Knox County Middle School in Southeast Kentucky has been chosen as a “Bright Spot" school. The designation comes from the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky and the Prichard Committee.
A Bright Spot school is one that performs better than expected on measures of educational achievement. Jeremy Ledford is the superintendent of Knox County schools. In an interview with Eastern Standard, he said he has to give credit to his staff.
“The staff I have at Knox County Middle School is what’s really made it happen. They were eager to show that our students can do the same thing other students in Kentucky can do.”
Ledford said students had to score above 70% on the core content studies.
“If they didn’t master the content with a 70%, they had to go to a reteaching class. Now all of our classes were 55 minutes, and we wanted students to understand that reteaching was just as important as their regular core content classes because that is what they’re being retaught.”
It was emphasized to students that re-teaching should not be seen as a punishment but a way to deliver something they needed. The school has 425-students and 86 percent are considered economically disadvantaged.
