With new state testing standards in place, Northern Kentucky schools boosted their scores across the board last year.

        Halfway through a new, two-year testing cycle, scores are up at 17 of the 18 school districts in Boone, Campbell, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton and Pendleton counties, according to results released Tuesday.

        Three-fourths of Northern Kentucky's 96 schools made improvements on the 2001 Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, or CATS. And two-thirds scored above state averages, with four districts ranking in the Top 10.

        “That just means the bar's got to go higher,” said Boone County Superintendent Bryan Blavatt, whose district made gains at 15 of its 18 schools. “We're going to continue to strive to be the best, not only in Kentucky, but we also want to be competitive with anyone in the country.”

        This year's scores are the first half of a two-year total that will determine whether schools get monetary rewards or state assistance. Schools are judged on their progress, not their score. So even high-scoring schools have to make improvement from year to year to get rewards.

        The CATS scores are a combination of a state test, a national test, writing portfolios and other success indicators such as attendance, retention and drop-out rates.

        The state's goal is for every school to reach 100 on the 140-point testing scale by 2014. Schools received growth charts in August that plotted the progress needed each year to reach that goal in 2014.

        That goal has forced schools to focus on improvement and find new ways to educate students, said Campbell County Schools Superintendent Roger Brady.

        “The state has thrown down the gauntlet,” he said. “We all feel the pressure. It causes of a lot of creativity, and it's pushing all of us to do the things that we're doing better.

        “We're all in education focused and driven to get to proficiency. You can't reach that benchmark unless you embrace every child.”

        On average, scores for all of Kentucky's elementary, middle and high schools went up this year from 2000. Elementary schools scored the highest with an average of 70.9, followed by middle schools at 67.8 and high schools at 66.9.

        Region 4, a 13-county district that stretches from Northern Kentucky to Spencer County, posted an average of 73.5 for elementary schools, 71.2 for middle schools and 70.6 for high schools.

        The state test — the Kentucky Core Content Test — carries the most weight in the CATS system.

        Students in grades 4-5, 7-8 and 10-12 took the test in April. Students are tested through a mix of multiple choice and essay questions on reading, writing, math, science, social studies, arts/humanities and practical living/vocational studies.

        Elementary and middle school students scored highest in reading, while high schools' highest marks were in practical living and vocational studies. The lowest scores were in arts and humanities for elementary and high schools and in math for middle schools.

        In Northern Kentucky, Johnson Elementary in Fort Thomas took top honors for the third year in a row, although its score slipped a fraction of a point. Fort Thomas Independent Schools also had the second highest district score in the state, trailing Anchorage Independent Schools in Jefferson County.

        Walton-Verona, Beechwood and Ludlow independent schools also ranked in the state's top 10.

        Covington Independent Schools, despite districtwide gains this year, posted the second lowest score in the state, above Providence Independent Schools in Webster County.

        Silver Grove Independent Schools, which leaped more than 10 points in 2000, was the only Northern Kentucky district to lose ground this year.

        These marks are the first to use new state scoring standards.

        The state redesigned its testing system in 1998. For the first two years of the new system while more than 1,600 Kentucky teachers worked to develop new standards, students' tests were temporarily scored with the old standards.

        However, combining the new test and old standards was much like “taking the ACT but using the SAT scoring matrix,” said Lisa Gross, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education.

        So after the Kentucky Board of Education adopted the new standards in June, the state recalculated schools' 1999 and 2000 scores using the new scoring guides.

        After that recalculation, scores for all 176 school districts went up, some by nearly 20 percent. However, state officials said the new standards did not inflate scores.

        “When you change the test, you have to change the standards,” said Bob Sexton, executive director of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, an education advocacy organization based in Lexington. “The schools are still judged on their improvement compared to themselves. Many schools have a long way to go even with this change.”

        Either way, some schools say the frequent changes to the testing system will hurt long-term progress.

        “All those changes make it almost impossible to really know what the kids know,” said Beechwood Superintendent Fred Bassett.

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