There is good news about Persistently Low-Achieving Schools, too

Earlier identified schools are making progress

While there is disappointing news concerning the third group of schools to be identified as Persistently Low-Achieving (PLA) in Kentucky, there is good news about the schools in two earlier identified groups. Those earlier groups are known as School Improvement Grant (SIG) “Cohort 1” and “Cohort 2.”

In every single case, schools in the first two SIG cohorts made at least a little progress in their averaged math and reading proficiency rates between 2010 and 2011. In fact, the vast majority improved their performance by double-digit amounts. Thus, there may indeed be value to the School Improvement Grant program that requires major shakeups in schools identified as PLA.

These schools still have a long way to go, but at least they have started the journey, which is quite opposite the 2010 to 2011 trend for the new group of 19 schools just named to Cohort 3. The majority of the Cohort 3 schools actually lost ground between 2010 and 2011 as I discussed earlier.

PLAs Cohort 1 in 2011

PLAs Cohort 2 in 2011

Data Source for both Tables: Kentucky Department of Education News Release 11-089