Results for Kentucky schools from last spring’s testing were released last Friday and once again, results in Clinton County schools were somewhat mixed, but overall each school showed some progress above the 2013 results.

The K-PREP (Kentucky Performance Report for Educational Progress) results showed the overall percentile in the school district was a 45, with Albany Elementary showing a vast improvement rate over the previous year’s test and having percentile of 76, Clinton County High School, while not improving as much as in years past, did show some improvement with a percentile of 70. Both schools are classified a proficient/progressing.

Clinton County Middle School, whose overall score increased from 2013 to 2014, had a percentile of 28 and was classified as needs improvement/progressing/focus school (Students with Disabilities).

Instructional Supervisor Paula Little noted the reason CCMS was being classified in the bottom third in the state was its low score in the GAP area of students with disabilities, who scored low.

Focus designation places attention on how student groups are performing in Reading, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Writing and Language Mechanics. Schools are designated as focus based on: 1) the non-duplicated gap group performing in the lowest 10 percent or 2) individual student groups (i.e., limited English proficiency, students with free/reduced lunch, students with disabilities, ethnicity groups) performing three standard deviations below the mean–scoring below 99 percent of the state.

With the scores being broken down by GAP groups, the middle school did poorly on the scores involving students with disabilities, but overall, the school scored had decent results and showed some improvement in some core subject areas.

“Those with disabilities scored below the norm,” Little said, adding the state wants the school and district to put an emphasis on those students to help them achieve at a higher rate. “All other groups (at the middle school) did fine,” she said.

Little noted that one of the reasons the overall test results were positive this year was that the district as a whole did very well in the Program Review area, which this year counted a total of 23 percent of the total accountability score and that, according to Little, “was one area of greatest success.”

The Program Review evaluates overall progress in Arts and Humanities, Practical Living and Career Studies and Writing.

“Teachers and the program review committee members worked extremely hard last year gathering evidence and the program review scores show their diligence paid dividends,” Little noted.

As far as the district overall, we are proud of the progress that was made and thrilled at the progress shown at Albany Elementary

“The district is working closely with the administration at CCMS to determine appropriate solutions to help raise students’ scores and place more emphasis on determining appropriate strategies in helping students with disabilities close the achievement gap,” she said.

Little also noted the high school remained in the proficient category in the latest round of tests that were taken last May. The school showed improvement in Social Studies, Science and College and Career Readiness, but did show some decline in the area of math.

Albany Elementary, which had an overall score of 71 (up from 53 the previous year) to go along with the 76 percentile rank, had vast improvements from the previous year in every area, including reading, math, science and language mechanics, the latter in which its score was above the state average.

Total information, including numbers, percentages and any other information about the school in general can be found on the following website: http://applications.education.ky.gov/src/default.aspx.