SB1 - University of Kentucky KYOTE FY17-18

The Kentucky Online Testing (KYOTE) program is an outgrowth of the Kentucky Early Mathematics Testing Program (KEMTP). The KEMTP program provided voluntary online testing to help high school sophomores and juniors determine their level of preparedness for college-level mathematics. The Kentucky General Assembly unanimously passed House Bill 178 (2000), sponsored by Representative Jon Draud, to create the KEMTP exam and was signed into law by Governor Paul E. Patton. The KEMTP program, sponsored and funded by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE), was the first online mathematics-testing program in the nation to be created as a result of state law for the purpose of creating an understanding of college preparedness. The program recognized that far too many students exited high school not prepared for credit-bearing mathematics courses in college. The outreach, placement exams, and course offering programs associated with KYOTE system have brought together the college and high school mathematics communities to discuss the expectations of students entering college credit-bearing courses and other issues of common concern. The goal of the college readiness work related to the KYOTE exam is to minimize the need for remediation in college. The KYOTE exams were created by groups of K-12 and postsecondary content specific faculty to support intervention programming. Tests were designed based on standards associated with readiness for college credit-bearing coursework and supporting transitions from K-12 to postsecondary educational opportunities. In 2012, postsecondary and K-12 college readiness educators, representing the public community and technical colleges, each university, and the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), set benchmarks for the exam. The goal in designing the exams, and subsequent curricula assessable through the KYOTE system, has been the educational success of students by eliminating readiness barriers. Essential learning outcomes for readiness were established through K-12 and postsecondary collaborations.