Kentucky Department of Education

 

Kentucky's Learning Goals and Academic Expectations

Last Updated on Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 5:00 AM

The centerpiece of Kentucky's education reform effort is its vision of what students should know and be able to do as a result of their school experience. Every aspect of the reform movement is designed to promote student attainment of these goals and to measure our progress in helping them to do so.

 

Assumption underlying KERA

 

All students are capable of learning.

 

The expectations for students are set forth as the six learning goals of KERA. These goals led to the development of the academic expectations that characterize student achievement of the goals. All Kentucky students are expected to achieve the goals and academic expectations.

 

The NEW Teaching Tools - Combined Curriculum Document identifies many relationships between the Academic Expectations, Program of Studies and Core Content for Assessment.

 

Kentucky's Learning Goals

 

1. Students are able to use basic communication and mathematics skills for purposes and situations they will encounter throughout their lives.

 

2. Students shall develop their abilities to apply core concepts and principles from mathematics, the sciences, the arts, the humanities, social studies, practical living studies, and vocational studies to what they will encounter throughout their lives.

 

3. Students shall develop their abilities to become self-sufficient individuals.*

 

4. Students shall develop their abilities to become responsible members of a family, work group, or community, including demonstrating effectiveness in community service.*

 

*Goals 3 and 4 are included in Kentucky statute as learning goals, but they are not included in the state's academic assessment program.

 

5. Students shall develop their abilities to think and solve problems in school situations and in a variety of situations they will encounter in life. 

6. Students shall develop their abilities to connect and integrate experiences and new knowledge from all subject matter fields with what they have previously learned and build on past learning experiences to acquire new information through various media sources.

Academic Expectations

 

AE 1.1
Students use reference tools such as dictionaries, almanacs, encyclopedias, and computer reference programs and research tools such as interviews and surveys to find the information they need to meet specific demands, explore interests, or solve specific problems.


 

AE 1:2
Students make sense of the variety of materials they read.


 

AE 1.3
Students make sense of the various things they observe.


 

AE 1.4
Students make sense of the various messages to which they listen.


 

AE 1.5 - 1.9
Students use mathematical ideas and procedures to communicate, reason, and solve problems.


 

AE 1.10
Students organize information through development and use of classification rules and systems.


 

AE 1.11
Students write using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.


 

AE 1.12
Students speak using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.


 

AE 1.14
Students make sense of ideas and communicate ideas with music.


 

AE 1.15
Students make sense of and communicate ideas with movement.


 

AE 1.16
Students use computers and other kinds of technology to collect, organize, and communicate information and ideas.


 

AE 2.1
Students understand scientific ways of thinking and working and use those methods to solve real-life problems.


 

AE 2.2
Students identify, analyze, and use patterns such as cycles and trends to understand past and present events and predict possible future events.


 

AE 2.3
Students identify and analyze systems and the ways their components work together or affect each other.


 

AE 2.4
Students use the concept of scale and scientific models to explain the organization and functioning of living and nonliving things and predict other characteristics that might be observed.


 

AE 2.5
Students understand that under certain conditions nature tends to remain the same or move toward a balance.


 

AE 2.6
Students understand how living and nonliving things change over time and the factors that influence the changes.


 

AE 2.7
Students understand number concepts and use numbers appropriately and accurately.


 

AE 2.8
Students understand various mathematical procedures and use them appropriately and accurately.


 

AE 2.9
Students understand space and dimensionality concepts and use them appropriately and accurately.


 

AE 2.10
Students understand measurement concepts and use measurement appropriately and accurately.


 

AE 2.11
Students understand mathematical change concepts and use them appropriately and accurately.


 

AE 2.12
Students understand mathematical structure concepts including the properties and logic of various mathematical systems.


 

AE 2.13
Students understand and appropriately use statistics and probability.


 

AE 2.14
Students understand the democratic principles of justice, equality, responsibility, and freedom and apply them to real-life situations.


 

AE 2.15
Students can accurately describe various forms of government and analyze issues that relate to the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy.


 

AE 2.16
Students observe, analyze, and interpret human behaviors, social groupings, and institutions to better understand people and the relationships among individuals and among groups.


 

AE 2.17
Students interact effectively and work cooperatively with the many ethnic and cultural groups of our nation and world.


 

AE 2.18
Students understand economic principles and are able to make economic decisions that have consequences in daily living.


 

AE 2.20
Students understand, analyze, and interpret historical events, conditions, trends, and issues to develop historical perspective.


 

AE 2.19
Students recognize and understand the relationship between people and geography and apply their knowledge in real-life situations.


 

AE 2.22
Students create works of art and make presentations to convey a point of view.


 

AE 2.23
Students analyze their own and others' artistic products and performances using accepted standards.


 

AE 2.24
Students have knowledge of major works of art, music, and literature and appreciate creativity and the contributions of the arts and humanities.


 

AE 2.25
In the products they make and the performances they present, students show that they understand how time, place, and society influence the Arts and Humanities such as languages, literature, and history.


 

AE 2.29
Students demonstrate skills that promote individual well-being and healthy family relationships.


 

AE 2.30
Students evaluate consumer products and services and make effective consumer decisions.


 

AE 2.31
Students demonstrate the knowledge and skills they need to remain physically healthy and to accept responsibility for their own physical well-being.


 

AE 2.32
Students demonstrate strategies for becoming and remaining mentally and emotionally healthy.


 

AE 2.33
Students demonstrate the skills to evaluate and use services and Expectation resources available in their community.


 

AE 2.34
Students perform physical movement skills effectively in a variety of settings.


 

AE 2.35
Students demonstrate knowledge and skills that promote physical activity and involvement in physical activity throughout their lives.


 

AE 2.36
Students use strategies for choosing and preparing for a career.


 

AE 2.37
Students demonstrate skills and work habits that lead to success in future schooling and work.


 

AE 2.38
Students demonstrate skills such as interviewing, writing resumes, and completing applications that are needed to be accepted into college or other postsecondary training or to get a job.


 

AE 5.1
Students use critical thinking skills such as analyzing, prioritizing, categorizing, evaluating, and comparing to solve a variety of problems in real-life situations.


 

AE 5.2
Students use creative thinking skills to develop or invent novel, constructive ideas or products.


 

AE 5.3
Students organize information to develop or change their understanding of a concept.


 

AE 5.4
Students use a decision-making process to make informed decisions among options.


 

AE 5.5
Students use problem-solving processes to develop solutions to relatively complex problems.


 

AE 6.1
Students connect knowledge and experiences from different subject areas.


 

AE 6.2
Students use what they already know to acquire new knowledge, develop new skills, or interpret new experiences.


 

AE 6.3
Students expand their understanding of existing knowledge by making connections with new knowledge, skills, and experiences.


 

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The centerpiece of Kentucky's education reform effort is its vision of what students should know and be able to do as a result of their school experience. Every aspect of the reform movement is designed to promote student attainment of these goals and to measure our progress in helping them to ... More


For more information contact:

Michael Miller
500 Mero Street, 18th Floor CPT
Frankfort, KY 40601
Phone: (502) 564-2106
Michael.Miller@education.ky.gov