Williamsburg Schools make state’s largest increase in accountability scores; Corbin, Whitley stay near top

The Williamsburg Independent School District made the largest improvement of any school district in the state while Corbin and Whitley County remained perched near the top, according to “report cards” recently released as part of Kentucky’s “Unbridled Learning” education accountability initiative.

Williamsburg’s enormous leap from an overall score of 54.7 last year — which placed it as the second-lowest scoring school district in Kentucky — to 67.7 this time around (13 points) earned it the label of a “proficient” district overall. It moved from the lowly 15th percentile of districts in the state to the 80th percentile.

Loren Connell, Director of Instruction of the Williamsburg Independent School District, said the dramatic improvement was the result of a very calculated, focused effort on the part of administrators and staff to implement changes that more properly aligned with current accountability standards.

“I would just say we had a generally better game plan that included a lot more emphasis on process than what it did outcomes,” Connell said.

“The amount of growth in the last 12 months here in Williamsburg is phenomenal. When it gets down to the education of the student, I think you are seeing a better product being put out on the table. It’s more of a refined, precise effort based on a lot of different factors inside the classroom.”

As a district, Williamsburg climbed 73 spots in rankings of the 173 school districts in Kentucky — the second-largest movement among districts.

Williamsburg Elementary School, which was in the 11th percentile a year ago, moved to the 58th percentile; it’s overall score jumped from 51.2 to 64.7. The increase puts it in the “High Progress School” category, though it is still classified as a school that needs improving, but is progressing. In order to get the “High Progress” designation, a school has to be in the top 10 percent of growth of Kentucky’s 713 elementary schools. The school was the 18th most improved school in Kentucky.

Williamsburg Middle School jumped from a score of 51.6 in 2014 to 68.9 this year, moving it from the 15th percentile of Kentucky middle schools to the 85th percentile. It is now considered a “Proficient” school and is also labeled as high progress. The school had the fourth largest increase in its overall score among the state’s 327 middle schools.

At Williamsburg High School, the overall accountability score went from 62.1 to 69.8. It is a school that “Needs Improving” according to state classifications, but Connell said current data for the school is inaccurate and will almost certainly be increased when it is corrected some time in November.

Williamsburg High School, even with inaccurate data, had the 19th largest increase among Kentucky’s 227 public high schools.
“It was good news for us. We had total growth all the way around. Any way you look at it, we’ve had a really good year,” Connell said.

Connell said several things have helped. Scoring better in the “Program Review” portion of the accountability was crucial. Making the conversions to “center based learning” and “standards based” grading in elementary school helped as well.
Revamping the school schedule to a trimester was also key, along with a larger emphasis on reading and math at the middle school.

Connell said for years, the district had essentially “allowed students to advance into accountability grade levels without the pre-requisite skills to be proficient at it.”

“Does that mean that the average Williamsburg City School student is inferior to anybody? No, it really doesn’t,” he said. “What it does mean is that we have to ensure that students have the skills they need to be successful, both at a mastery level and proficiency level, at the next grade level. We have to be sure the protocol and procedure we put in place allows that to happen.”

Whitley County Schools

For the second straight year, the Whitley County School District was recognized as a “Distinguished District” by the state with an overall score of 72 — up .4 from a year ago. It moved from the 93rd to the 95th percentile of Kentucky schools, ranking it 29th overall.

Whitley County Schools Deputy Superintendent Paul Trickett pointed out that the district missed gaining the prized “District of Distinction” label by the “narrowest of margins;” just one-tenth of a point.

““It’s not easy to maintain this level of performance, but our entire district works hard each and every day to do what is best for our students. Of course, our ultimate goal is to move all students toward college and career readiness by the time they graduate, and we are making consistent progress toward that goal,” Trickett said.

Of the 226 students that graduated from Whitley County High School in 2015, 189 were deemed career ready and 112 were considered college ready.

Whitley East Elementary was once again the highest performing school in the district with an overall score of 78.3, putting it in the 98th percentile among Kentucky’s elementary schools. It ranked 65th overall out of 713 elementary schools. It’s score actually dropped from last year’s result, a lofty 83.6, so it could not be considered for any special recognition.

Several individual schools in the Whitley County School District saw healthy increases this year with Whitley Central Intermediate being recognized as a “School of Distinction” with a score of 76.5 (95th percentile).  Less than ten percent of the schools in the state earned this honor. Whitley North Elementary saw their score jump almost 5 points to 75.4 (94th percentile), entitling them to be recognized as a “Distinguished, High Performing School” 

Whitley County also has two Proficient elementary schools, Pleasant View with a score of 70.3 and Oak Grove with a score of 68.7.  The remaining elementary school, Boston Elementary, dropped out of the proficient category this year falling 6.1 points.
Whitley County Middle School also garnered a “Distinguished” rating with a score of 70.4 (90th percentile) and a ranking of 63rd out of 327 middle schools in the state.

Whitley County High School saw a healthy gain with an overall score of 74.1 (85th percentile) and recognition as a “Proficient, Progressing” high school, one of only 28 in the state.

Whitley County Schools Superintendent Scott Paul said he was happy the results were good news for the school system again, but cautioned against resting on any laurels when it comes to accountability.

“While we are certainly pleased to be a Distinguished District with four Distinguished Schools and a School of Distinction, we realize we still have work to do in order for all our schools to be performing at the distinguished level.  Our entire staff is committed to continuing to make great things happen for the students of Whitley County.”

Corbin Independent Schools

Corbin Independent Schools remained the highest performing school system in the area, and tallied an overall score of 76.8 this year, the exact same score it received a year ago. It puts the district 98th percentile statewide and fourth overall among K-12 school districts.

“We are pleased with the scores, but we know there’re some areas we’ve looked that we need to address,” said Dave Cox, Assistant Superintendent with Corbin Independent Schools.

“We are looking at reading scores district wide, and we are always focusing on reducing the number of novice students we have in our district. We want to move as many kids as we can to the proficient and distinguished categories. Novice reduction is going to a big part of the new accountability system. For every school and school district, novice reduction will be huge.”

Though it is a high performing district, Corbin technically did not meet its Annual Measurable Objective for the year. It had to improve .5 points to do so.

Still, the news was nearly positive across the board.

Corbin Middle School’s overall score increased from 75.8 to 76.7, putting it in the 98th percentile of Kentucky middle schools. It is labeled as a “Distinguished/Progressing” school with the special honor of being a “School of Distinction.”

Corbin High School went up from 79.7 overall last year to 83.4 this time around, putting it in the 98th percentile statewide, and among the top 10 of Kentucky high schools. It is also labeled as a “Distinguished/Progressing” school with the special honor of being a “School of Distinction.”

Corbin Intermediate School dropped from 78.3 to 73.7 this year, but is still rated as a “Distinguished” school. Likewise, Corbin Elementary School decreased from 70.9 to 68.1, but is still classified as “Proficient.”

Assistant Superintendent Ramona Davis noted that the Elementary School, and to some extent the Intermediate School, often have a tougher time because of Corbin’s unconventional grade configuration. Both schools only house two grades — third and fourth grade at the Elementary School and fifth and sixth grades at the Intermediate. Only eight districts in Kentucky are configured in such a way, Davis said. Most Kentucky elementary schools are K-5.

“It’s difficult to make any comparisons with other schools,” she said. “It’s hard to know if it helps or hurts, it depends on the students and the year.”

“I think it does hurt us, though, since we have so many transitions students have to make to new schools as they progress in Corbin,” she added. “A K-5 school really lends itself to a great continuum and I think they need that. Corbin will have that one day.”

Davis noted gains at the Middle School and High School and said the district, as a whole seems to have a “nice progression” of success that is steady and realistic. There doesn’t seem to be any huge gains or large losses, district wide, in any accountability year.

“That’s the way it should be,” she said. “It’s what you’d rather see than what some other districts have where you have very, very high elementary school scores, but a low high school.”

Cox noted that the district has what he feels like is a high number of transient students that enter the district annually. This year, it’s about five percent of the population. Often, getting those students where they should be can be difficult, but he added that he thinks it signals a desire of parents to send their kids to the district for an education.

“We like to think that those kids are coming because we have a good product.”