Bluegrass Institute education analyst Richard Innes provides some valuable perspective on the Kentucky Department of Education/mainstream media spin about this week's release of CATS scores:
"In both reading and science, the percentage meeting the EXPLORE benchmark went down this year while CATS proficiency rates increased. In middle school math, while the percent reaching the benchmark went up slightly, the rise in the CATS proficiency rate was much larger."
"The differences in proficiency rates from 2006-07 to 2007-08 increased for all subjects, indicating that CATS scoring for middle schools got even easier this year."
As the Kentucky's mainstream media crumbles, independent researchers like Innes will take on an even more important role in holding government entities like Big Education accountable.
