Kentucky’s new accountability system scores each school with a star rating system, similar to a bell curve with the majority of schools in the state, including in Clinton County, being in the middle with three stars, according to Clinton County Schools Instructional Supervisor Paula Little.

Fewer schools than Clinton received either two or four stars and a even fewer score the lowest, one star, or highest, five stars.

During the first year of the new accountability system in Clinton County, Albany Elementary and Clinton County High School were named “three star” schools, while Clinton County Middle School was a “two star” school, according to recent statistics released by the Kentucky Department of Education.

Clinton County High School received an overall score of 66.4 and Albany Elementary was 60.7 to reach the three star tier while CCMS scored 55.2 for the two star ranking, according to the accountability profile.

The main categories used to evaluate elementary and middle schools in Kentucky was proficiency in “reading and math,” and separate academic indicators in science, social studies, on-demand writing and growth.

In high schools, evaluations looked primarily at proficiency, separate academic indicators such as “transition” to career and/or college readiness and graduation rates.

Little said the middle school was just a little below the state average showing “we have plenty of things we can work on to make it better.”

The Instructional Supervisor noted that schools are ranked CSI, or the bottom five percent, or TSI, meaning one or more of sub-group categories are significantly below other schools.

“Clinton County did not have any school in the aforementioned category, so it is not a bad designation,” Little noted.

Little noted that among the bright spots in the data was the high growth at the elementary school and high school transition (career or college readiness) and high graduation rates.

Other strong showings were third grade reading, eighth grade reading and social studies and on-demand writing, including at the high school.

The K-Prep scores that showed areas of concern in low achievement areas at all schools was in science, and students with disabilities scored lower than other peer groups.

Little said that teachers across the district have been working hard to revise curriculum to incorporate new and developing modules through a literacy designed collaborative.

Also, there is a newly formed curriculum instruction and assessment committee that will be working diligently to improve student achievement.

“Student achievement is our district’s number one goal and we look forward to having even better scores next year,” Little concluded.