2017 KPREP Results: Slow but fairly steady progress for students with disabilities

Post by Susan Perkins Weston

Assessment results released in late September show results students for with disabilities improving in nearly all subjects and moving forward at a pace that reduced gaps in reading at all three levels, math in elementary and middle school, social studies in elementary school, and science in high school. Overall, the pattern shows movement in the right direction, though at a slower pace than we should want for a group that has such consistently low results overall.

At the elementary level, results for students with identified disabilities:

• Improved in all subjects
• Improved enough to narrow gaps in reading, mathematics, and social studies
• Improved, though by less than results for their classmates in writing and language mechanics

At the middle school level, results for students with identified disabilities:

• Improved in all subjects
• Improved enough to narrow gaps in reading and mathematics
• Improved, though by less than results for their classmates in social studies and language mechanics

At the high school level, results for students with identified disabilities:

• Improved enough to narrow gaps in reading and science
• Improved, though by less than results for their classmates in writing
• Declined in mathematics and social studies, resulting in narrowed gaps because results for their classmates declined more rapidly

Source note: The results shown above for students with identified Disabilities were provided by the Kentucky Department of Education. In spite of the requirements of KRS 158.649, the Department has not published results for students who do not have identified disabilities. Instead, the results shown for that group reflect calculations I made using the information the Department has released.