how to
conduct local audits of Program Reviews.
Within the next few weeks, KDE will update the Unbridled
Learning accountability scores for schools and districts to include the results
from the 2013 Program Review results. KDE will then reset the 90th percentile
and 70th percentile scores for schools and districts which will serve as the
baseline for comparing accountability results in 2014. Readers can find the results of their school and
district Program Reviews in KDE Open House.
The revised accountability scores and targets for schools and districts will
be posted in the School
Report Card later this month.
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