State school rankings for area schools were a mixed bag of higher and lower rankings for 2007.

According to results published last week by the state Department of Education, four schools were upgraded from 2006 rankings while seven schools were ranked lower. Twelve local schools remained the same.

Using statistics from the ISTEP+ test and using improvement over three years as the standard, the state ranks schools into one of five categories: exemplary, commendable, academic progress, academic watch and academic probation.

Nine schools made the exemplary rank this year, with five schools at commendable status. One school, Loogootee Jr.-Sr. High School, had academic progress and nine schools were placed on academic watch.

The state-rated exemplary schools in the area were: Barr-Reeve Primary, Barr-Reeve Intermediate, North Daviess Elementary, Shoals Elementary, Loogootee East Elementary, Otwell Elementary, Pike Central High School and Washington Catholic Middle and High School.

In 2007, North Elementary, Loogootee West Elementary and Shoals Jr.-Sr. High join North Daviess Jr.-Sr. High, Lena Dunn Elementary, Washington Junior High and Washington High School on the academic watch list. Two Pike County schools, Pike Central Middle and Winslow Elementary, are also on academic watch.

Just because a school is placed on academic watch does not mean it is falling behind other schools. At North Daviess, 75 percent of its students passed both the English and math portions of the ISTEP+ test, but it is rated on academic watch because it did not improve enough.

Conversely, Pike Central High School was rated an exemplary school because its passing rates improved by 5.9 percent — the highest improvement score in the area. But its passing rate — at 70.2 percent — is still lower than North Daviess’.

The improvement factor also hurt ratings at traditionally strong schools. At Veale Elementary, where in 2006 they were rated exemplary. But because the school did not improve enough from 2006, its status was downgraded to commendable.

Veale Principal Rob McCormick said although the initial ranking is lower, his educators love accountability and will continue to work for the best for their students.

“The whole thought was a good idea but when it comes to practical application, then you see these little glitches,” McCormick said. “We’re working hard and doing our best and doing as well as we have ever done and yet because of the way it is applied, you actually go down.”

McCormick also said if a parent would look in depth, he or she will see Veale has one of the highest passing rates in the area.

Also, with continued quarterly testing, each student will get more help with weaker subjects.

The same goes for Barr-Reeve Jr.-Sr. High, which had the highest percentage in passing rate with 89.7 percent.

But since they did not improve but went down by .3 percent, its stayed at commendable status. Earlier this year, the school was named a Four-Star school for its 2006-07 performance, as was B-R Intermediate.

There are success stories in this year’s ratings, like Pike Central High School. Shoals and Griffith elementary schools were upgraded from last year’s rankings. Griffith went from progress to commendable with a 2.9 percent jump in test scores. Shoals Elementary jumped two spots from progress to exemplary with a 3.7 percent improvement in scores.

Another school to improve in 2007 was Loogootee East Elementary, which went from commendable to exemplary. The school was also named a Four-Star school for the second year in the row. Principal Bill Powell said three main reasons stand out.

“We’ve got some great students, parents and I’ve got a great staff,” Powell said. “When you put all three of them together, that’s going to equal exemplary status.”

“It seems it’s a lot easier to get to the top than to stay there,” Powell said. “It’s difficult to stay at a certain level and get better. I think it happens with a lot of different things we do.

“It seems to be an unrealistic expectation to ask that we improve 1 percent every year from now until whenever,” Powell said. “Eventually you will hit that stone wall, and you are not going to get any higher.”

Department of Education press representative Lynelle Miller said even if a school has a high passing rate, the goal is for 100 percent.

“Ultimately our goal is to get 100 percent of the kids passing 100 percent of the test,” Miller said. “We won’t stop until that happens.

“As far as (improvement ratings) being a problem, we don’t think it’s a problem even if schools are improving by a single percentage point,” Miller said.





School 2007 Category 2006 Category 2007 Performance 2007 Improvement

Barr-Reeve Primary Exemplary Exemplary 85.2 1.1

Barr-Reeve Intermediate Exemplary Exemplary 85.2 1.1

Barr-Reeve Jr.-Sr. High Commendable Commendable 89.7 -0.3

North Daviess Elementary Exemplary Exemplary 80.5 1.1

North Daviess Jr.-Sr. High Watch Watch 75 -0.6

Lena Dunn Elementary Watch Watch 62.1 -1.2

Veale Elementary Commendable Exemplary 80.4 0.6

North Elementary Watch Academic Progress 71.3 -1.8

Griffith Elementary Commendable Academic Progress 76.6 2.9

Washington Junior High Watch Watch 66.2 -1.1

Washington High Watch Watch 64 1.9

Shoals Elementary Exemplary Academic Progress 72.4 3.7

Shoals Jr.-Sr. High Watch Academic Progress 71.4 0.3

Loogootee West Elementary Watch 73.9 -0.6

Loogootee East Elementary Commendable 85.4 3.0

Loogootee Jr.-Sr. High Academic Progress Academic Progress 80.3 0.3

Otwell Elementary Exemplary Exemplary 87.7 1.3

Winslow Elementary Watch Exemplary 77.1 0.1

Petersburg Elementary Commendable Exemplary 81.0 -0.1

Pike Central Middle Watch Watch 74.4 -1.2

Pike Central High Exemplary Watch 70.2 5.9

Washington Catholic Elementary Commendable Exemplary 88.7 0.0

Washington Catholic Middle-High Exemplary Exemplary 89.6 1.0