After 10 Years, Landmark Ky. Law Yielding Dividends

By Bess Keller

Ten years along, Kentucky’s singularly ambitious overhaul of its K-12 schools has shown solid, if not yet adequate, results for students, says a report from a statewide citizens’ group.

The Prichard Committee for Educational Excellence, based in Lexington, found plenty of evidence that Kentucky headed down the right road with its landmark 1990 legislation for school improvement. But reform has been slow to penetrate the classroom, leaving too many children, especially poor ones, behind in their achievement, the report asserts.

"When you put all the improvements in one spot we’ve made a lot more progress than we thought we had," said Robert F. Sexton, the group’s executive director. "There are strong gains in achievement, particularly at the elementary level—but we...