Beech Tree News Network

New 5-Star System Overview- As of 12:01 this morning, Kentucky’s new 5-star school accountability system has gone live and is available to the public for review at www.kyschoolreportcard.com .  The new system offers parents and other stakeholders across Butler County a new way to understand how students across Butler County are progressing educationally. 

Using test results from the 2018-2019 school year, the 5-Star system will provide an overall rating for each one of Butler County schools.  The rating will range from a 1 star (the lowest) to a 5 stars (the highest).  Each one of Butler County School’s star rating can be found on Butler County School District Annual School Report Card located at www.kyschoolreportcard.com.  The School Report Card not only contains information on each school’s performance on the Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress (K-PREP) test, but also contains information about; teacher qualifications, student safety, parent involvement, finances, and much more.  The new 5-Star system is aligned to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) as well as Kentucky Senate Bill 1 (2017) which both hold schools accountable for student assessment results in core subjects such as reading, math, science, social studies.  These federal and state guidelines also hold schools and districts accountable for improving the English language proficiency of English learners, as well as a student’s growth in reading and math at the elementary and middle school levels, and graduation and transition readiness rates at the high school level. 

The new system focuses on closing the gaps between students who are in specific groups, such as students who are English Language Learners and those that speak English, or students who are part of the special education program and those students who do not need special education services.  When there are significant gaps in any of these “special groups” called GAP GROUPS, as compared to all the students who are in these groups, a school or district’s rating if a 4 star or a 5 star could be lowered by 1 star. 

The data that is generated by the each of Butler County’s School’s report cards has already been discussed within the leadership of each school as well as by the district leadership team.  With this only being the second reporting of the new Kentucky accountability system and the first year for schools and districts to receive a star rating, this data will serve as a catalyst for discussion, change, and improvements. District and School leadership have already begun the process of digging deeply into each aspect of the data.  That discussion will continue over the next few months and will include parents and other stakeholders.  Through the process of a Needs Assessment, each school will look at their strengths and weaknesses utilizing the data produced through the Kentucky School Report Card, and determine the effectiveness of their programs, curriculum, and instructional strategies. With student success being at the core of this work, each school will develop a plan to address each of the identified weaknesses while continuing to monitor their strengths.    

Butler County Schools Rating

The new 5 Star Accountability System for Kentucky does not give one overall rating for districts.  However, districts are given a star rating for each level of schools contained in the district (elementary, middle, and high school).  Overall scores for each level are made up of several different components.  For elementary and middle school, the overall scores include: Proficiency, Separate Academic Indicators (Science, Social Studies, and Writing) and Growth.  While for High Schools the overall scores include Proficiency, Separate Academic Indicator (Science and Writing), Transition, and Graduation Rate.  Each school is also responsible for their “Gap Group’s” achievement in each of these areas (if they have at least 10 students that belong to said group).

Butler County’s star rating for the 2018-2019 school year was as follows: The Elementary rating was 2 stars with an overall score of 55.1; the Middle School rating was 3 stars with an overall score of 62.1; and the High School rating was 2 stars with an overall score of 57.0.  Individual Butler County Schools scored the following: Butler County High school had an overall score 57.2 and a 2 star rating; Butler County Middle School received an overall score of 62.1 and a 3 star rating, Morgantown Elementary School received an overall score of 50.9 and a 2 star rating; while North Butler Elementary had an overall score of 62. 6 and a 3 star rating. 

Butler County High School

Overall score of 57.2 (2 Stars) includes:

Proficiency Rate index of 46.4 which is calculated from the ACT that juniors take in spring of each year.  In order to score proficient, a student must score at least a 20 on reading and a 19 on math. Butler County High School (BCHS) had 37 students score proficient and 8 students score distinguished on the Reading portion of the ACT, while having 31 students scoring proficient and 4 scoring distinguished on the Math portion.  

Separate Academic Indicator index score of 47.7 (Very Low) which is calculated from the Science portion of the ACT and the On-Demand Writing portion of K-PREP.  In order to score proficient, a student must score at least a 22 on the Science portion of the ACT.  BCHS had 29 students that scored a 22 or higher on the Science portion of the ACT while having 35 students that scored a proficient or better on the writing portion of the KPREP. 

Transition Readiness Index score of 70.8 (Medium) which is calculated from the number of students that are Career Ready or Academic Ready. Also included in this calculation are the students that are English Language Learners and their scores on the annual ACCESS assessment which measures their English proficiency.  According to the calculations, BCHS had a total of 106 seniors that were Academic and/or Career Ready.  This means that students that are deemed Academic Ready scored at or above the benchmark on the ACT.  Those that were deemed Career Ready met the benchmark on an Industry Certification or on a Tech Ed Certification among other things.

Graduation Rate Index score of 93.1 (Medium) which is simply the average percentage of those students that graduated in either 4 or 5 years.  BCHS had a 4 year cohort rate of 93.4 and a 5 year cohort of 93.8.  The average of the two gives us a graduation indicator of 93.6 for the 2018-2019 academic year. 

Butler County High School did not show enough improvement from last year in the gap group of English Language Learners, so they remain in what is now call ATSI (Additional Targeted Support and Improvement.  This classification is for schools that were identified in Fall 2018 as TSI [previously referred to as “Targeted Support and Improvement Tier II – Low-performing Subgroup(s)”] and failed to meet the exit criteria outlined in 703 KAR 5:280.  Butler County High School will remain in ATSI status for the 2019-2020 school year.

Butler County Middle School

Overall score of 62.1 (3 Stars) includes:

Proficiency Rate index of 66.7 (Low) which is calculated from those that scored a proficient or better on the Reading and Math portion of the K PREP, Kentucky’s annual state assessment.  Butler County Middle School (BCMS) had 168 students score proficient and 90 students score distinguished on the Reading portion of the KPREP, while having 158 students scoring proficient and 39 scoring distinguished in Math on the KPREP.  

Separate Academic Indicator index of 59.0 (Low) which is calculated from the Science, Social-Studies, and On-Demand Writing portion of K-PREP.  BCMS had 21 students score proficient on the Science portion of the assessment while 3 students scored a distinguished.  BCMS had 65 students score proficient on the Social Studies section while 17 scored distinguished.  On the On-Demand portion of the assessment, there were 34 students who scored proficient while 8 students scored a distinguished.  The final portion of the Separate Academic Indicator is the Social Studies portion of the assessment.  In Social Studies, 65 students scored proficient and 17 scored distinguished. 

Growth Rate Index of 59.9 (High) is a comparison of the scores from last year to the scores from this year in reading and math. Also included is the amount of growth from year to year English Language Learner students showed on the ACCESS Assessment (an assessment to show English proficiency). BCMS had a Reading growth index of 61.7, a Math growth index of 58.8, and an English Learners Index of 42.9

Morgantown Elementary School

Overall score of 50.9 (2 Stars) includes:

Proficiency Rate index of 53.5 (Low) which is calculated from those that scored a proficient or better on the Reading and Math portion of the K PREP, Kentucky’s annual state assessment.  Morgantown Elementary (MES) had 105 students score proficient and 24 students score distinguished on the Reading portion of the KPREP, while having 91 students scoring proficient and 19 scoring distinguished in Math on the KPREP.  

Separate Academic Indicator index of 45.3 (Low) which is calculated from the Science, Social-Studies, and On-Demand Writing portion of K-PREP.  MES had 20 students score proficient on the Science portion of the assessment while 1 student scored a distinguished.  MES had 28 students score proficient on the Social Studies section while 2 scored distinguished.  On the On-Demand portion of the assessment, there were 28 students who scored proficient while there were no students who scored a distinguished.  The final portion of the Separate Academic Indicator is the Social Studies portion of the assessment.  In Social Studies, 28 students scored proficient and 28 scored distinguished. 

Growth Rate Index of 52.5 (Low) is a comparison of the scores from last year to the scores from this year in reading and math. Also included is the amount of growth from year to year English Language Learner students showed on the ACCESS Assessment (an assessment to show English proficiency). MES had a Reading growth index of 56.6, a Math growth index of 45.6, and an English Learners Index of 86.0.

North Butler Elementary School

Overall score of 62.6 (3 Stars) includes:

Proficiency Rate index of 69.3 (Medium) which is calculated from those that scored a proficient or better on the Reading and Math portion of the K PREP, Kentucky’s annual state assessment.  North Butler Elementary School (NBES) had 74 students score proficient and 26 students score distinguished on the Reading portion of the KPREP, while having 67 students scoring proficient and 17 scoring distinguished in Math on the KPREP.  

Separate Academic Indicator index of 63.1 (Medium) which is calculated from the Science, Social-Studies, and On-Demand Writing portion of K-PREP.  North Butler Elementary (NBES) had 22 students score proficient on the Science portion of the assessment while 3 student scored a distinguished.  NBES had 25 students score proficient on the Social Studies section while 1 scored distinguished.  On the On-Demand portion of the assessment, there were 25 students who scored proficient while there were no students who scored a distinguished.  

Growth Rate Index of 55.6 (Medium) is a comparison of the scores from last year to the scores from this year in reading and math. Also included is the amount of growth from year to year English Language Learner students showed on the ACCESS Assessment (an assessment to show English proficiency). NBES had a Reading growth index of 50.4, and a Math growth index of 60.7.  NBES did not have any students that were English Language Learners. 

NEXT STEPS

As scores now are released to the public, conversations will begin between various stakeholders.  This is the community’s opportunity to become involved in improving Butler County Schools.  Each school will begin to develop their Continuous Improvement Plan with their Site Based Decision Making Councils, faculty, staff, and parents.  These meetings are public meetings and the public is invited and encouraged to attend.  Each of these plans will look at the individual needs of the schools and focus on; increasing the number of proficient and distinguished, decreasing the number of novice, focus on the opportunity or ALL student to engage in each content area subject, and focus on increasing the performance of lower performing groups.