State Releases Preliminary Data For School Performance In 2023-2024: Burgin, Mercer Proud Of Student Performance
Robert Moore
Herald Staff
[email protected]
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has released assessment and accountability data for the 2023-2024 school year on as required by state statute and the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.
According to a press release, KDE will release the assessment and accountability data in phases. The data is initially available in datasets on Open House, an online platform. Due to a vendor change, a new School Report Card dashboard will be available later this year.
Both of the school systems, Burgin Independent Schools and the Mercer County School District, have released preliminary results from the latest assessment.
File image.
Burgin Independent Schools
According to a press release from Burgin Independent, students continue to outpace other students across Kentucky. Some of the highlighted results from the 2024 Burgin Independent Schools’ State Accountability Rankings in Kentucky by District:
• Burgin Independent District ranked 28th out of 172 districts in Kentucky.
• Burgin Elementary ranked 55th out of 172 districts in Kentucky.
• Burgin Middle School ranked 32nd out of 172 districts in Kentucky.
• Burgin High School ranked 22nd out of 172 districts in Kentucky.
According to Burgin’s press release, Burgin Independent ranked fourth as a district out of 31 districts in the Central Kentucky Education Co-op and second as a district for elementary, middle school, and high school for proficiency and Distinguished on the Reading and Math Assessments. Boyle County Schools ranked first. In addition, Burgin Independent ranked second as a district in the area for overall combined index, again finishing behind Boyle. Finally, Burgin High School tied for first in the state for postsecondary readiness scores.
“Really proud of our students for their individual performances on our latest state assessments,” Burgin Superintendent Will Begley said in the press release. “Finishing first in the state with post-secondary readiness and second in the area as a district is tremendous. Our state assessment data only cements the fact that the strategies and interventions by our entire staff is spot on. The district will continue to work on strategies that enable students to sustain high growth and achievement.”
“Our community is very proud of all the hard work our students and staff put forth,” said Burgin Principal Chris LeMonds. “It also proves that our unique, small school setting provides us the opportunity to focus individually to ensure student success.”
File image.
Mercer County School System
The Mercer County School System also has a lot to be proud of this year. In a press release, they announced that all their schools continue to receive high marks in academics.
For the first time, the system scored green in every academic area at every school level—elementary, middle and high school.
Mercer officials also pointed out the district was rated as “increased” in eight of 11 main measurable areas and “maintained” in the other three. In addition, Mercer County Senior High School was in the top 15 percent in the state and the top high school in all of Mercer County. King Middle School finished in the top 40 percent of middle schools in the state, while the elementary schools improved for the third year in a row, up from 50.8 to 63.7, according to the press release.
Mercer officials also announced students had increased their composite score in ACT testing for the third straight year, up from 17.8 to 19.2.
“We are incredibly proud of our students and the academic results they have earned,” said Jason Booher, superintendent of Mercer County Schools, in a press release. “Our staff has worked extremely hard to establish a culture of high achievement and continuous improvement.”
For more information, including the full data sets for every school system in Kentucky, visit education.ky.gov/Open-House.
