Schools cited as "working" by state are below average
on key measures, says state watchdog group

Kentucky schools designated as "High Schools that Work" rank below average in terms of ACT scores and drop out rates, according to a state educational watchdog group. 

"If our state's educational policymakers can't distinguish between mediocre schools and good schools, then Kentucky has a serious problem," said Martin Cothran, spokesman for the Family Foundation of Kentucky. "The bottom line is that we are telling other Kentucky schools to be like these schools, which are below average schools according to key measures. This is very disturbing, and it is one more indication that our own state school officials need to be held more accountable to parents."

Cothran was reacting to recent data from Kentucky education researcher Richard Innes.  Innes’ new data shows Kentucky schools in the "High Schools that Work" program have a year 2002 average composite ACT score of only 19.3. The national average composite ACT score is 20.1.  The  overall average for Kentucky is 20.0, and similar Kentucky public high schools had an ACT average of 19.9.  Therefore, “High Schools that Work” score 0.8 points lower than the national average, 0.7 points lower than the Kentucky average for all schools, and more than half a point below comparable public schools in the state.

The Kentucky Department of Education recently claimed the “High Schools That Work” program is “nationally acclaimed” for “academic achievement gains.”  But, if Kentucky’s participants are any example, those claims are subject to question. The High Schools that Work program is a national program sponsored by the Southern Regional Education Board in which over 1,100 schools in 27 states participate.  It is designed to promote "functional, hands-on learning in academic courses," in much the same way that programs under the Kentucky Education Reform Act have operated.  It also stresses a greater level of vocational training in high schools.

The ACT isn’t the only questionable performance indicator for these schools.  Kentucky “High Schools That Work” had an average dropout rate of 4.4 in 2001.  The dropout rate for all comparable schools in Kentucky is 0.26 points lower.

One school designated a school "that works" was Iroquois high school in Jefferson County.  This school had a dismal composite ACT score of 15.4 in 2002, 4.7 points below the national average of 20.1.  The school’s most recently reported dropout rate was a staggeringly high 11.52 percent.  When accountability reporting started in 1993, the school’s dropout rate was 10.42, and it had an ACT score of 17.3. 

"We seem to be telling parents at underperforming schools around this state that their schools are exemplary schools?" asked Cothran. "Not only is that inaccurate, it's deceptive."

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The Family Foundation of Kentucky is a nonprofit educational organization dealing with issues affecting Kentucky families.