This brief is part of a four-part series examining the past, present, and future of modern school accountability systems. With the dual forces of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national call to action on racial inequity, the question of how we should measure and hold schools accountable for the impact they have on students is more urgent than ever.…

Over the past several decades, Kentucky's efforts to build equity, adequacy, and excellence in public education have produced substantial results. The state has moved closer to delivering for all children, but it has not completed the effort. Instead, having set itself a 2014 deadline to deliver proficiency for all, despite progress, Kentucky is…

Across the United States the state education agency (SEA) is a "sleeping giant" with untapped potential to build instructional capacity in the nation's 110,000 public schools. The SEA is positioned to build the system-wide synergy requisite to achieve the unprecedented school-level student outcomes mandated by the No Child Left Behind…

Following the Kentucky Supreme Court's 1989 ruling that declared the state's common school system unconstitutional, lawyers and educators sued the state legislature for failure to provide an efficient school system. The role of litigation and lawyers in Kentucky education reform is examined in this paper. Part 1 describes how a group of lawyers…

This paper addresses misconceptions about the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Advocates claim that there has never been a statewide school reform of KERA's significance and magnitude. However, Kentucky legislators, both in 1909 and in the mid-1950s, passed governance and finance reforms considered to be as revolutionary as those of KERA. A…

Assessment is authentic when it occurs continually in the context of the classroom environment and reflects actual learning experiences. This paper discusses some of the political issues involved in the use of statewide performance assessment. The paper first defines portfolios, performance events, and other forms of alternative assessment. It…

In response to a state supreme court decision that the state's system of schooling was unconstitutional, the Kentucky legislature passed the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990. In December, 2000, a Louisville conference brought together educators, policymakers, and researchers to discuss research findings and lessons learned during 10 years of…

This research summary says school-based management increases political activity in schools, but is time-consuming; many teachers evade SBM; less actively participating parents risk co-option by educators; and schools will not commit necessary resources. Academic achievement is not necessarily improved, and organizational implementation obstacles…

Describes the origins, development, and significant characteristics of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990. Discusses the importance of outcome-based assessment in the program and presents eight "valued outcomes" that will be assessed in social studies. (CFR)

Opposition to outcome-based education (OBE) has become a rallying cry for a number of organized groups that oppose state-education reform initiatives around the country. Such opposition has arisen recently in Kentucky among groups that object to many components of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). This paper explores the…

Kentucky has a long history of educational problems and of reform efforts that failed because of state neglect. These problems, which deeply affect rural economic development and are closely tied to patterns of unequal development, have become more troublesome as world markets have changed. The roots of these problems are planted in the state's…

A case study of an economically distressed rural Kentucky school district examined the theory that educational policy can enable community participation and that participation can enable policy implementation by affecting school governance and expanding the services provided. Primary data were gathered via interviews with four parent participants,…

In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court declared that the state's public school system was unconstitutional and ordered the Kentucky legislature to create a new system of public education. The Kentucky General Assembly then enacted the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). This book sets forth the policy assumptions underlying KERA and…

This paper discusses the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) and its impact on school facilities planning and community involvement in related decision making. Since 1900, the pattern of rural school reform, nationally and in Kentucky, has been one of increased state and federal control, with cost effectiveness and equity the primary criteria in…