This week, the Kentucky Department of Education released its school report cards for the 2022-2023 school year.
Last year, the department unveiled its new rating system, which utilizes a color-coded scale to rate each district's performance at elementary, middle, and high school levels. Previously, Kentucky graded districts on a five-star scale, with one star being the lowest rating and five stars being the highest.
The color-coded scale ranges from red (the lowest) to blue (the highest). In between the two sit orange, yellow, and green ratings.
Across 171 school districts in the Commonwealth, Kentucky's schools averaged out to a yellow (medium) rating at all three levels.
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Similar to last year, Beechwood Independent Schools and Fort Thomas Independent Schools were among the highest-rated districts in Northern Kentucky receiving either a blue or green at each level.
Beechwood received a blue rating across the board for its elementary, middle, and high schools, while Fort Thomas saw a slight dip securing a blue rating for its elementary schools, but green ratings for its middle and high schools after receiving all blue ratings for the 2021-2022 school year.
For the rest of Northern Kentucky, Southgate Independent Schools, one of the few districts in the Commonwealth without a high school notched a blue rating for its middle school performance and yellow for elementary school performance.
Boone County, Campbell County, and Kenton County Schools all earned green ratings for their elementary schools. Ludlow Independent and Walton-Verona Independent Schools both received green scores for their high schools.
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Covington Independent Schools and Newport Independent Schools were the only Northern Kentucky districts to receive the lowest rating (red) for their high schools. Newport also received a red rating for its middle school and a slightly higher orange rating for its elementary school.
Compared to last year, Newport's high school rating dropped by a score while Covington saw a bit of improvement in its middle school academic performance.
A relevant factor contributing to these scores is the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in each district. Across Kentucky, just over 60% of students are considered to be economically disadvantaged. In both Covington and Newport, almost 90% of students are listed as economically disadvantaged, much higher than some other Northern Kentucky districts like Beechwood where about 15% of its students are economically disadvantaged, and Fort Thomas with 11%.
The Kentucky Department of Education says the purpose of the school report cards is to help parents quickly find data and information about their child's school and state education system with the hope it will strengthen communication between school districts and the community.
