ASHLAND —
The good news is that Kentucky’s 8th- and 10th-graders showed improvement on tests measuring their readiness for college, albeit only slightly.
The bad news is that unless they showed marked improvements in their test scores a high percentage of these eighth-graders and high school sophomores are going to have to take — and pass — non-credit remedial classes before they can enroll in college courses that will earn credit toward graduation. That is certain to increase both the cost and the amount of time it will take for them to earn a college degree.
The Kentucky Department of Education on Tuesday released the scores for the EXPLORE and PLAN tests taken in 2011 by tens of thousands of public school students in the state. The two tests measure English, math, reading and science. Between 2010 and 2011, scores either remained the same or showed incremental increases, the department’s figures show.
The figures show at least 60 percent of the 8th and 10th graders met goals in English — and that’s the good news. While their scores indicate that 40 percent of the students — or two out of every five — will have to take remedial classes in English in college, and even higher percentage will have to take remedial classes in math, reading and science.
Both tests were developed by ACT Inc., the company whose college entrance exam is taken by millions of high school students across the country, including Kentucky. Their ACT scores ultimately will decide which students will have to pass a remedial class before they can enroll in a college class for credit.
The remedial classes that teach what the students should have learned in high school have become a real cash cow for colleges, particularly the state’s community and technical colleges.
Since students pay the same tuition for those non-credit classes as they do other classes. the remedial classes raise needed revenue for the colleges. Since enrollment at the community and technical college is open to all high school graduates in the state, the two-year colleges attract more low-performing students than the regional universities that can limit enrollment. However, while the remedial classes help the schools play the bills, they do little to improve graduation rates, as many remedial students drop out before earning a degree or certificate.
However, the real message from the latest round of EXPLORE and PLAN tests is that the state’s high schools must do a much better job of preparing young people for college and the workforce. That means the test scores must improve by a lot. Slight improvements are not acceptable.
Editorials
Scores too low
Tests show many high school students not ready for college
- Editorials
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On the increase
It’s certainly good news that a new report by Kentucky’s Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet has found the economic impact of tourism grew by 5.2 percent in eastern Kentucky in 2012, outpacing the overall statewide growth rate. However, we would be more excited bout the report if we had more confidence in how tourism spending is calculated by state government.
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After the crash
Like thousands of other Kentuckians, we remember well May 14, 1988, when a drunken driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton struck a church bus returning home to Radcliff after day at King’s Island, causing one of he most deadly vehicle accidents in this nation’s history. The horrific crash killed 27, many of them teenagers, and injured 34 others.
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High price tage
Much has been said and written about the rapid and dramatic decline of air passenger service at the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport. Much less has been said and written about the tremendous economic impact the loss of air service has had on the entire region.
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Return of pencils
It is a question asked by all of us whose lives and jobs are dependent on computers with email and Internet access, fax machines, cellphones and other other electronic essentials of this modern age: What do you do when the electronic devices fail?
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Banned
If you live in Boyd and Lawrence counties and are thinking of burning trash, wood, leaves or other debris outdoors, here’s a word of advice: Don’t even think about lighting that match. If you do, it could cost you dearly.
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Few citations
When the 2011 Kentucky General Assembly approved a bill banning texting while driving and cellphone use for drivers younger than 18, there was widespread public support for both restrictions.
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Booming times
Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergran Grimes has launched a statewide tour to gauge public support for allowing more voters to cast their ballots before Election Day. While other states have enacted laws to allow early voting, the biggest obstacle to the proposal in Kentucky is the state’s history of widespread voter fraud.
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Step backward
We agree with Larry Brown, the lone member of the Ashland Board of City Commissioners to oppose a motion requesting City Attorney Richard “Sonny” Martin to draft an ordinance changing the time for all commission meetings to noon
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Booming times
While coal mining in eastern Kentucky has declined sharply in the last year, not all the economic news in the state is bleak.
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Chance to speak
It is unlikely public meetings the Kentucky Public Service Commission has scheduled for May 14 in Louisa and May 15 in Whitesburg and Hazard will have any impact on Kentucky Power Co.’s plans to retire at least one of the two generators at the Big Sandy Power Plant near Louisa in 2013. But it may be the last chance for this region’s elected leasers, civic and economic development leaders and ordinary citizens to express their concerns about the tremendous economic impact the closing or downsizing of the coal-fired plant will have on the economy, not just of Louisa and Lawrence County, but of the entire region.
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