The Bluegrass Institute today proves that our school assessment program, CATS, has been systematically manipulated to show phony educational improvement since 1999.
As an unreliable gauge of progress, the CATS assessment needs to be replaced by more credible tests. In hindsight, it was a mistake to charge the Kentucky Department of Education to both assist school systems in making improvements and be the sole administrator of the assessment system to determine if that effort was successful. A separate agency should be created to manage the assessment of educational progress in Kentucky’s schools.
There is no more important issue for the future of our state than getting a handle on how we manage the education of our children. This battle is not one for the faint of heart.
