Legislative Research Commission Office Of Education Accountability Compendium Of State Education Rankings 2015 Research Report No. 413 Prepared By Karen M. Timmel; Gerald W. Hoppmann; Brenda Landy; Albert Alexander; Cassiopia Blausey; Deborah Nelson, PhD; and Sabrina Olds Compendium Of State Education Rankings 2015 Project Staff Karen M. Timmel, Acting Director Gerald W. Hoppmann, Research Manager Brenda Landy Albert Alexander Cassiopia Blausey Deborah Nelson, PhD Sabrina Olds Research Report No. 413 Legislative Research Commission Frankfort, Kentucky lrc.ky.gov Accepted September 15, 2015, by the Education Assessment and Accountability Review Subcommittee Paid for with state funds. Available in alternative format by request. Legislative Research Commission Foreword Office Of Education Accountability Foreword In December 2014, the Education Assessment and Accountability Review Subcommittee approved the 2015 research agenda for the Office of Education Accountability, which included this edition of the Compendium Of State Education Rankings. This publication is intended to offer legislators and the public a convenient source of information about how Kentucky compares to other states on key public elementary and secondary education indicators. Compendiums are updated and issued biennially. David A. Byerman Director Legislative Research Commission Frankfort, Kentucky October 2015 i Legislative Research Commission Contents Office Of Education Accountability Contents Summary ..........................................................................................................................................v Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 Peer States ......................................................................................................................1 Organization Of The Compendium ...............................................................................1 Use Of The State Rankings ............................................................................................2 Chapter 2: Student Demographics ...................................................................................................3 Child Poverty .................................................................................................................3 Family Income ...............................................................................................................4 Racial Diversity Of Students .........................................................................................6 Chapter 3: Student Services .............................................................................................................9 English Learner Services ...............................................................................................9 Individualized Education Programs .............................................................................10 National School Lunch Program ..................................................................................11 Chapter 4: Student Achievement ...................................................................................................13 National Assessment Of Educational Progress ............................................................13 ACT..............................................................................................................................16 Advanced Placement Exams ........................................................................................18 Graduation Rates ..........................................................................................................20 Chapter 5: School And District Characteristics .............................................................................23 Rural School Enrollment ..............................................................................................23 Student/Teacher Ratio ..................................................................................................24 Student/Staff Ratios .....................................................................................................25 Chapter 6: Fiscal Matters ...............................................................................................................29 Revenue........................................................................................................................29 Current Expenditures ...................................................................................................33 Classroom Teacher Salaries .........................................................................................35 Appendix A: 10-Year Financial Trends For Kentucky, Bordering States, And US ....................37 Endnotes…….. ...............................................................................................................................47 List of Tables 2.1 Children Living Below Federal Poverty Line, 1999, 2009, 2011, And 2013 ......................4 2.2 Median Family Income In Nominal Dollars, 1999, 2009, 2011, And 2013 ........................5 2.3 Racial Composition Of Students, 2000, 2009, 2011, And 2013 ..........................................6 3.1 Students Receiving English Learner Services, 2002, 2009, 2011, And 2013 ...................10 3.2 Students With Individualized Education Programs, 2002, 2009, 2011, And 2013 ...........11 iii Contents Legislative Research Commission Office Of Education Accountability 3.3 Percentage Of Students Eligible For Free Or Reduced-Price Lunch In The National School Lunch Program, 2002, 2009, 2011, And 2013 .......................................................12 4.1 National Assessment Of Educational Progress, Mathematics, 2003, 2009, 2011, And 2013 ............................................................................................................................14 4.2 National Assessment Of Educational Progress, Reading, 2003, 2009, 2011, And 2013 ...15 4.3 ACT Participation Rates, 2009, 2012, 2013, And 2014 ....................................................16 4.4 Average ACT Scores For States With 100 Percent Participation, 2012 And 2014 ...........17 4.5 Advanced Placement Exams For Graduating Classes Of 2002, 2011, 2012, And 2013 ...19 4.6 Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate, 2013 ............................................................................21 4.7 Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate, 2002, 2008, 2010, And 2012 ................................22 5.1 Students Enrolled In Rural Schools, 2004, 2009, 2011, And 2013……………………...23 5.2 Student/Teacher Ratio, 2002, 2009, 2011, And 2013……………………………………24 5.3 Student/Staff Ratios, 2002, 2009, 2011, And 2013……………………………………...26 6.1 Revenue Per Pupil In Nominal Dollars, 2002, 2010, And 2012 ........................................30 6.2 Percentages Of Revenue By Source, 2002, 2010, And 2012 .............................................32 6.3 Current Expenditures Per Pupil, Nominal Dollars, 2002, 2010, And 2012 .......................34 6.4 Instruction Expenditures As A Percentage Of Current Spending, 2002, 2010, And 2012 ............................................................................................................................35 6.5 Average Classroom Teacher Salary, 2002, 2009, 2011, and 2013 ....................................36 iv Legislative Research Commission Summary Office Of Education Accountability Summary This compendium of state education rankings is intended as a reference tool comparing Kentucky’s public education indicators to those of the nation and selected peer states. While rankings are based on all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the data presented focus on Southern Regional Education Board member states and other states adjacent to Kentucky. Rankings should be used with caution. A ranking on one measure is affected by state differences in other measures, such as student characteristics and costs of living. It is essential to examine the measures on which a set of rankings is based because rankings do not indicate how far apart states are from each other. When many states cluster closely together on a measure, small fluctuations can cause big changes in rankings. Demographics With more than one-fourth of students living below the poverty level in 2013, Kentucky’s public school student poverty rate was the 12th highest in the nation. The median family income was one of the lowest in the nation. Although minorities made up a gradually increasing percentage of students, Kentucky continued to have a lower percentage of minorities than the nation; in 2013, 80 percent of students were white, compared to 51 percent for the nation. Although the number of Hispanic students increased, they still made up less than 5 percent of students in 2013; blacks consistently made up approximately 11 percent of the student population. Student Services Between 2002 and 2013, the percentage of students receiving English learner services grew from just less than 1 percent to almost 3 percent; the national rate in 2013 was almost 9 percent. Approximately half of Kentucky students came from families whose incomes made them eligible for lunch subsidies; this rate was higher than that of the nation, but the gap narrowed over time, as eligibility increased more rapidly for the US than for Kentucky. The percentage of students with disabilities who required individualized education programs was 14.2 percent, compared to a national rate