Special Report
Education

Kentucky Earns a C on State Report Card, Ranks 28th in Nation

December 30, 2016 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The 21st annual edition of Quality Counts—Under Construction: Building on ESSA’s K-12 Foundation—continues Education Week’s long-standing tradition of grading the states on their performance. A state’s overall grade is the average of its scores on the three separate indices tracked by the report.

State Overview

This year, Kentucky finishes 28th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with an overall score of 72.6 out of 100 points and a grade of C. The nation as a whole posts a grade of C.

Diving into the findings for the three graded indices, Kentucky earns a C in the Chance-for-Success category and ranks 34th. The average state earns a C-plus. In School Finance, Kentucky receives a C-minus and ranks 33rd. For the K-12 Achievement Index, last updated in the 2016 report, it finishes 16th with a grade of C-minus. The average state earns grades of C and C-minus in School Finance and K-12 Achievement, respectively. More details on results in these categories are reported below.

Chance for Success

The Education Week Research Center developed the Chance-for-Success Index to better understand the role that education plays in promoting positive outcomes across an individual’s lifetime. Based on an original state-by-state analysis, this index combines information from 13 indicators that span a person’s life from cradle to career. Those indicators fall into three sub-sections: early foundations, school years, and adult outcomes.

For early foundations, which examines factors that help children get off to a good start, Kentucky earns a grade of B-minus and ranks 36th. The average state posts a B-minus.

Kentucky receives a C for the school years, a sub-category focusing on metrics related to pre-k enrollment through postsecondary participation. It finishes 30th in the nation in this area. By comparison, the nation as a whole earns a C.

In the area of adult outcomes, based on postsecondary educational attainment and workforce indicators, Kentucky’s grade is a C-minus. It ranks 43rd in the nation. The national average is a C-plus.

School Finance

The school finance analysis examines two critical aspects of school spending. Of the eight indicators in this category, four assess school spending patterns, while the remaining metrics gauge equity in the distribution of funding across the districts within each state.

Across the spending indicators, Kentucky finishes with a letter grade of F compared with a national average of D. Kentucky ranks 37th in the nation in this area.

On the equity measures, Kentucky’s grade is an A-minus, which places it fourth in the national rankings. The nation as a whole earns a B.

K-12 Achievement

The K-12 Achievement Index examines 18 distinct achievement measures related to reading and math performance, high school graduation rates, and the results of Advanced Placement exams. The index assigns equal weight to current levels of performance and changes over time. It also places an emphasis on equity, by examining both poverty-based achievement gaps and progress in closing those gaps. The results of the K-12 Achievement Index reported here are from the Quality Counts 2016 report and have not been updated.

Indicators in the index can be broken down into three sub-categories: status, change, and equity.

Measures in the status sub-category evaluate a state’s current performance. Kentucky receives a D in this area and ranks 25th in the nation. The average state earns a D.

The change sub-category examines a state’s improvement over time. In this area, Kentucky posts a C-minus and ranks 13th. The national average is a D-plus.

In the equity sub-section, states are graded based on achievement gaps between low-income students and their more affluent peers. Kentucky’s grade on those poverty-gap measures stands at a B-plus. Nationally, it ranks 20th in this area. The nation as a whole receives a B.

Kentucky’s 2017 Highlights Report includes summarized results based on each of the nearly-40 indicators that make up Quality Counts’ overall grading rubric. Tables with the full results are available in PDF form below:

- Grading Summary
- Chance for Success
- School Finance
- K-12 Achievement

View more 2017 reports on states and the nation >

In March 2024, Education Week announced the end of the Quality Counts report after 25 years of serving as a comprehensive K-12 education scorecard. In response to new challenges and a shifting landscape, we are refocusing our efforts on research and analysis to better serve the K-12 community. For more information, please go here for the full context or learn more about the EdWeek Research Center.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
(Re)Focus on Dyslexia: Moving Beyond Diagnosis & Toward Transformation
Move beyond dyslexia diagnoses & focus on effective literacy instruction for ALL students. Join us to learn research-based strategies that benefit learners in PreK-8.
Content provided by EPS Learning
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Teaching Webinar
Cohesive Instruction, Connected Schools: Scale Excellence District-Wide with the Right Technology
Ensure all students receive high-quality instruction with a cohesive educational framework. Learn how to empower teachers and leverage technology.
Content provided by Instructure
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
How to Use Data to Combat Bullying and Enhance School Safety
Join our webinar to learn how data can help identify bullying, implement effective interventions, & foster student well-being.
Content provided by Panorama Education

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: September 18, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 28, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 14, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read