July 21, 2006
The Honorable Gene Wilhoit
Commissioner
Kentucky Department of Education
500 Mero Street
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Dear Commissioner Wilhoit:
I am writing in response to Kentucky's request to amend its State accountability plan under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Following our discussions with your staff, the changes that are aligned with NCLB are now included in an amended State accountability plan that Kentucky submitted to the Department on July 13, 2006. A summary of the approved amendments is attached to this letter. I am pleased to fully approve Kentucky's amended plan, which we will post on the Department's website.
If, over time, Kentucky makes changes to the accountability plan that has been approved, Kentucky must submit information about those changes to the Department for review and approval, as required by section 1111(f)(2) of Title I. Please note that approval of Kentucky's accountability plan is not also an approval of Kentucky's standards and assessment system. Please also be aware that approval of Kentucky's accountability plan for Title I, including the amendments approved above, does not indicate that the plan complies with Federal civil rights requirements, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
I am confident that Kentucky will continue to advance its efforts to hold schools and school districts accountable for the achievement of all students. If you need any additional assistance to implement the standards, assessments and accountability provisions of NCLB, please do not hesitate to contact Abigail Potts (abigail.potts@ed.gov) or David Harmon (david.harmon@ed.gov) of my staff.
Sincerely,
Henry L. Johnson
Enclosure
cc: Governor Ernie Fletcher
Amendments to the Kentucky Accountability Plan
This attachment is a summary of the amendments. For complete details, please refer to the Kentucky accountability plan on the Department's website: www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html.
Report Cards (Element 1.5)
Revision: Kentucky will include on district and State report cards information on student achievement of all tested students at each performance level on the State academic assessments.
Uniform Averaging (Element 3.2)
Revision: Kentucky will average assessment data from the 2005-06 school year with data from the 2004-05 school year for this year's adequate yearly progress (AYP) calculations. Kentucky will make AYP determinations using only the results from the grade-span assessments administered in both 2004-05 and 2005-06 until Kentucky has administered assessments in grades 3-8 and high school for the two years needed to average data. Kentucky will report data resulting from assessments in grades 3-8 and high school on the State and district report cards. Beginning in 2006-07, Kentucky must use all grades assessed in AYP calculations.
Annual Assessments (Element 9.1)
Revision: Kentucky updated the process for setting standards on the new augmented norm-referenced assessments administered in 2006.
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