Christian County Public Schools Take Giant Leap Forward

Christian County Public Schools took a giant leap forward in student achievement during the 2008-2009 school year.

            Test scores released in September reflect a 10.6-point increase on the Kentucky Core Contest Test, which serves as an annual measure of student learning. In addition, CCPS met all 19 accountability goals under the No Child Left Behind federal law.

            Meeting all 19 NCLB goals is a history-making accomplishment for the Christian County Public School District. This is the first time since the inception of the federal school accountability law in 2002 that the Christian County Public School District has met all 19 target goals assigned for the 2008-09 school year. Last year, the district met 15 of the 19 goals.  

            In addition, only 10 other school districts in Kentucky had 19 or more goals to meet this year. Christian County Public Schools was the only school system in that group to meet all 19 of the assigned goals.

            Moreover, seven of the district’s schools met all of their goals. These schools are Crofton, Holiday, Indian Hills, Lacy, Pembroke and South Christian elementary schools, along with Hopkinsville Middle School.

            This marks the first time that any of the middle schools in Christian County have met all of the goals established for the school.

            On the KCCT exam, all schools in Christian County made gains this last school year, and four schools scored 100 or above and are now considered proficient.     Holiday, South Christian and Pembroke elementary schools each scored above 100, while Belmont Elementary School scored 99.7. Accountability index scores range on a scale of 0 to 140, with 100 serving as the indicator of proficiency. No school in Christian County has scored above 100 in past years.

            The greatest improvement was made at Indian Hills Elementary School where students scored an 89.5 – a 15.7-point increase over the previous year.

            In addition to Indian Hills, five more schools made double-digit gains including, Crofton Elementary School, Sinking Fork Elementary School, South Christian Elementary School, Christian County Middle School and Hopkinsville Middle School.

            Within the eight subject areas tested, schools saw gains of up to 38 points. Across the district, the greatest subject area improvement was seen in writing portfolio scores which increased 14.3 points while district math scores jumped 13.7 points.

            The Hopkinsville-Christian County community should be proud of these test scores. Improvement of this caliber only occurs with the combined effort of students, teachers, staff and school system leadership.

            This data confirms that all schools in Christian County are improving and student learning is increasing. There is more work to be done, but CCPS is committed to reaching proficiency in all schools by 2014.

            For more information on Christian County Public Schools, please visit our web site at www.christian.kyschools.us.