Many people ask the question, how
did Scott County wind up with a separate school just for 9th graders? In order to answer the question, we first
need to take a look back.
Special thanks to Marie Jones for sharing the history.
For generations the Scott County
School System has dedicated itself to the education of the children in Scott
County. In the 1950’s the county school
system experienced a merger of the smaller community high schools, Sadieville
High School, Stamping Ground High School, Great Crossing High School, Ed Davis
High School, and Oxford High School into one high school called Scott County
High School. The Georgetown City School
System merged with the county school system during the 1970’s. Georgetown High School students joined the
existing Scott County High School in 1975, a historical year. Garth School of the Georgetown City School
System became an elementary school at the time of this merge. The Georgetown High School building became
what is known today as Georgetown Middle School.
Scott County High School began in 1955
as a four-year school with 22 faculty members and 375 students. In 1965 Scott County changed to a three-year
school, returning to a four-year school in 1975. In 1981, the school became accredited by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
SCHS has won eight state championships in athletics—football in 1975
with Bill Wilson as head coach; girls’ basketball in 1985 and ten years later
in 1995 with Wayne Atkins as head coach; and boys’ basketball in 1998 and nine
years later in 2007 with Billy Hicks as head coach; football in 2013 with Jim
McKee as the head coach and bowling in 2012 and 2013; and girls softball in
2014. In 1995, Ukari Figgs was honored
as KY’s Miss Basketball; in 1999 Rick Jones was named KY Mr. Basketball; in 2000
Scott Hundley was named Mr. Basketball; in 2007 Rebecca Gray was named KY’s
Miss Basketball and Billy Tom Sargent was named Mr. Golf in 2012 and 2014.
In
addition to the above, SCHS experienced the following accolades just last
year. Many of our freshmen have participated
in the following:
Ranked in the top 10% of the state for ACT
scores, Total enrollment of 1082 in Advanced Placement (AP) courses,
5 students attended Governor's School for the Arts, 18 students accepted
to the Governor's Scholars Program, Attained a district college &/or career
ready goal of 70.5, far exceeding the 55.9 target, 30 students selected for the
KMEA All-Sate Choir, the most of any high school in the state, 8 students
selected out of over 5000 auditions for the American Choral Directors
Association (ACDA) Honor Choir in Jacksonville, Florida, 6 students selected
for the Kentucky Music Educators Association (KMEA) All-State Band, For the
18th year in a row, the 4th hour band at Scott County High School received top
ratings of Distinguished and Distinguished Plus on the KMEA District 7
Assessment, Future Farmers of America (FFA) ranked a 2 Star FFA Chapter; 1
of 14 Kentucky chapters recognized at the national level, 3 FFA students named
Grand Champions at the Kentucky State Fair, 29 DECA students competed at the
state level, 19 DECA students advanced to international competition, KUNA
students won Outstanding Cultural Display and Delegation of Excellence awards,
Two teams from Elkhorn Crossing competed in the VEX Robotics international
competition in California, The SCHS Academic Team placed first in the District
Governor's Cup competition, SCHS Football Team won the state championship with
a 15-0 record, SCHS Boys Bowling Team won the state championship, SCHS Softball
won the state championship, SCHS Boys Basketball team was runner-up in state
championship, Billy Tom Sargent named Mr. Golf for the second year, SCHS Dance
Team named National Champion in Varsity Variety and Varsity Pom, District and
Regional champions in a number of other sports programs, and First and second
place winners in the state STLP competition
Scott
County High School offers a variety of curriculum: College, Tech Prep, AP and the Commonwealth
Diploma.
In 42
years, SCHS has experienced both growth and changes. As a result a new building was completed in
1996 for grades 10-12, Dr. Dallas Blankenship and the board of education took
this opportunity to be innovative. Scott
Middle School moved into the old Scott County High School leaving a vacant
building. With the new high school in
place, the board chose to use the old middle school as a separate school for
freshmen.
Scott County Ninth Grade School was established in 1996. Our school offers a complete offering of
courses for freshman students including an Advanced Placement course. It has a complete staff including its own
building principal and counselor. The
purpose of this school is to meet the individual needs of ninth grade
students. Everyone is dedicated to
servicing this population and making sure that the first year of high school is
a successful one.
Jennifer Reents, in her article Isolating 9th Graders separate schools ease the academic and
social transition for high school-bound students, echoes
what many researchers have said for years:
“Entering ninth grade can be one of the most
emotionally difficult, most academically challenging times in children’s lives.
Along with the self-esteem issues, developmental changes and environmental
shakeup faced by the young adolescents, school districts risk watching their
9th graders fall through the cracks without proper transitional programs in
place.
In fact, researchers have identified 9th grade as the most critical point to
intervene and prevent students from losing motivation, failing and dropping out
of school.
Some school districts across the country are
finding the best way to address this need is by creating 9th-grade
academies or centers and schools within schools. These rather new entities are
designed to smooth the transition to high school and give students the
attention they need during this critical time” (http://www.aasa.org/SchoolAdministratorArticle.aspx?id=10402).
Educators have known for years the
freshmen year is a pivotal one. Scott
County 9th Grade exists for the purpose of helping students make the
transition.
The following is our scorecard, if
you will. We love data and love to see
how we’re doing.
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SC
9th Grade Scorecard
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YTD
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2011-2012
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2012-2013
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2013-2014
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Student
Enrollment
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639
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680
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685
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MAP
Growth in Reading
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4.3
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4.3
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5.69
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MAP
Growth in Math
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4.3
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5.8
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5.0
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Total
Discipline
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2007
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1561
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1250
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Total
Suspensions
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171
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191
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143
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Attendance
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92.9
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92.94
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93.78
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As you can see our data shows an increase in enrollment,
an increase in our
MAP test scores, a decrease
in discipline and suspensions, and an increase in attendance. Our data shows student success. We take pride in student success! We work hard for student success! Our goal is to help all students succeed.
In August 2017, Scott County Schools
will open a new 9-12 high school. Scott
County 9th Grade will merge with the existing high school and the
new high school. For the next three
years, however, we look forward to continuing our tradition of excellence as a
separate school.
For questions or comments contact Jonda Tippins at jonda.tippins@scott.kyschools.us.
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