WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Fewer JCPS students meeting No Child Left Behind goals

Fewer JCPS students meeting No Child Left Behind goals

By Maira Ansari - bio | email
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - New numbers out show fewer Kentucky schools are meeting their goals under No Child Left Behind and the news isn't good for Jefferson County Public Schools. The numbers show that 60% of the state's 1,157 public schools met their educational goals last school year, down from nearly 73 percent the year before.

The Kentucky Core Content Tests are ones that Newburg Middle School students take every year.

"I dread it," said Keith English, a seventh grade student at Newburg Middle.

"The hard part about is over the summer we kinda forget all the stuff we learned before, so we didn't know all the stuff that was on the test," said Alyssa Banks, a fellow Newburg Middle student.

But overall, students at Newburg Middle School did well on the Kentucky Core Content Tests.

"We did well this year. We decreased novices in tested categories.  And at the same time we increased proficiency in every category," said Barbara Rogers, testing coordinator for Newburg Middle.

But that didn't happen in all JCPS schools. 37 of the district's 133 schools met their goals (28%), compared with 44% last year. The numbers are based on test results in math and reading.

"I'm not displeased with the results. I would like to see them be better. It's an encouragement for us to work harder" said Dr. Sheldon Berman, JCPS superintendent.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed into law in January 2002, schools are required to reach math and reading proficiency by 2014. The scores leave over a dozen Jefferson County Public Schools subject to sanctions, like student transfers, reorganization and a possible state takeover.

"It's an unreasonable goal to reach," Dr. Berman said. "By the time we hit 2014, most schools in Kentucky will not have made adequate yearly progress. It's just the nature of the formulas that are driving this."

If you want to see how your child's school performed on the Kentucky Core Content Tests, just clock on the highlighted link: Test Scores.

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