Wednesday was a day that most students and families are not aware of, but it's one that is marked on the calendar of most school administrators: the release of the state’s annual report card to gauge how schools are performing.
Educating students is a complex task. There are more than 41,000 students in Fayette County public schools, who speak more than 100 languages. But the report is positive; in the past 12 months, all but two schools saw increased scores or were already performing in the highest tiers of accountability.
“It shows that we're going in the right direction”, says Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Demetrus Liggins. “There's still so much work to be done.”
That’s Liggins’ reaction as the Kentucky Department of Education released state and federal ratings of schools and school districts.
The numbers are positive: A four-year graduation rate of 92.4 percent this year is an all-time high. The number of students adequately prepared for post-secondary education is at 82 percent, up nearly five percent from last year. And more than 6,300 students enrolled in dual credit classes.
“We're seeing kids graduating with more college credits than ever in history we're just seeing scores continuing to rise”, says Liggins. “The majority of our schools, in fact 75 percent of our schools are at medium, high or very high, which is a great accomplishment. We also again every single one of our schools at elementary, middle, and high school as a group grew. We continue to outperform the state at every single level.”
Another point of emphasis has been African-American students and economically disadvantaged students. For the second year in a row, both met federal standards.
“I often tell my staff that regardless of your role, your job is student achievement and whatever you're doing ultimately should lend itself to our students and their achievement. That's something that has clearly always been a focus of mine and it's a vision that I've set forth in this organization in order to ensure that everyone understands that regardless of what is going on, that is our North Star.”
Liggins views the report as a litmus test that Fayette schools are heading in the right direction, while admitting that the journey is just beginning.
“I will not be satisfied until 100 percent of our students are performing at the highest level possible and so there's always going to be work to be done and that's what I'm looking to do, to continue that work and ensure that is occurring. But we've made quite a bit of progress.”
Dr. Liggins adds that because of benchmarks put in place throughout the year, there weren’t any surprises in this report and programs and plans have already been implemented to add support where needed.
