Kentucky’s top education official said he was not surprised by the state’s results in this year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, which were released on Monday.
Billed as the Nation’s Report Card, the assessment conducted by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Educational Statistics found that 43 percent of Kentucky’s eighth graders had “below basic” achievement in mathematics and just 4 percent earned an “advanced,” or highest, rating.
More than a third, 35 percent, received basic scores, defined as “partial mastery of the knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work in a grade and subject,” and just 17 percent earned proficient scores….