Alaska’s Department of Education and Early Development released statewide assessment data on Friday that shows most students are not proficient in core subjects.

The scores are similar to overall, even though the state in January. Education Commissioner Deena Bishop said then that Alaska’s standards are still in the top third in the nation.

The Alaska System of Academic Readiness test, commonly referred to as the AK STAR assessment, evaluates student knowledge of grade-level standards in English language arts and mathematics for third through ninth graders and grade-level standards for science in fifth, eighth and 10th grades.

Student scores fall into four levels of achievement: advanced, proficient, approaching proficient, and needs support.

Across grade levels, roughly 32% of Alaska students were proficient or advanced in both English language arts and mathematics. Nearly 37% of students across grade levels tested were proficient or better in science.

Bishop appealed to Alaskans to use the results for continuous improvement in a statement released on Friday.

“State assessments play a role in measuring how well our students meet the Alaska standards — standards shaped by Alaskan educators. By accepting the results without defense, we commit to using these data for improvement,” she said in a news release. “Alaska is not merely focused on the outcomes themselves, rather our goal is to build the capacity in our students’ foundational knowledge and ability for their future in work and life.”

Pre-pandemic comparisons to measure if students’ scores are improving after school closures are difficult because the state changed its assessment. Scores were in the 2018-2019 academic year, however. Then, 39% of students were proficient in or advanced scorers in English language arts and nearly 36% of students were proficient or better in math.

Fifth graders performed best on the 2024 tests. More than 37% met or exceeded state proficiency standards, which was a nearly 2% increase over the previous year. Nearly half of fifth graders, more than 47%, were proficient or better in science standards.

Eighth, ninth and tenth graders had lower levels of proficiency. The state said “efforts are underway” to support students in reading and offer career and technical education options.

Officials with the state Department of Education and Early Childhood did not respond to questions about how to understand this year’s scores in the contact of previous years and pandemic recovery.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: info@alaskabeacon.com. Follow Alaska Beacon on and .

Fewer Kentucky kindergarteners were ready to learn in the 2022-2023 school year than in 2018, according to a new report that measures child welfare.

This insight comes from the , released by Kentucky Youth Advocates Wednesday. Kids Count is part of a national initiative from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA) compiled the state’s report with data from the Administrative Office of the Courts, Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Medicaid Services, Kentucky Center for Statistics and others.

Fewer kindergarteners being ready to learn is a symptom of , early childhood expert Sarah Taylor Vanover with KYA told the Lantern. For the past three years many children missed out on pivotal socialization. That means they’re coming into school without the skills to self-regulate and work with others, Vanover explained.

“Three and four -year-olds…might have been having Zoom story times during the pandemic, but they weren’t getting to learn to play together,” she said. These early years, Vanover said, are when children learn to use their words to express emotion. But a lot of kids now, she said, “missed a lot of those things.”

The report also found that more children were in foster care from 2020-2022 than 2015-2017. And, fewer children left foster care and were reunited with biological families.

KYA staff looked at 16 when compiling the Kids Count book. They include the number of children in poverty, foster care and the juvenile justice system; education achievements; teen births and more.

The data shows some positive markers for Kentucky’s youth. There were 2% more fourth graders proficient in reading in the 2022-2023 school year than in the 2021-2022 school year. The number of high school students graduating on time increased from 90% to 91%.

“We’ve seen profound resilience of communities through recovery from natural disasters and the pandemic – yet those challenges present lasting impacts on family stability, mental health, education outcomes, and so much more,” Terry Brooks, the executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates , said in a statement. “And unless and until we tackle childhood poverty – impacting more than one in five young people – Kentucky kids will continue to fall behind.”

Youth quoted in the report also said that during the next legislative session, lawmakers should invest in mental health resources, addressing food insecurities, substance use prevention and more.

Child population by race

Kentucky had 1,113,478 youth ages 0-19 in 2022, the new report shows. Of those, 854,336 are white, 105,880 are Black, 78,533 are Latinx, 21,579 are Asian, 1,462 are Native American or Native Alaskan, 1,182 are Native Hiwaiian or Pacific Islander and 50,506 are two or more races.

Economic Security

Nearly half – 44% – of Kentucky’s renters live in households that spend roughly a third of their income on rent and utilities. Eastern Kentucky counties are most affected by this, the data shows, with a swath of counties having 50-59% of their families paying a third of their income in rent and utilities.

The solution to this, the report says, is to invest in affordable and rural housing.

The report also includes a dive into , a sector long troubled in Kentucky and worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The “significant burden” of child care, which costs more than $7,000 per year on average in Kentucky, means one in nine families experience an interruption in their workforce participation. Meanwhile, most of Kentucky’s counties – 79 out of 120 – are child care deserts, meaning they don’t have enough child care to match the number of children in need of it.

There is also a waiting list for afterschool programs in Kentucky, which are also short staffed.

Advocates said the state should dedicate funding to this sector as a solution to the crisis. They also want to see lawmakers help Kentucky’s children get free meals at school. Currently 12% of Kentucky schools do not participate in , which allows the nation’s highest poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications, according to Kids Count.

How healthy are Kentucky’s children?

Researchers want to see lawmakers increase reimbursement rates for dental providers to expand the Medicaid network for dental care. That’s because they found that people with Medicaid who had fewer dental care options ended up getting emergency department care for “non-traumatic dental conditions.”

“This treatment is not only outside the scope of most (emergency department) providers but also expensive, costing Kentucky more than $44M annually,” the report states.

Lawmakers should also consider investing in the mental health workforce through an increase in reimbursement rates, researchers said, since 1 in 6 children ages 13-17 have anxiety or depression.

On juvenile justice

Researchers want to see Kentucky lawmakers invest in community based alternatives to , which they say cost the state less than detention and are more effective. (During the interim, committee members dedicated to examining the have heard from a number of such programs).

It costs about $588 every day to jail a minor, the Kids Count report says, while costing about $75 in diversion.

“Kentucky has an established record of failing to meet the basic standard of care for kids in detention and improve outcomes of justice-involved youth,” Kids Count states. “When a child makes a mistake, diversion and other community-based alternatives to detention, such as mental health services, mentoring, and educational supports are more effective in reducing recidivism. Youth who complete these programs also have a higher likelihood of completing high school, attending college, and earning more income in adulthood.”

The insights in this report should be a “roadmap” for Gov. Andy Beshear as he enters his second term as Kentucky governor, Brooks said. It should also, he said, guide Kentucky’s lawmakers, who in 2024 will make budgetary decisions when they convene for the legislative session.

“What we want these numbers to do,” Brooks said during a Wednesday press conference, “is galvanize Gov. Beshear. And we want it to galvanize (Senate President Robert Rivers” and we want it to galvanize (House Speaker David Osborne) into creating a common ground, common sense agenda for the common good of Kentucky’s kids.”

To read the full Kids Count report, visit

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on and .