Pineville High School posted the second-highest combined rating of any traditional high school in the state in the school report card data released on Thursday by the Kentucky Department of Education.

The Kentucky Summative Assessment measures how all schools in the state perform on Reading and Math test scores, Science, Social Studies and Writing test scores, College and Career Readiness, Graduation Rates, Attendance, as well as the quality of the school environment and safety based on student surveys and the growth shown in each of those areas.

Pineville’s overall combined index score was 91.9, second to only J. Graham Brown, a magnet high school in Louisville which scored a 97.5. Rounding out the top ten were Fort Thomas Highlands (91.8), DuPont Manual (90.8), Livingston Central (90.1), Buckhorn (88.6), Johnson Central (87.6), Corbin (87.3), Madison Southern (87.3) and Atherton (86.8).

“This is unbelievable. I knew we had a great staff and I knew we had great students. I’m just inspired by the way we united and came together with a common goal, with a vision,” Pineville Superintendent Russell Thompson said. “We knew that we could be great. But for everyone to put their effort in the same direction and really work to achieve greatness is inspiring to me as a school leader.”

Thompson also pointed out that Pineville is one of the very few high-ranking schools that has nearly 80% of its student population qualifying for free or reduced lunch.

“That’s something that should be highlighted and recognized throughout the state. That is a great accomplishment by our kids, our staff and our school leaders,” he added. “We’re here in a rural area and giving light and giving hope to everybody that it can be done.”

The scores show a marked improvement from last year when Pineville was a level 2 or “Orange” at the Elementary, Middle School and High School levels. Those went up across the board with the Elementary improving to a level 3 (Yellow), the Middle School to level 4 (Green) and the High School to level 5 (Blue). The state has done away with the color coded system but it’s helpful to show the difference from last year to this year.

Catrina MeDermott was the school’s principal last year and has moved up into the central office as DDP head of curriculum. She took it on herself to put together a plan to bring those scores up.

“Our teachers worked really hard, they came in on Christmas break and did professional development (PD) with me. They rolled their sleeves back and put in extra time after school for PDs and PLCs (professional learning communities), it was a lot of dedication,” she said.

“We’re a school in a rural area that has every-day kids — we don’t get to pick and choose who we get, we educate everybody,” McDermott added. “Our kids rose to the occasion, our teachers rose to the occasion and I’m just ecstatic.”

McDermott said the school primarily focused on Novice reduction and pushing more students to Proficiency.

“Those were the two things that we focused on. Every time we met in PLCs we talked about who we were moving out of the Novice category and who we were pushing to Proficiency. It was very one-to-one and very intentional,” she said.
Thompson praised McDermott for her leadership in developing the plan to improve the school’s scores.

“We did a lot more data tracking last year and dialed in on what our weaker areas were. She worked with teachers to formulate a plan on what we need to put in front of these kids so we can move them up,” he said. “The kids had that willingness to grow and get better and so did the teachers. That is really showcased in this overall indicator score that we have.”

One motivating factor for the high school kids was hearing opposing student sections chant things like “Check your test scores!” at away basketball games last season.

“Our kids saw some things in the student sections at other schools that they took offense to. Our kids felt like they were putting down what our teachers were working towards, our education and our students. They just came together and said: ‘We’re going to do something great.’ They truly did and they far exceeded our expectations,” Thompson said.

“It is truly a reflection of the toughness, the perseverance, the grit and the overall belief in themselves of what they can accomplish when they put their mind to something. I’m just so proud of these kids and now they’re going to be able to wave that flag of being state leaders. They can really represent southeastern Kentucky as one of the academic leaders throughout the state and I feel like that’s a rightful place for them.”

Thompson also thanked the community for supporting the school and the parents for making sure their kids came to class.

“You know, a lot of this can be attributed to our attendance rate going up by five percentage points from the previous year. When you get your kids here, we’re doing everything we possibly can to get them prepared for success at the next level. I think that’s demonstrated by this group of high school kids,” he said. “Our middle school scored Green and our Elementary scored Yellow so we’ve progressed at all three levels. That also shows that it doesn’t matter what you come in as here at Pineville Independent. If you’ll stay the course and keep working hard and come in with positive attitudes, we’re going to get you to where you need to be in order to be successful for that next step in life. By the time you cross that stage for graduation at Pineville Independent School you’re going to be prepared for life.”

Dr. Jarryd Boster is in his first year as Pineville’s principal. He said seeing those scores answered a lot of questions he had as a new administrator.

“Getting these final results from last year helped me to really identify who our faculty are as a group and it demonstrates their commitment to our kids. It shows you that here at Pineville we’re a family,” he said. “Sometimes at a small school you can get overlooked. But at a small school like Pineville we have a lot of power in that when we come together and have a singular purpose we can achieve great things. It’s a testament to our faculty, it’s a testament to Mr. Thompson and a testament Mrs. McDermott and all of the hard work that they were doing. They are committed to excellence here and the individual growth of our students. The commitment of our teachers definitely meets my expectations and honestly, I feel privileged to be a part of such a faculty.”

Boster shared at a recent school board meeting that initial testing shows that Pineville is on track to continue their academic success.
“When you look at the initial benchmark scoring — we use iReady as our screener — we are in a similar place coming into this year as we were last year. However, there is an improvement from where we started last year,” he said. “I feel like we are positioned incredibly well this year to be able to continue that success. We’re going to be keeping that same formula as far as data digs, analyzing our data as a faculty, identifying where the students are and letting each of them know what the next benchmark goal is for them to reach. These kids want to be successful so I think we’re positioned well to have another good year. It’s exciting times at Pineville.”

Thompson said the next step is developing that consistency.

“You can reach the summit but staying up there is one of the most difficult things to do,” he said. “At the same time, we need to take time to reflect and celebrate our kids and our staff for what they’ve done. If you see some of our kids out or some of our teachers out, please congratulate them and give them a pat on the back because we all did this together.”

The school is already planning just how to celebrate their accomplishments. Friday was already going to be a day celebrating reaching attendance goals with a guest speaker and a home volleyball game against Berea scheduled for 1 p.m. and there will now likely be a big Maroon and Gold celebration for the KSA scores once the students are assembled.

“I cannot wait to celebrate this with our kids,” Thompson said, pointing out that the high school scores are based on testing done last year at the sophomore and junior level. “Those kids are now juniors and seniors. Those students are still in our buildings and we want to celebrate those students. They worked their tails off.”