The head of the Prichard Committee, one of the state’s best known education advocacy groups, says additional state resources will likely be needed to fulfill federal education accountability requirements.
The Kentucky State Board of Education this week adopted new performance standards to determine how school districts will be identified as low performing. Prichard Committee Director Bridgitte Blom Ramsey says this will result in more schools in the Comprehensive Support and Improvement category. “Right now I think we have less than 20 schools in the state that fall into this category. So, moving to 50 or 5% of our lowest performing requires a lot of resources from the Department of Education and will require additional resources from communities as well,” said Blom Ramsey
If required improvements are not made over a three year period, state intervention occurs. Public schools across Kentucky in the Targeted or Comprehensive Support and Improvement category will also be listed later this month. Blom Ramsey says nearly one out of every two families with students can expect to see their school on that list.
