ky academic standards

ky academic standards

Analyzing the Key Components of Kentucky Academic Standards

1. Introduction to Kentucky Academic Standards

The Kentucky General Assembly has charged the Kentucky Board of Education with the task of establishing the Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) and a system of assessment to determine if students are meeting the standards. We declare our purpose to be clear about the required knowledge and about the necessity for high-quality performance to be demanded of all students in Kentucky. Kentuckians have set the standards of learner preparation that we expect from students. Teachers of Kentucky should use these standards to assure that high quality academic programs are available to all students. The Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) are the blueprint for learning, teaching, and assessment in Kentucky’s schools. The document is a result of an extensive analysis of Kentucky schools. In presenting the Kentucky Academic Standards, emphasis should be placed on high expectations for all students. All students should be provided with the learning opportunities necessary to achieve the Kentucky Academic Standards.

Each core content area is organized around “Big Ideas”. For curriculum design, instruction, and assessment, these “big ideas” and standards are included. Further, statements about skills and concepts that all students must learn by the end of each grade level (or what they must know and be able to do by the end of each grade level) are included. Teachers, using the Kentucky Academic Standards for lesson planning and instructional purposes, are encouraged to use instructional strategies and assessment tasks that will prepare students to think, problem solve, and communicate effectively. The statement “All students will understand that…” should be the target for students – to let students know “what” they should understand. Match conditions are listed at the end of each “big idea” describing specific goals students might accomplish by the end of the grade level. In summary, teachers are encouraged to help Kentucky students develop higher-order thinking skills. They should teach students to communicate effectively in all four areas: listening, speaking, reading and writing. These standards are developed so that teachers can prepare and students are capable for the next grade level by the end of each grade level.

2. Development and Implementation Process

Once a standard is established, teaching, learning, and assessment materials must be developed and aligned to the standard so that the educator can bring the intended outcomes of a standard into the classroom. Once these components are in place, students have the opportunity to learn, be challenged, and demonstrate awarded credit for what they know and can do to matriculate through the education system. The components of a standard make teaching and learning the standard achievable for educators. Once the standard, teaching and learning materials, and assessment support the standard, the standard is guaranteed to grow and evolve.

Since the enactment of Senate Bill 1 in 1990, Kentucky Academic Standards have been continuously evolving to create the one-learning community. The passage of SB1 was an important step towards revolutionizing Kentucky education in 1990. The governor and General Assembly expressed the desire for Kentucky communities to become one-learning community by calling for a total overhaul of the system and a complete restructuring and rededication of how schools and districts operate. With the passage of this legislation came critical changes to how standards would be developed and delivered to educators. The response by the educators of the time instilled in lawmakers their commitment to helping all students become successful toward meeting the Kentucky Education Reform Act’s goals. They found ways to teach and instruct the needs of the students in the local school, regardless of where they were assigned, with the talents and resources available.

3. Key Components of the Standards

The Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) describe what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. They are aligned to the expectations colleges and universities have for students entering their institutions and the expectations employers have for employees entering careers. Standards are prerequisites for the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind necessary for college and career readiness in a highly literate and informed society. The expectations for students are organized by grade-level clusters and encompass the content areas of English language arts, English language proficiency standards (ELPS), history and social studies, mathematics, science, and writing. The KAS have both standards and strands and are an elaboration of the content area grade-level standards. The standard is the what and the strand is the how. The KAS are not intended to dictate curriculum and instruction for districts and schools.

Consists of the components of each standard by (a) the content area or areas to which the standard pertains, (b) the number or alphanumeric identifier for the standard, (c) the base-level standard and strand descriptor(s), and (d) the elaborated standard and strand descriptor(s). The standard is the what for the student; the strand is the “how” the student will take in order to meet the standard. The standards describe the goals for students, the desired knowledge and understanding, or the capacity/ability to do, or both, that teachers hope to see students achieve as they drive a coherent and rigorous sequence of curriculum and instruction throughout the student’s K-12 educational experience and, at the same time, are used to assess the progress of students on those goals in a way that supports teaching and learning. Strand 1 provides language for the strands developed by the national organizations to describe the thinking strategies used in the performance of skills and the application of concepts to the process of learning, creating, and producing within the content areas. Strand 2 is the existing Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) academic expectations that have been revised in some content areas to increase the context for learning and, therefore, to become a part of the Kentucky Academic Standards. Strand 3 includes the scientific methods. Strand 4 includes the mathematical practice standards. Strand 5 includes the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) social studies practices and method standards. The standard and strand descriptors should flow from these descriptors but craft them based on an application of the descriptor of the content area to which they belong.

4. Impact and Effectiveness of the Standards

Is there any data or research on the effectiveness of the standards on student achievement?

We expect to see direct research on the effectiveness of Kentucky’s Common Core state standards over time. Currently, no such research exists.

Field tests of assessments tied to the standards are just beginning to be conducted. This field testing will yield some of the first data for use in establishing validity and for discussing the impact of the field-testing on achievement.

Other anecdotal information regarding the impact and effectiveness of the standards will involve in-service training on the standards for teachers, information requested by parents, and support for the standards shown by governmental, civic, and business groups. These factors will be indicators that feedback from all interested groups is taking place and indicates the strength of commitment to the standards from diverse groups. The more detailed and specific the feedback, the more clearly stakeholders understand the standards and the benefits they will produce for students.

5. Future Directions and Enhancements

In the near future, all sequences should be completely defined. We want to define aspect categories so that they can be assigned to KAS topics without any question. The missing links of resources and assessments should be created. In regard to the graphic tool, a real database is required. This will greatly streamline the current editor program and enable new and unknown properties to be discovered from it. For example, the relationships among intent, resources, and performance levels can be illustrated visually with quantitative evidence to support the claims made relating to the way test performance levels are set. Summative testing problems are visualized, and the way they set the stage for the reporting of consequent data for all stakeholders is shown.

We have employed an XML database for content and export XSLT for the graphic visual to HTML. However, we know that these videos have functions on different devices, such as desktop consoles. Small randomized quiz items have been created for online testing. Results have been recorded in XML and analyzed using Python scripts. We first showed the students the main relevant properties of the respective test steered by the visual graphic interface, click by click. They read and interacted with the questions and answers that are attuned with all modeled topics and the KAS. Students said that they preferred this system, as opposed to random questions without context. The result from student quizzes and discussions went through prophecy.