Clients - Adairville School

Teachers at Adairville School in rural southwest Kentucky were concerned about their ability to increase test scores. The state's high stakes assessment would determine if the school was meeting instructional goals. Meeting or not meeting these goals would place the school in rewards or sanctions.

In 1996, the Collaborative began working with Adairville School's elementary grades to implement the Different Ways of Knowing whole-school reform initiative. Later the middle grades were added and results have been evident. After one year of our working with the middle school at Adairville, test scores as indicated by the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) showed the following over the 98/99-99/00 period (they more than met their goal):

• Reading scores increased 28.4 points
• Writing portfolio scores increased 17.4 points
• Science scores increased 12 points
• Arts and Humanities scores increased 26.7 points
• Social Studies scores increased 28.7 points

Other evidence of lasting change in the school culture included the following:

• Improved integration of curriculum
• Improved discipline (from 110 discipline referrals in 98/99 to less than 5 in 99/00)
• Higher levels of professional conversation among teachers and administrators
• Higher levels of student engagement

In 2001, Adairville School was named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. And in 2004 Adairville School was named a School to Watch by the Kentucky Department of Education.

< back to client list