Some needed perspective on CATS

The Louisville Courier Journal editorial board has never bothered to address the many problems with Kentucky's CATS school testing, mercifully laid to rest this spring. They were too busy calling teachers "lazy" and dreaming up more ways to slap at the Bluegrass Institute without actually printing the name.

Here's their latest from Wednesday's editorial page:

"That's more than one can say for the odd alliance of (1) Republicans who have opposed the Kentucky Education Reform Act since its passage; (2) reflexive right-wing opponents of public schools, and (3) teacher groups that find KERA too demanding."

Their latest approach is to complain about the three year period in which Kentucky transitions from inflated, discredited CATS testing to a something (anything) better.

Fortunately, Bluegrass Institute's education analyst Richard Innes explains why the three years is probably a good idea:

"Right now, relying on our teachers to carry the ball for a short period of time seems like a much better path to take than following the outdated and misguided CATS path for another three years. Apparently, our legislators agree, because they overwhelmingly passed the bill to revise our assessment program in both houses despite the tantrums a few are throwing in the print media."

Innes' four page report is available here.