Lexington ‘historically marginalized’ students make strides in state assessments, district says
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2023 Kentucky State Testing
The Kentucky Department of Education released the 2022-2023 state report card, which contains data on testing across elementary, middle and high school levels, as well as a color-coded school rating. Read more from the Herald-Leader.
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Fayette elementary schools rise to top of district ratings in Kentucky’s latest test scores
‘A lot of work left to be done.’ Majority of KY schools see medium rating on latest report card
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See how your child’s school performed in 2023 Kentucky test performance ratings
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Here are highest, lowest rated schools across Kentucky based on 2022-2023 test data
Fayette County Public Schools elementary and middle schools outpaced statewide ratings in Kentucky’s latest report card release, Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said Wednesday.
The Kentucky Report Card, released Tuesday evening, showed schools at the elementary, middle and high school levels rated yellow, or “medium,” for 2022-2023. The color-coded system categorizes schools from red (the lowest rating) to blue (the highest rating), which corresponds with an overall indicator score.
In Fayette County, elementary schools rated green and middle and high schools rated yellow.
Across the district, FCPS had 12 schools in blue, 12 schools in green, 15 schools in yellow, 14 schools in orange, and three schools in red.
Athens-Chilesburg Elementary had the district’s highest overall ranking and Lexington Traditional Magnet School, a middle school, was the lowest.
Changes to the overall indicator score in the most recent report card mean comparisons can’t be made between last year’s ratings and this year. But Liggins emphasized there are still visible areas of progress.
“A deeper dive into the actual data on the state assessment shows significant improvement in both reading and math for our elementary students,” Liggins said. “We’re also proud to share that percentage of students meeting or exceeding state benchmarks increased not only across the board, but also for children from historically marginalized groups including our Black students, our Hispanic students, and our students receiving English Learning support, and students that receive special education services.”
A Herald-Leader analysis of the data from those statewide tests, taken last spring, showed only 38% of Fayette schools had 50% or more students testing proficient and distinguished in math. In reading, 47% of schools recorded half or more of their students testing proficient and distinguished.
When asked how the district was addressing slower gains in math, Liggins said FCPS has implemented systems that allow leaders to evaluate math curriculum on an ongoing basis, allowing teachers to know how their students are performing at any point in the year and take action on that assessment.
Students are “so much more than a test. They are complicated beings that really cannot be measured on a test that is given on a certain time of the year, few days of the year for a few hours of the year,” Liggins said.
FCPS also saw significant reductions in the number of schools under the Targeted Support and Intervention federal classification. In 2022, 34 schools were identified as TSI, but that fell to 21 this year.
Schools are removed from TSI when scores among targeted student groups “increased considerably” at those schools, Liggins said:
- 10 schools were removed for Black/African-American students
- Two schools were removed for English Learners
- Seven schools were removed for Special Education students
- Three schools were removed for Economically Disadvantaged students
A second federal classification — Comprehensive Support and Improvement — is given to schools that fall in the lowest 5% of schools statewide. Harrison and William Wells Brown saw large enough improvements this year to be removed from CSI, Liggins said.
“We’re proud that their intentionality and focuses has really made a difference in those campuses and we expect to see continued growth for both of those (schools),” he said.
Only one school was added to CSI: Bryan Station Middle School received the designation after three years of under-performance among English Learners.
Liggins said it was important to note that English Learners, and other special education groups, take the same test as all other students, so they’re not only learning the content, but the language itself.
Families should look to their individual student’s performance to get a more accurate assessment of how their child is performing, rather than only relying on a school’s rating, he said. Every school in Fayette County, high and low, has students who are struggling and those who are succeeding.
“We have students that are brilliant artists and brilliant in many other ways ... We also have students that can do the content of a test and simply can’t do well on the actual test itself. It’s important to look not at the school itself but to look at your individual student, I think, for parents to really understand how they’re doing. There are talented teachers on every single campus working very hard every single day to meet the needs of our children, and that goes well beyond what they can do on a test in a particular content area,” he said.
School performance and income are inextricably linked, Liggins said.
In Fayette County — but also Kentucky and nationally, he said — under-performing schools often have families and students who live in poverty or have low incomes. The highest performing schools contain families with means, he said.
“I resent the comparison of our schools because there’s amazing things happening at each of our campuses. Some of the unique challenges that happen in some schools aren’t necessarily at other schools. Every single campus is working diligently in order to ensure that all students are getting what they need in order to be successful,” Liggins said.
This story was originally published November 1, 2023 at 1:22 PM.
