That s why you ll see water bottles on desks when you visit a school. If it seems like a lot of work goes into making sure students perform well on the tests, there s good reason. The tests, along with the other components of CATS, not only indicate how students are doing, they are used by the Kentucky Department of Education to measure how the school is doing. The Department, on direction from the General Assembly, has established a system to provide monetary rewards for schools that meet or exceed established goals. These rewards are given directly to the school and how they are to be used is decided by the School-Based Decision Making Council.
Local boards have no involvement on the amount given to each school or how it can be spent.