School District Performance in Kentucky (1993-2001): Do Teaching and Financial Resources Moderate the Negative Effects of Poverty?

An updated study of Kentucky school district performance since the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA) added 4 years of accountability data; compared the performance of various districts; and explored district financial and teaching resources and their impacts on performance. After the initial years of change implementation, school districts became relatively stable in financing, teaching resources, and performance. The average yearly gain of 11 percent in accountability scores included a substantial 35 percent increase in 1999 when the accountability system changed. Without this significant system change and later adjustments to scores in 2001, the overall improvement in district performance was much more uneven and less substantial than the 11 percent average annual increase implies. The weakest-performing districts were slowly closing the performance gap with the strongest-performing districts. Since implementation of KERA, local education revenue as a proportion of total education revenue slowly increased, while state education revenue as a proportion of total education revenue decreased. The distribution of local revenue per pupil, although improved, remained inequitable, while total revenue per pupil was reasonably equitably distributed. Multivariate models show that poverty and disadvantage were strong predictors of performance, while measures of resources were not. Resource equity and adequacy did not appear to reduce the negative effects of poverty on performance. There were several significant differences in rates of transition to college and secondary school dropout rates between Appalachian and non-Appalachian districts, but not between rural and urban districts. However, none of these groupings impacted accountability scores in multivariate models from 1993 through 2001. Appendices present school district performance data. (TD)