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During the deliberations on the pending legislative changes to our CATS assessments, there has been a lot of discussion that our mathematics curriculum has been a “mile wide, and an inch deep.” As a consequence, students have too much ground to cover and never develop mastery in the most important math areas like fundamental arithmetic operations and fractions.

Now, a new study reported by Education Week (Subscription May be Required) indicates that similar problems may impact science instruction in public schools, as well.

The problem is apparently becoming well-known. Education Week reports that the Advanced Placement exams in science are undergoing revision because these tests have been too broad and shallow in coverage, as well.

The first revised AP test will be in biology. It will be interesting to see how scores on this assessment shift nationally and here in Kentucky.

Fortunately, the current version of the bill to change CATS requires a thorough review and update for all of Kentucky’s education standards. Based on the latest research and the trends in AP science exams, it looks like the timing of this standards update could not be better.

The Kentucky House Education Committee met in an extra, short-notice session today to consider the latest version of the bill to replace the CATS assessment with a more modern and useful product.

Representative Jody Richards raised about the only objections, which concern the removal of writing portfolios from the accountability system. Richards asserted this will deemphasize writing in the commonwealth. He leveled a bet that writing in Kentucky ten years hence will be poorer because of the change.

Several other legislators in the room immediately told Richards they would take him up on his bet. It was apparent that nearly all the legislators agree that other provisions in the bill make it clear that writing remains important. In fact, writing will continue to be evaluated with such things as on-demand writing tests during assessment testing and a new audit program that will insure schools continue to use writing portfolios in the instructional program.

At the end of the meeting, all committee members in attendance, including Richards, voted to send the measure forward for full House approval.

A summary of the present version of Senate Bill 1 as the House Education Committee considered it today is in a Legislative Research Commission document available here.

Next steps are for the full House to consider and approve this version and then forward it to the Kentucky Senate for approval. Most likely, resolution of any disagreements between the House and Senate on this bill will be carried out in consent committee meetings over the next two days.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday on a silly survey purporting to rank the fifty states according to citizen happiness. Big-government types will be delighted to find out Kentucky ranked 49th, just ahead of West Virginia.

The nanny state solution to the state’s misery problem might be to tax people who are sad, if you follow the logic of Frankfort’s tobacco tax hikers, thus forcing them to be happy. On the other hand, the alcohol tax raisers would counter that taxing sadness wouldn’t stop one single person from being sad, but that we should do it anyway for the children. And then those who advocate selling more bonds and raiding public pensions each year to “balance” the budget will coo softly that they can’t be bothered to explain their reasoning because it is so complicated and would just upset us even more.

This hasn’t been a good year for government transparency.

While President Barack Obama was showing us he didn’t really mean it when he said the public would be given five days to view and comment on bills before he signed them, Kentucky’s House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Budget Chairman Rick Rand have bottled up a bill that would give just one day for us to view revenue and spending bills.

What are these guys afraid of?

Eight months into the state’s fiscal year, Kentucky’s General Fund revenues are up $408,496 according to State Budget Director Mary Lassiter, suggesting overspending is still at the heart of any “shortfall.”

Also, the state’s cut on the Lottery is up only $738,409, while alcohol and tobacco taxes are down $6,072,745.

Looks like we raised taxes and raided the Health Fund just in time.

Since Gov. Steve Beshear apparently isn’t going to do the “efficiency study” he promised, and the legislature doesn’t want to do anything about prevailing wage or MUNIS, perhaps we should focus on smoking, drinking, and losing money on the lottery.

Senate Bill 130 from the 2006 regular legislative session instituted testing with tests created by the ACT, Incorporated in grades 8, 10 and 11. Now, the Paducah Sun reports (Subscription required), that legislation is having positive effects on students and their higher education planning.

The Sun says Kentucky students now are starting to plan for college as early as middle school. This is a notable change from the historical trend where most Kentucky students didn’t start to think about higher education until their Junior year in high school.

The Sun article points out that today students take the ACT’s EXPLORE test in eighth grade and indicates that this helps students plan their high school years more effectively.

This is good news for all of Kentucky, as the new economy makes higher education virtually essential to earning a decent standard of living.