Almost everyone bemoans overtesting in public schools. Yet standardized test results zoom to the top of the Kentucky.com charts as soon as they're released, as they were in recent weeks.
People are interested in how schools and districts score even if they think testing is overdone.
It's human nature to compare, whether in the classroom or on the gridiron. And parents and grandparents are understandably concerned.
There's something deeper at work, too.
Without measurable goals, it's impossible to say how much progress is being made. Metrics are the foundation of accountability.
With that in mind, Kentuckians should thank the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence for again raising our sights.
The citizens committee that did more than anyone in the 1980s to kindle education reform is now proposing that Kentucky aim to be among the top 20 states on key education measures by 2020.
Don't scoff. Reaching that goal would be a challenge, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility. Consider that Kentucky advanced from 43rd nationally in 1992 to 34th in 2005 on 11 key indicators compiled by the Kentucky Long-term Policy Research Center.
One measure in which Kentucky still lags is local and state spending per student in elementary and secondary schools, which is 80 percent of the national average.
Kentucky spent $7,827 in state and local funds per student compared with 20th-ranked Virginia's $9,958 in 2005-06.
Kentucky schools in the poorest districts receive just 83 percent of state and local funding per student available in districts with richer property tax bases.
Those funding disadvantages are something to consider when comparing Kentucky schools to one another and the state's performance nationally.
This was the first time that all Kentucky high school juniors were required to take the ACT, a college-entrance exam.
Because it was a first and because the national ACT average is based on results from high school seniors, there won't be any statewide basis for comparison until next year, when scores for Kentucky's current juniors are in.
Illinois, Michigan and Colorado are the only other states that mandate the ACT for all juniors. ACT does not release those scores.
When the Kentucky legislature mandated the ACT for all juniors, the hope was that early results would enable schools to fix weaknesses in teaching and curriculum and spark interest in higher education among kids who hadn't thought of college.
Worthy goals. Someone should figure out how to measure whether it's working well enough to justify the $1 million-plus cost to taxpayers.
