Kentucky Core Academic Standards Fact Sheet
Kentucky Core Academic Standards Fact Sheet
Summary Kentucky’s Core Academic Standards (KCAS) and aligned assessments will ensure students graduate high school ready for college and/or career with the core academic knowledge and deeper learning skills – collaboration, communication, critical-thinking needed to help Kentucky businesses continue to innovate and compete in the global economy. The KCAS in English language arts and mathematics are learning objectives for students as they matriculate through Kentucky’s K-12 education system. The KCAS are not curricula. Kentucky is developing and implementing the following systems and tools that are aligned to the KCAS: assessment system, curricula, instructional materials, accountability system, teacher and leader professional development, and other individual school supports. The English language arts component of KCAS includes literacy in history/social studies, science, and other technical subjects. The KCAS does not tell educators how to teach, rather, the aligned assessments will help teachers improve instruction by helping to identify students’ knowledge and skills and developing appropriate strategies to improve academic outcomes. Implementation Timeline Kentucky voluntarily adopted its more rigorous standards in English language arts and mathematics with the approval from the State Board of Education in June 2010. The Kentucky General Assembly also approved adoption. Educators incorporated KCCS into their classroom activities during school year 2011-2012. Kentucky started to assess students with the new assessment system aligned to KCAS during school year 2011-2012. The state continues to evaluate assessment results and classroom academic outcomes to provide appropriate supports to local school districts, schools, and educators. Improve Current Academic Outcomes The KCAS are based on evidence-based research and internationally-benchmarked so students, parents, and businesses know that students are competing against the world’s best students from the highest academically-achieving countries like Finland, China, and South Korea. The KCAS will help improve Kentucky’s current academic outcomes: o 30 percent of Kentucky’s high school freshmen do not graduate on time; o According to the Nation’s Report Card for Kentucky, 69 percent of 8th graders are below grade level in math and 65 percent of 4th graders are below grade level in reading; o Only 17 percent of Kentucky’s 2012 high school graduates taking the ACT college admissions test met college readiness benchmarks in the four core areas tested – English, math, reading, and science. Students were least prepared in science; and
o Only 61 percent of high school graduates entering college in May 2011 were considered ready, and almost 40 percent require remedial education courses. Strengthen Businesses with Future High-Quality Workforce The KCAS will provide students with the necessary skills to help businesses continue to compete in the global economy. These skills include critical thinking, collaboration, and communication skills. A 2010 survey of 2,000 executives conducted by the American Management Association reported that 9 out of 10 executives indicated these soft skills are important to business expansion, but less than half rated their employees as above average in those skills. The KCAS will additional help students be prepared for post-secondary education and/or training upon high school graduation. Experts project 617,000 job vacancies in Kentucky between 2008 and 2018 with 54 percent of those jobs requiring some type of post-secondary education or training. The Manufacturers Institute reported in late 2011 that 67 percent of manufacturers has a moderate to sever shortage of available, qualified workers. The KCAS will help strengthen Kentucky businesses because they will be able to compete with a highly-skilled workforce in the future.
