Schools Garner State Recognition
by Michael Pommier
October 19, 2011
Accolades are coming to local schools from the Kansas Department of Education.
At USD 234 in Fort Scott and USD 235 in Uniontown, achievement is being recognized in the tested areas of reading, math and science from the elementary to high school levels. Based on results of yearly standardized testing, the Kansas Department of Education has awarded Fort Scott Middle School, Fort Scott High School, Uniontown Junior-Senior High School and West Bourbon Elementary with Standard of Excellence awards. The awards are given on the grade and building level.
West Bourbon Elementary School received the Standard of Excellence award for third-grade math and fourth through sixth-grade math and reading. Additionally, Uniontown High School earned Standard of Excellence awards in seventh through 11th-grade reading and math, as well as in grades seven and 11 for achievement in science. All together, the district earned building-wide Standard of Excellence awards in all three content areas at West Bourbon Elementary and Uniontown High School.
In Fort Scott, grades seven and eight earned the Standard of Excellence award in reading. Fort Scott Middle School garnered a building-wide award in reading and Fort Scott High School got the building-wide award in reading and math.
In addition to the Standard of Excellence awards, Uniontown High School was awarded a Certificate of Merit as part of the Challenge Awards, given by the Confidence in Kansas Public Education Task Force. The challenge awards are designed to recognize Kansas schools that are making a significant difference in student achievement despite facing significant challenges in school population, according the Kansas Department of Education website. USD 235 Superintendent Randy Rockhold said Uniontown Junior-Senior High School received two Certificates of Merit -- one in seventh-grade math and another in seventh-grade reading. In an email to The Tribune, Rockhold said that for each of the 14 state assessments, 60 state schools were originally identified as high performing. From those 60, the top score from 10 regions was selected for a Certificate of Merit. In all, 95 certificates were awarded with 26 buildings receiving two or more awards. The awards were presented to 37 different school districts (there are 297 districts in Kansas) and Uniontown High School was one of the 26 buildings receiving two or more awards.
