On March 25^th, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear signed Senate Bill 1. The bill reforms CATS testing and eliminates state assessment for senior portfolios.

This change has left Dunbar seniors wondering what will become of the portfolios they worked so hard to prepare.  

Even though the portfolios will no longer be graded at the state level, high school seniors will still be required to go through the process of collecting and perfecting papers to put together portfolios.

“I think [doing a portfolio] is a wonderful opportunity to evoke my interests and grow as a writer,” said Dunbar senior Rahul Sharma.

While the portfolio’s grade will no longer count for CATS, it will be replaced with another form of writing assessment. On-demand writing will be tested twice in high school instead of once as in past years.

In 2011 SB 1’s changes will go into effect. 

Introduced to the Senate on February 3^rd by Senator Kenneth Winters, SB 1 originally sought to replace CATS testing entirely with an assessment system that would test the individual student’s learning. However, the bill was changed to overhaul CATS. This includes changing the acutal tests and how different subjects will be tested.

Ideally, SB 1 will make the CATS scores more meaningful by assessing students in the same subjects from year to year, as opposed to different tests every year. Nevertheless, some students are critical of the worth in a CATS score. 

“I don’t think students should be required to do writing portfolios. I don’t think it will actually help my writing,” said sophomore Kevin Kral.

Mrs. Barbara Travis, who is Dunbar’s Reading Specialist, hopes that these changes to CATS will require students to write in different styles that will help them succeed in college.

In addition to changing state writing assessment, SB 1 will eliminate the practical living assessment, add multiple-choice writing tests, and require schools to provide parents with an individual report for their student’s progress relative to other students, among numerous other amendments.