Kentucky Tests Tied to Tougher Standards

Kentucky lawmakers will overhaul its K-12 assessment system, putting the Bluegrass State in the spotlight on testing issues—and possibly making it a national leader on the issue once again.

The new system will create a series of tests aligned to new standards that are to be internationally benchmarked and designed to ensure students are prepared to enter the workforce or go to college.

It also will add a norm-referenced test to give parents and policymakers a measure of how individual students are performing against the national average. And it will drop the state’s writing portfolio, heeding complaints from educators and parents that the portfolio took too much...