Carroll County Schools continues to see growth in many areas on its Kentucky Summative Assessment (KSA) scores which were publicly released this week. KSA is the annual summative assessment given in grades 3 through 8, 10 and 11 to Kentucky public school students. KSA provides content area assessments, including reading and mathematics (grades 3 through 8 and 10), science (grades 4, 7, 11), on-demand writing and editing and mechanics (grades 5, 8, 11), and social studies (grades 5, 8, 11).
These assessments are Kentucky’s measure of student proficiency and progress on the state academic content standards. These standards establish goals for what all students should know and be able to do in each grade.
“We are pleased to see the progress we are making in many areas and we recognize that we still have growth areas to continue to focus on. This annual assessment provides critical information about student learning, but no single assessment should ever be the sole factor in making an educational decision,” said Assistant Superintendent/Chief Academic Officer Jonica Ray.
Each school is assigned a color ranking based on a formula by the Kentucky Department of Education. Red is the lowest followed by orange, yellow, green and blue is the highest. Cartmell Elementary maintained its color ranking of orange, Carroll County Middle School maintained its color ranking of orange and Carroll County High School moved from yellow to orange, missing yellow by 0.1 of a point.
Assessments, she noted, are only one measure of student learning. “When combined with grades, classroom activities, student projects, personalized learning opportunities, and school and district level measures and processes, the end of year assessment can help provide a more complete picture of our student progress and direction on next steps toward academic improvement,” she said.
Ray praised the staff for the hard work they do every day to make Carroll County’s students successful.
“It is very exciting to see the success of our students, faculty and staff and community on this single measurement of what is happening in Carroll County,” added Carroll County Schools Superintendent Casey Jaynes.
The KSA scores were released later than normal this year because the Kentucky Department of Education is incorporating new science assessment data, which requires additional time for processing, validation, and setting performance standards. Each school will be using this data to inform their needs assessment and school improvement plans.
The district has made significant changes in recent years to its curriculum, instruction and intervention processes. All of these have fueled the positive growth seen in Carroll County Schools. Ongoing growth is anticipated every year.
“We have worked hard to create a learning culture where students feel safe and want to learn,” Ray said. “We are also very appreciative of the support of our parents and community because it takes all of us working as a team to reach our goals.”
Superintendent Jaynes added that, “All of the curriculum, instruction, and assessment systems are working for our students. Our progress monitoring systems that we use to ensure that the curriculum is implemented with fidelity has been paying off these last two years.”
The detailed results can be viewed at this link.