(Updated June 15, 2023)

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has just released a new report, “TEACHER PREP REVIEW, Strengthening Elementary Reading Instruction,” that is already starting to turn heads in Kentucky.

Overall, while there are some bright spots, the 15 Bluegrass State programs didn’t fare so well, as Table 1 shows.

Table 1

The table shows:

• Overall, just four schools got an “A” grade for their undergraduate teacher preparation programs: Campbellsville University, Morehead State University, Murray State University and University of Pikeville.

• One other school, Bellarmine University, got a “B” for its graduate level program but strangely got a “D” for its undergraduate program.

• However, 8 out of the 15 schools – more than half – got either a “D” or an “F”

Perhaps even more disturbing, as you can see in Table 2, are the trends in scoring for those colleges that had scores reported for both 2023 and in an earlier 2020 NCTQ report. Overall, as you can see in Table 2, the average of the scores for programs to prepare teachers of reading fell by a full grade level. However, some situations are much worse.

Table 2

• There are no “B” scores for 2023 and all of the “C” and “D” scores represent declines in performance from 2020. But it gets worse.

• One of the most disturbing situations in this table is the University of Kentucky trend. UK fell from an “A” in 2020 to just a “D” in 2023 for its undergraduate teacher preparation for reading instruction.

• The only school to decline more was Eastern Kentucky University with a negative sweep all the way from an “A” in 2020 to an “F” in 2023.

• Other schools now rated with an “F” have either remained in this unsatisfactory position since 2020 or lost ground since that earlier year’s report. Of special note in this category is the University of Louisville, where the graduate program has consistently scored “F” in both 2020 and 2023.

• The lone bright spot is Campbellsville, Morehead, Murray State and Pikeville either maintained or increased their score to an “A” in 2023.

Certainly, this new information is dramatic enough that attention from both the legislature and the Kentucky Board of Education is required. Why do some schools perform so well while what are supposed to be Kentucky’s leading research institutions, UK and U of L, clearly are faltering?

In particular, how did UK’s College of Education take such a big, and negative, turn? Keep in mind, the now fired Collaborative Center for Literacy Development was housed at UK, and leadership of that effort included UK school of education personnel. The Collaborative Center was supposed to be finding research to help guide better reading instruction in the commonwealth. How did UK’s own teacher preparation program decay right under the center’s nose? There also was a change in leadership at the UK College of Education. Could that somehow be related?

Someone needs to find out – soon.

Because while Kentucky has been foundering in reading, other states are getting on the ball about teaching reading – even Mississippi. And, the results show it.

For more on the reading problems (and a few successes) in Kentucky:

 What Milton Wright knew about reading instruction, but lots of teachers apparently don’t (Bluegrass Institute Policy Point)

Reading proficiency rates rising in some Appalachian schools (Bluegrass Institute Policy Point)

 Flunking: Louisville, other Kentucky universities get D's and F's on how to teach reading (Courier-Journal Article – Subscription)

After Courier Journal investigation, lawmakers vote to ax contract with literacy center (May be available without paywall)

 (Added on June 15, 2023)

Questions have been raised about comparing results from the new 2023 report on reading preparation to the earlier, 2020 report. The problem is that the standards and procedures used to create the 2023 grading are different from those used in 2020. The 2023 report discusses this briefly on Page 35, saying:

These program scores should not be compared to prior editions of the NCTQ reading standard. The revised 2023 Reading Foundations standard has changed in several ways that affect scoring based on the results of 18 months of stakeholder engagement including an expert panel, an open comment period, and a technical advisory group.

Never the less, I think some of the information in Table 2 above warrants added attention.

To begin, as discussed earlier, Table 2 shows the overall average difference in the grades awarded in 2020 compared to 2023 essentially dropped by a full letter grade (0.92 to be exact). Perhaps schools that only dropped a single letter grade in the Table 2 comparison aren’t performing much differently than they were in 2020.

However, several schools, Northern Kentucky University, The University of Kentucky, and Eastern Kentucky University, fell notably more than that average decline. UK and Eastern are the most concerning, as they saw declines of 3 and 4 grade levels, respectively. I think these large changes likely exceed what can be explained by the added standards used to grade the 2023 report and these two programs warrant attention from the legislature, Kentucky Board of Education, and the Educational Professional Standards Board.