Revised information based on a transition index for Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT) scores has been released and the updated results for area school districts may be confusing for some.

The Assessment Transition Index was formulated by a partnership of the Council for Better Education, the Kentucky Association of School Councils and the Prichard Committee to provide overall school results during the Senate Bill 1 transition, which has suspended CATS testing accountability until 2012.

In a statement by Tom Shelton, superintendent of Daviess County Public Schools, on the Kentucky Association of School Councils Web site, he said, “Using 2009 test results reported by the Kentucky Department of Education, we have published a single number that sums up students’ progress, and an index for each subject still being tested.

“To provide usable trend data, we are also sharing 2007 and 2008 data calculated by the same formula used with the 2009 release. For schools and districts, we hope this data will be helpful in evaluating and improving student performance. For parents, citizens and policy-makers, it will be a quick snapshot of our progress in helping all Kentucky students succeed.”

No Child Left Behind data and the unrevised numbers for KCCT were released to the public on Wednesday. The transition index then allowed school districts to look at the 2009 numbers in comparison with 2007 and 2008 and chart progress in a more linear fashion. Results for the four area school districts follows.

BARREN COUNTY

“Obviously, it’s not as simple when you have one number to look at and this year you've got one number,” said Benny Lile, director of Instruction and Technology for Barren County Schools, on Tuesday about the state test scores.

The indexed numbers show KCCT scores in three elementaries, Austin Tracy, Park City and Temple Hill have been declining over the past three years. Eastern Elementary’s progress is flat. Hiseville’s score is on track to reach 100 by 2014 and Red Cross Elementary has already reached 100. North Jackson Elementary is a new school and so is not included in this data.

Barren County Middle School is declining and Barren County High School is improving.

Lile said administrators are still reviewing the latest information released.

“We’re still trying to work through a lot of that data and look at it on an individual school basis, but from every indication it looks like the schools that were performing well have continued to perform well and several of the areas where we were looking for improvement, we got improvement. As always, there are going to be the places where you try to figure out maybe you didn’t do as good as you thought you would or maybe you think something went a little wrong,” he said.

Because of some discrepancies administrators have already found, especially at the middle school, Lile said Barren County will rely more heavily on the original data that shows more information about individual student performance.

“During this interim period, the Barren County School District will use the official data supplied by the Kentucky Department of Education to determine our current status. We will use the percentage of students in each performance category as a comparison to previous years. The subject area exclusions and other changes to the assessment program make comparisons to an overall index difficult at best. We will focus our efforts at the school level looking at individual student data and subject area trends. As always, every Barren County School will focus every day on providing extended, high level learning opportunities for all students,” he said in an e-mail Wednesday.

GLASGOW

Kathy Goff, superintendent of Glasgow Independent Schools, was pleased overall with the state’s decision to use the transition index to redefine results for KCCT scores during this period while Senate Bill 1 is in force.