Report cards for JCPS schools were just released, revealing that 41 of the districts’ 168 schools rank in the bottom 5% statewide. These schools enter a classification called Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI), meaning they have a graduation rate 60% or lower. In 2022, the number of Kentucky CSI schools was 34. This means Kentucky schools that qualify for CSI will receive federal aid under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) due to low academic performance or graduation rates. In JCPS, test scores remain low with 37% proficiency in reading and language arts as well as 31% proficiency in math.
With the recent involvement of ESSA, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has outlined several ways they intend to get these schools out of CSI. These reforms include supporting school leadership and teachers, assisting in the building of curriculum, resolving behavioral issues through better reporting and enforcement systems and providing federal school improvement funds.
At the JCPS level, the district is expected to collaborate with local stakeholders and develop a turnaround plan that establishes planned actions on how they will improve learning conditions within buildings while also providing a selection of evidence-based interventions. They will also offer intensive and operational support to the school on a more individualized basis.
JCPS also stated they want to address issues on student, teacher and school level factors that contribute to academic successes and opportunities. Factors planned to be addressed mainly regard literacy, mathematics and student attendance.
Manual is an outlier of this. The school has some of the best test scores in the state of Kentucky as identified by the KDE. Along with being the top school in the state, Manual has seen an increase in standardized testing scores in previous years. At Manual, there is a 78% proficiency rate for math, 85% for reading and a 99% graduation rate.
Manual principal Michael Newman announced that the school is the number one school in all of Kentucky in an email on Thursday, Nov. 20. Manual maintains its Blue “Very High” rating, which is the highest rating a school can get. The school also has “blue” scores in reading and math, science and social studies and writing, quality of school climate and safety, post secondary school readiness and graduation rate.
“Overall, this was a phenomenal performance from all of our students. These combined efforts have made duPont Manual High School the #1 overall rated school in Kentucky! Everyone should be extremely proud of their hard work and preparation for the exams last year,” Newman said.
Manual’s high standing highlights JCPS’ best qualities, while also shedding light on what they need to improve on such as curriculum and testing scores. JCPS Superintendent Brian Yearwood has stated that some schools are already putting new curriculums into action and have seen increases in some science scores.
“We just have to continue to align behind the data and be able to ensure that we are providing the support for teachers and classrooms, because now we have a good idea of where we are going,” Yearwood said.
On the other hand, JCPS has seen a 1% increase in graduation rates, now reaching 89.2%. Postsecondary readiness has also increased to 84%. This has kept the increase seen over the past three years of preparedness in students going. As for Yearwood’s goal to consistently decrease absences, JCPS actually saw a 5% decrease in absences since the previous year. Even with these successes, Yearwood still plans to focus on the schools that need it the most.
“These 41 schools represent our greatest opportunity for growth,” he said in an interview with WLKY. “We will be looking at these schools in ways that we can actually accelerate learning.”
