2009 high-performance, high-poverty schools

At every level, Kentucky has schools that serve mainly students whose families have very low incomes and deliver student results in the top 25 percent statewide.  Key state leaders (here and here) reminded me that I couldn't immediately name our 2009 high-performance, high-poverty schools, so I spent yesterday evening on a hero-hunt.

I started with state counts of students eligible for the federal free lunch program.  Then, I lined up the lunch numbers with the schools' 2009 transition index results.  For each school, the transition index is an unofficial number that sums up all a school's results on the Kentucky Core Content tests, providing a single number on a 0 to 140 scale with a 100 being equivalent to the average student having reached proficiency in all five.  That allowed me to find schools in the top 25 percent for both free lunch participation and academic results.

I'm delighted to call these results to your attention and spotlight these schools as examples of places that achieve excellence against intensive odds.

2009 Elementary Schools
Results based on scores for grades 3-5 or, for K-6 schools, grades 3-6

• 115 index at Union Chapel Elementary (a Russell County school with 70% free lunch participation)
• 115 index at Duff Elementary (Floyd County, 73% free lunch)
• 113 at Kimper Elementary (Pike County, 73%)
• 112 at Ezel Elementary (Morgan, 73%)
• 110 at Rightfork Center (Bell, 75%)
• 109 at McDowell Elementary (Floyd, 78%)
• 109 at Bethel Elementary (Bath, 70%)
• 109 at Jones Fork Elementary (Knott, 72%)
• 108 at Tompkinsville Elementary (Monroe, 67%)
• 108 at Cuba Elementary (Graves, 67%)
• 107 at Meade Memorial Elementary (Johnson, 67%)
• 107 at Burnside Elementary (Pulaski, 72%)
• 106 at J M Stumbo Elementary (Floyd, 82%)
• 105 at Eubank Elementary (Pulaski, 70%)
• 105 at Boston Elementary (Whitley, 71%)
• 104 at L B J Elementary (Breathitt, 68%)
• 103 at Belmont Elementary (Christian, 68%)
• 102 at Rogers Elementary (Wolfe, 70%)
• 102 at Western Elementary (Ohio, 75%)

2009 Middle Schools
Results based on scores for grades 6-8

• 107 transition index at Big Creek Elementary (Perry County, 66% free lunch)
• 102 at Kimper Elementary (Pike, 73%)
• 100 at Willard Elementary (Perry, 75%)
• 99 at Robert W Combs Elementary (Perry, 75%)
• 98 at West Carter Middle (Carter, 61%)
• 98 at South Floyd Middle (Floyd, 74%)
• 97 at Harlan High (Harlan Independent, 65%)
• 95 at Wallins Elementary (Harlan County, 66%)

2009 High Schools
Results based on scores for grades 10-12

• 89 transition index at Harlan High (Harlan Independent, 65% free lunch)
• 88 at Frederick Fraize High (Cloverport Independent, 57%)
• 86 at Mayfield High (Mayfield Independent, 66%)
• 84 at Whitley Co. High (Whitley, 61%)
• 83 at Barbourville City, Barbourville Independent, 57%)
• 82 at Buckhorn High (Perry, 82%)
• 82 at East Ridge High (Pike, 58%)

Six other schools stood out for high results in multiple subjects: Blackberry, Foust,  Latonia, Lost Creek, Page, and South Heights. A chart showing results for all these schools in all subjects is available here.

Two added data notes:

First, this analysis is based strictly on free lunch participation.  I've included reduced-price lunch students in many earlier analyses, but this time I left them out because their families have slightly higher incomes and I wanted to look at the most intensive version of poverty.

Second, the lunch participation numbers are for the entire school, rather than  for the students who actually participated in in testing, and from October 2008 rather than the April-May 2009 testing period.  The Department of Education's disaggregated test data no longer provides numbers or percentages of tested students who are eligible for free and reduced lunches.