Advertisement

Ballard County Schools Earn Distinguished Status

Ballard County Schools Earn Distinguished Status
Advertisement
By West Kentucky Star Staff
Sep. 30, 2016 | LA CENTER, KY
By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 30, 2016 | 12:27 PM | LA CENTER, KY
The Ballard County School district has been classified as a District of Distinction for the first time under Kentucky’s K-PREP accountability assessments – a designation that means it is in the top 15 of the state’s 173 school districts – and all three of Ballard’s K-12 schools have earned distinguished status for the first time.

This is Ballard’s third consecutive year as a distinguished district, defined this year by the Kentucky Education Department as scoring 70.5 or above using KDE’s reporting system. Ballard’s district score this year was 75. 

“I am so proud of everyone – the students, the teachers, and the community that supports us in the work we do every single day,” said Ballard Superintendent Casey Allen. “This really shows what can happen when everybody has a shared vision, and everybody is pulling in the same direction,”

The district also was designated as progressing, which means it met its Annual Measurable Objectives, student participation rate for the all students group and each subgroup, graduation rate goals, has a graduation rate over 80 for the past two years, and is in the top 10 percent of improvement measures in the state, as well.

The biggest change came at Ballard County Elementary School. Last year, BCES was designated as a needs improvement school. The state’s cut-off point for distinguished elementary schools is 72.8 this year, and BCES scored a 75.2. BCES also was designated as progressing and as high performing.

The school made a real commitment to weekly teachers’ meetings that helped them hold each other accountable, BCES Principal Vicki Gough said. “We had a lot of folks in new positions, we were using some new curricula, and they really embraced it. Folks really stepped up to the challenge.” 

She also said the school placed new emphasis on helping students set goals for themselves that made them more aware of their own capacity for improvement. “We’re answering the ‘whys’ for kids,” Gough said, so they know the reasons behind what they’re doing in class.

Ballard Memorial High School earned its fourth consecutive classification as a distinguished school, scoring 77.4, with the state’s cut score for distinguished schools at 75.4. BMHS also was designated as progressing and high performing. 

Ballard County Middle School earned its third consecutive classification as a distinguished school, scoring 72.4, with the state’s cut score for distinguished middle schools at 70.2. 

A complete report on Ballard and all schools in Kentucky can be obtained at http://applications.education.ky.gov/SRC/Default.aspx.
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement


Latest Western Kentucky
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Western Kentucky

Advertisement
ADVERTISEMENT