This article originally appeared in the August 23, 2024 edition of the LINK Reader.
During his six years as superintendent of Walton-Verona Independent Schools, Matt Baker has witnessed major changes in public education in Northern Kentucky.
Like all change, some good and some bad, it's creating a dichotomy in the region as the district expands learning and out-of-school options while struggling to address the needs of economically disadvantaged students.
As an example of what's working, Baker pointed to Ignite Institute, a career-focused, highly selective 183,000-square-foot high school that opened as NKY's first regional public school in 2019. An even more positive change Baker cited is NKU's Young Scholars Academy, a college immersion program for dual-credit high school students that began in Kenton County Schools in 2020 and has since expanded to include public high school students from river cities and beyond.
A comparison of state education accountability assessments for the 2018-19 and 2022-23 school years reported positive changes in performance for the region's 13 public school districts, which educate approximately nine in 10 (87%) of the region's 68,493 students. All NKY public school districts showed at least some improvement on state assessments over the five-year period, with the most improvement occurring at the high school level in Ludlow and the middle school level in Southgate.
NKY also exceeded state elementary and middle school standards, and Kentucky's fourth- and eighth-grade national reading and math scores were on par with most states' scores, based on 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores, the most recent available.
State data shows Walton-Verona has seen an increase in overall achievement at the middle school level between 2019 and 2023. Baker told LINK that the success is due to the district's “robust process for identifying students who are struggling academically and tracking their progress.”
The region also reports disparities, including state funding for public schools, an issue recently reported on by LINK, and a growing percentage of NKY students who are economically disadvantaged, as defined by the Kentucky Department of Education as “income that qualifies them for free or reduced-cost tuition.” [school] “Diet” is not just a matter of nutrition.
Economically disadvantaged people in schools
In an education evaluation released in May, EducateNKY, a local nonprofit created to study and improve NKY's educational environment, found that NKY consistently outperformed the state in the percentage of students entering kindergarten ready to learn and in other metrics.
But educational progress in the region hasn't been entirely equal: School districts with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged (or low socioeconomic status) students often lag behind more affluent districts in overall performance, according to state accountability data from the Kentucky School Report Card, a broad, transparent site about schools run by the Kentucky Department of Education.
Based on the 2022-23 data, the River City area had the highest percentage of economically disadvantaged youth in NKY, with Covington Independent School District (89.5%) and Newport Independent School District (90.3%) topping the list. Both districts also had the lowest overall state accountability ratings for their high schools in 2022-23, and Newport ranked last for overall middle school performance, according to the data.
Though Covington and Newport have the highest rates, the share of economically disadvantaged students is trending up across Northern Kentucky. Boone and Kenton County Schools, the region's largest districts, saw their number of economically disadvantaged students increase by 2 to 3 percentage points between 2018-19 and 2022-23, according to state accountability data. (Campbell County's rate remained roughly steady, at about 47.5 percent.) Even wealthier districts have seen increases, with Fort Thomas Independent Schools increasing its share of economically disadvantaged students from 8.6 percent to 11 percent between 2019 and 2023, according to state data.
In Walton-Verona, the economically disadvantaged rate for the 2022-23 school year is 39.8 percent. That's the third-lowest rate in the region behind Beachwood and Fort Thomas, but it's a big change historically: Twenty years ago, the rate was closer to 5 percent, Baker told LINK.
As the percentages have risen, NKY has been underperforming on key educational benchmarks, including school readiness and eighth-grade math and reading proficiency, EducateNKY's assessments show. Though it is still overperforming statewide, state data collected from the assessments and shared below shows that NKY experienced a 2.6% decrease in the percentage of students who were school-ready between 2014 and 2023. During that same period, NKY's average eighth-grade reading and math proficiency was reported to have declined by 12.5%.
Erosion in urban areas along the river is more pronounced.
Tim Hannah, who retired from EducateNKY in July as president and CEO, told LINK in May that academic performance in school districts with large numbers of economically disadvantaged students is measured by more than test scores. Test scores reflect systemic barriers to learning, including high rates of absenteeism, housing instability, truancy, workforce barriers and high school turnover, he said.
“In Newport, one in three kids who start school at the beginning of the school year aren't there at the end of the school year, so this is a problem,” Hannah told LINK. “How do we build continuity? How do we contribute to the stability of the community?”
That, according to the assessment, is EducateNKY’s ultimate goal.
Making education a priority
EducateNKY will be releasing a strategic plan this fall to address the region's shortcomings, and the plan will be centered around a list of five “strategic priorities,” with LINK providing a brief description of each priority.
• Early learning. A major focus of this strategic priority is kindergarten readiness, yet as the chart below shows, many River City districts are falling behind in this area.
A strategic plan is already in place across the state to support the transition from preschool to kindergarten and, more comprehensively, from prenatal to third grade. Local collaboratives overseen by the Governor's Office are working simultaneously to prepare children for elementary school, as are public and private organizations across the state. EducateNKY plans to set new goals to “hold partners accountable for meeting kindergarten readiness goals” in NKY, according to the evaluation.
• Family involvement and partnership. Nearly all River City districts have implemented parent involvement initiatives, such as parent-teacher meeting days, outreach to parents of new students and home visits by teachers. But evaluations show participation rates are low. Recommendations to be proposed in EducateNKY's strategic plan later this year aim to change that.
• Mastery learning. Simply put, the goal is to ensure students understand and retain what they are taught. Part of that is innovation in personalized learning, reflected in the “portraits” of learners and graduates used by several local school districts, including the Covington Independent School District. Statewide, there is also an emphasis on personalized learning to help students master subjects and content. A new accountability system to make that happen is being developed by the United We Learn Council.
• Out of school time. Learning extends beyond the classroom, but access to out-of-school learning in NKY is limited due to the low socioeconomic status of many districts and a lack of local out-of-school programs, according to EducateNKY's evaluation. Another issue, according to the EducateNKY report, is a lack of exposure to positive new experiences for students, even something as simple as trying new foods or hiking through the woods.
• Secondary options. NKY has some options. Open enrollment in public schools — the flexibility to enroll students outside of their assigned school district — is allowed by 2021 state law. There are plenty of private schools in the region, as well as home school options. EducateNKY would like to see more options, especially in river cities, including new schools and programs that serve local students, are open rather than selective, and “intended to serve a diverse student population that exercises agency in their enrollment decisions,” the assessment said.
“The spirit of the region”
Replacing Hanner at EducateNKY later this summer will be Cheye Calvo, the consultant who developed the landscape assessment. Calvo, a former Marylander who told LINK he grew up in an economically disadvantaged family, sees great potential for development in NKY, especially its river cities.
“There's a lot of potential for[school districts]to work together, align their systems, collaborate and really grow the river cities as a learning community across geographic boundaries,” Calvo told LINK in June, “and it also helps kids who may move within a school year or between years, because a kid who's in one school district this year is likely going to be in another school district next year.”
The evaluation states that everyone at NKY, not just education leaders, has a role to play in achieving the goals, which are focused on five strategic priorities: “There is a spirit in the region that is not content with the status quo,” the report said, noting that “NKY has demonstrated a remarkable ability in recent years to unite around collective impact.”
Northern Kentuckians appear to feel their ability to surpass state standards in school readiness and other areas is at risk: “They are ready to take bold, disruptive action to unlock their region's potential and create opportunities that have been stymied by inequities,” the assessment said.
In Walton Verona, Matt Baker expressed a similar optimism about the future of education in NKY: “We have the largest and smallest school districts in the state, as well as the wealthiest and poorest. This diversity can lead to conflicting views and needs and strained relationships between school districts.”
“However, in NKY, it's the opposite. Public school districts work extremely well together and support each other at every opportunity. All school districts in NKY are focused on working together to maximize opportunities for students.”