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Lincoln Co. Schools press release

STANFORD — Kentucky’s new 5-star accountability system and School Report Card (SRC) launched statewide recently. The 5-star system is intended to be a tool to show stakeholders how schools are performing.
The system uses a star rating of 1-5 to rank every school in the state. The new accountability model is made up of six indicators: proficiency (math, reading), separate academic indicator (social studies, science and writing), graduation, transition readiness and quality of school climate and safety (2019-2020). The system uses multiple academic and school quality measures, not a single test or indicator.

For elementary and middle schools, the star ratings are based on math and reading test scores (proficiency), improvement (growth) and social studies, science and writing scores (separate academic). For high schools, the rating is based on ACT scores, separate academic scores, transition readiness and graduation rates.

Overall Lincoln County Schools displayed encouraging results. There are six 3-star schools – Lincoln County High School, Lincoln County Middle School, Crab Orchard, Highland, Hustonville, and Stanford Elementary – and one 2-star school – Waynesburg.

Half of Kentucky’s elementary, middle and high schools earned three stars in the new system, which Kentucky Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis said can indicate it’s a good school.

Schools are also given an overall score based off the criteria. Lincoln County has three schools performing above state average. Hustonville (68.8) and Stanford Elementary (64.4) scored above the state average for elementary schools (64.2). One other elementary school, Highland Elementary (63.9), was right on the state average, too. Lincoln County High School (65) is also performing above state average (62.6). Lincoln County Middle School’s score overall score (60.9) was near the state average (62.9).

There were 643 schools that received a 3-star rating statewide and 251 schools that received a 2-star rating. Only 56 schools, out of 1261 that received scores, were named 5-star schools in Kentucky today.
“My daughter’s school is a 3-star school, and I’m proud of that school and its progress,” Kentucky Education Commissioner Dr. Wayne D. Lewis Jr. said. “I don’t want folks to see three stars on any school in this Commonwealth and walk away feeling like this is not a good school.”

Other schools in the district showed promising improvement. Crab Orchard Elementary and LCMS were previously classified as TSI (Targeted Support and Improvement) schools. With the release of today’s test scores, they have exited this category. Waynesburg Elementary was previously named a CSI (Comprehensive Support and Improvement) school (bottom 5% of the state). Waynesburg showed great improvement to remove itself from that status. They had an 18% gain in math and a 52% gain in writing. There are 52 CSI schools and 11 TSI schools in the state according to the accountability data released today.

Superintendent Mike Rowe was pleased with the overall scores.

“Lincoln County Schools displayed encouraging results. There are six 3-star schools and one 2-star. Half of Kentucky’s elementary, middle and high schools earned three stars in the new system, which Kentucky Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis said can mean it’s a good school,” said Rowe. “Our goal is to keep improving, as a district, year to year. And these results show we are doing that.”

Some district highlights: Hustonville and Stanford were over 70% proficient/distinguished in reading, Hustonville also had 72.8% proficient/distinguished in math and 75.7% proficient/distinguished in social studies. LCMS had 80.8% proficient/distinguished in social studies and Crab Orchard had 77% proficient/distinguished in writing. Stanford Elementary saw a 26% gain in writing and Highland had a 20% gain in reading.

“It’s evident in looking at these gains, that our teachers and staff are working extremely hard. I’ve very proud of their dedication,” said Rowe.

Overview of test scores:

Lincoln County High School, 3 stars, 65 overall score

Lincoln County Middle School, 3 stars, 60.9 overall score

Crab Orchard Elementary, 3 stars, 61.5 overall score

Highland Elementary, 3 stars, 63.9 overall score

Hustonville Elementary, 3 stars, 68.8 overall score

Stanford Elementary, 3 stars, 64.4 overall score

Waynesburg Elementary, 2 stars, 54.4 overall score

Please visit https://www.kyschoolreportcard.com/home?year=2019 to learn about the new 5-star rating system and to view the School Report Cards for all Kentucky schools. For more information about Lincoln Schools, please contact the Student Support Center at 606-365-2124.