Anthony Cloud

Staff Writer

Barbara Warren, Bell County District Assessment Coordinator, gave an district assessment overview during the Bell County School Board meeting on Monday. Warren released the district rankings from the K-Prep scores.

Overall, including both middle school and elementary scores, Frakes ranked first in the district with an overall score of 61.5. Bell Central ranked second in the district with a score of 60.5, while Yellow Creek ranked third with a score of 58.4.

Right Fork came in fourth with an overall score of 54.25, while Page came in fifth with a score of 51.1. Lone Jack came in sixth with a score of 46.8.

Bell Central was the only school in the district that scored proficient at the elementary level, scoring in the 78th percentile in Kentucky. Each of the other schools in the district scored in the needs improvement classification.

Three schools in the district scored in the proficient range at the middle school level. Those schools were Frakes, Right Fork and Yellow Creek. Frakes scored in the 85th percentile in Kentucky, Right Fork scored in the 81st percentile and Yellow Creek scored in the 72nd percentile.

As a whole, the district scored in the needs improvement classification with an overall score of 54.1. Out of 174 districts in Kentucky, the district ranked 97.

Lone Jack Principal Kevin Wilder also gave a presentation in regards to the K-Prep test. Wilder presented several celebration points with the test.

Third grade reading scored at the district level and above the state level. Forty-seven percent of the students in the third grade scored proficient or distinguished in math.

In fourth grade science, 88.5 percent of the students scored proficient or distinguished. As a whole, fourth grade science classes scored over 100 percent and will receive bonus points for it.

In fourth grade language mechanics, which encompasses all aspects of the language process, 46.9 percent of the students scored proficient/distinguished. In fourth grade reading, 46.2 percent of the students scored proficient/distinguished.

In math, 38.5 percent of the students scored proficient/distinguished.

Wilder plans to keep using the Kentucky coach books, which gives practice opportunities with short answer and multiple choice. Wilder stated the school also bought constructive response practice books, which model what a quality response should look like.

One main concern for Wilder is the amount of students who bench-marked on the EXPLORE test. Only 9.1 percent of students bench-marked on the test. Wilder also stated the school needs to focus on the students in the GAP category.

Anthony Cloud is a staff writer for the Middlesboro Daily News. He can be contacted via email at acloud@heartlandpublications.com or by phone at 606-248-1010, ext. 208.