Kentucky’s newly redesigned accountability system has students at its center—ensuring they are well-rounded, transition ready, prepared with the knowledge, skills, and essential dispositions to successfully pursue the pathway of their choice after graduating from high school, with an emphasis in providing students with opportunities in career and technical education. Additionally, the system moves away from a culture of competition among schools and districts, and away from a mentality of compliance in favor of a mindset that promotes continuous improvement.

The new system includes an intentional focus on improving low-performing students and closing the achievement gap between student groups. This promotes increased efforts at providing needed supports and rich learning experiences to historically overlooked, underperforming student groups such as minority ethnicities, students with disabilities, and English Learners.

The system uses multiple academic and school quality measures, not a single test or indicator. An overall rating for each school and district will be determined by setting standards for low to high performance on seven indicators. Additional information will be publicly reported to provide a more complete (with academic and non-academic indicators) and transparent picture of education in Kentucky.

BRIGANCE Early Childhood Kindergarten Screen

• Grades: Kindergarten

• Purpose: Kentucky's Common Kindergarten Entry Screener, the BRIGANCE Early Childhood Kindergarten Screen III, provides a quick and accurate assessment of a child's development in five areas: Academic/Cognitive, Language, Development, Physical Development, Self-Help and Social-Emotional Development.

Kentucky Summative Assessment (KSA) Grades: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 10-11

• Subjects: Reading, Math, Science, Social Studies & Writing

• Purpose: These assessments are Kentucky’s measure of student proficiency and progress on the state content standards. These standards establish goals for what all students should know and be able to do in each grade. KSA are online assessments with only a small percentage of accommodated students taking it on paper. It goes beyond multiple-choice questions to include extended response and technology-enhanced items for students to demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving skills. 

College Readiness
ACT
Required
Meet benchmarks set by the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) to demonstrate college readiness.
Grade 11
Window: March

Access for ELLs
Required
Language Proficiency assessment for students who are English Learners (EL)
Window: January 1 – Mid-February

College/Career Readiness
These tests are optional for the state accountability system, but students on a career pathway may be required to participate in one or more of these assessments due to local policy.

Career Readiness
Career and Technical Education End-of-Program Assessments
Accountability and CTE

• View ACT Student

• View Kentucky Department of Education

• Resources for Parents:  The View Resources for Parents site includes a compilation of educational resources for state assessment programs, which are available from the Kentucky Department of Education, testing vendors and other educational sources. View Kentucky Department of Education Resources 

• View FAQ for State Assessments and Accountability

• A Family’s Guide to Understanding Student Assessment

• Testing Transparency