State testing data released for Russell County Schools

This is part one of state testing data for Russell County Schools that was released this week. The next part will be released on Thursday. 

All Kentucky public school juniors participate in the ACT, which tests students in English, mathematics, reading and science. The ACT is scored on a scale of 1 to 36.  Caution should be used when interpreting trends since 2019 due to the impact COVID-19 had on instruction.  However, for 2020-2021, Russell County students scored in close proximity, although still below the state average, to other students across the state.  Russell County High School (RCHS) will be implementing a comprehensive ACT Action Plan to increase student achievement.  

Furthermore, Russell County juniors remained competitive with others in the state who met College Post-Secondary Education (CPE) Benchmarks for College-Level Readiness.

There was a slight decrease in the overall graduation rate across the state of Kentucky, as well as, for Russell County.  Although the graduation rate dropped for Russell County from 97% in 2020, to 94.3% in 2021, this percentage is still above the 90% reported for the state. 

The participation rate for Russell County High School students in KAS testing areas were 59% (state averages were 76.4% and 75.9% respectively) in reading and math and 53.6% (state was 73.3% and 72.4% respectively) in Science and Writing.  Despite the lower participation rate, the proficient/distinguished percentages were higher than the state averages in reading, math and science.  

Russell County Middle School (RCMS) had slightly lower participation rates than other middle school students across the state.  The KAS testing areas in reading and math for Russell County were 81.3% compared to 84.1% and 83.9% for the state.  Science had a 79.9% participation rate while writing on-demand had a 78.3% participation rate compared to 83.6% and 82.2% statewide.  Even though the participation rate was not as high overall as the state, Russell County Middle School is proud of the performance levels for their students.  The novice/apprentice performance levels are lower than the state in reading, mathematics and writing on-demand.  Furthermore, the proficient/distinguished performance levels in these same three areas are higher than the state.  Writing On-Demand, specifically, rated almost 10% lower in novice/apprentice than the state and nearly 10% higher in proficient/distinguished.

Collectively, the three elementary schools was relatively even with the state in participation rates in reading and mathematics with Russell County reporting 89% and the state coming in at 88.9%.  Russell Springs Elementary had suppressed participation rates and performance levels in writing on-demand while Jamestown Elementary had suppressed data in science. The remaining two elementary schools had a combined 94.5% participation while the state had 88.9% and a 90.35% in writing on-demand while the state set at 87.8%.  

Performance levels among the elementary schools were diverse compared to the state.  The novice/apprentice in reading was above the state level for Jamestown Elementary School (JES) and Salem Elementary School (SES) while Russell Springs Elementary was slightly below.  The proficient/distinguished was also slightly below the state for JES and SES while RSES was slightly above.  In mathematics, JES and RSES were higher in novice/apprentice than the state while SES was considerably lower.  SES was higher in proficient/distinguished than the state while JES and RSES were lower.  Science scores for both RSES and SES, in particular, reflected lower in novice/apprentice and both RSES and SES were higher in proficient/distinguished than the state while JES had suppressed data.  In writing on-demand, JES had higher and SES had lower novice/apprentice than the state, while the proficient/distinguished for JES was lower and SES was higher.  The scores for RSES were suppressed.

*Suppressed data occurs when student performance levels were not represented in each level of novice, apprentice, proficient and distinguished.