Officials with both the Harlan County and Harlan Independent school districts say they are pleased with the results of the latest round of Kentucky Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) scores. The Kentucky Department of Education released the midpoint report of the second biennium of the long-term accountability system of CATS on Tuesday.

With the county and city districts showing an overall scoring increase, the two school systems are, for the most part, on track with this year's statewide trend of making progress. While all trend data is short-term, each subject area and grade level appears to be making progress throughout the commonwealth, and the gains are encouraging, said Kentucky Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit.

"The data from our core content tests parallels what we've seen in other academic measures such as CTBS, NAEP and ACT slow, steady progress overall," Wilhoit said. "As in the past, our elementary schools are the high achievers, but middle and high schools are not far behind."

Within the Harlan County district, the elementary schools proved to be the high scorers, while the city district's high school performed the best.

"We have consistent improvement in the elementary setting," said Harlan County Schools Superintendent Tim Saylor. "This indicates that our elementary program is addressing the academic needs of the students. I commend the elementary administrators, teachers and staff."

Harlan Independent Schools Superintendent David Johnson said his district had increased in every area and feels confident about the district's goal of reaching proficiency by the year 2014.

"I'm pleased with our scores on all three levels," Johnson said. "We feel more of our students are learning on a higher level than they were previously, and we're excited about that."

Within the county,

Gary Hackler, the Harlan County Schools curriculum director, said while improvements were made on the county's three levels, there's room for some concern.

"We're really pleased with our elementary school scores," he said. "We're optimistic about our middle school scores, and we're concerned about our high school scores."

Cawood was the county's top scoring elementary school with an academic index of 76. The school was followed by Wallins at 75.9, Rosspoint at 75.7, Evarts at 75.4, Black Mountain at 72.8, Harlan at 71.8, Cumberland at 64.1, Green Hills at 61.7, and Hall at 58.3.

Harlan Middle School scored the highest in the county in its division with an academic index of 73.9. Wallins was second with 68.3, Rosspoint at 67.1, Cawood at 66.2, Cumberland at 65.2, Black Mountain at 59.4, Evarts at 54.7, Green Hills at 54.5 and Hall at 54.

Harlan was also the highest scoring high school with an academic index of 79.5. Cumberland High School followed with 53.9, James A. Cawood High School at 52.7 and Evarts High School at 48.6.

James A. Cawood High School, Cumberland High School and Evarts High School fell below the state average in all assessment areas. A 51.9 scoring rating was recorded for the high schools, which did not meet the state average of 68.8. JACHS gained 2.7 points on the academic index, CHS fell 3.1 points and EHS dropped four tenths of a point. For the county district's high schools, an overall increase of about one point was recorded.

Saylor said his district has identified needs for the middle school and secondary levels and will be addressing and implementing programs necessary to enhance the academic content and instructional methods.

"We have considerable restructuring to occur in our high schools," Saylor said.

Problem areas pinpointed by Johnson in the independent district were the elementary and middles school's math scores, which did not meet state average.

"We realize there are some areas that need attention," Johnson said, "specifically math. The scores indicate we have some work to do. There's also achievement gaps concerning students in the lower socioeconomic level and students with disabilities"

According to Saylor, the Harlan County School District gained 10 percent on its accountability index for elementary schools and 9 percent for middle schools. The high school accountability index rose 4 percent as a result of the district's concentrated effort to improve on non-cognitive data such as retention rates, dropout rates and attendance.

"The elementary scores indicate the students are gaining the core knowledge to make application of the concepts," Saylor said. "However, it is quiet clear that in the high school setting, there is little evidence that the applications are occurring. As a result, we will be looking closely at the high school curriculum with an intense focus on the course offerings and the instructional methods."

County schools meeting or exceeding their mid-point goal for the 2003 accountability cycle were Black Mountain, Cawood, Evarts, Rosspoint and Wallins elementary schools. Schools falling short of the mid-point goal were Cumberland Elementary School, Cumberland High School, Evarts High School, Green Hills Elementary School, Hall Elementary School and James A. Cawood High School.

Five of the eight elementary schools within the county district topped state averages. In fourth and fifth grade results, Wallins topped the state index of 74.2 by nearly four points with a 78.1. Cawood and Rosspoint elementary schools had an index of 77.1. Evarts Elementary School had a 76.1 index, and Black Mountain Elementary School was 75.8.

Four of the district's elementary schools had reading scores above the state average of 83.5. Wallins Elementary School led the district with a reading score of 89.5 percent.

Cawood Elementary School scored above the state average of 67.7 in mathematics. Evarts, Rosspoint and Wallins elementary schools topped the state average of 81.8 in science. Evarts recorded a score of 91.6 followed by Rosspoint with a 90.7 and Wallins with an 87.6.

Cawood, Rosspoint and Wallins elementary schools were above the state average of 74.2 in social studies. Cumberland Elementary y School reported a substantial gain of 22.37, increasing 67.4.

Six of the district's eight elementary schools exceeded the state average of 68.0 in writing. Black Mountain led the district with a score of 83.7, followed by Rosspoint with an 81.7, Evarts Elementary with an 80.1, Wallins with a 76.7, Green Hills with a 70.1 and Hall with a 68.2

Arts and humanities scores for fourth and fifth graders show two schools above the state average of 55.4. They were Wallins with a 59.8 and Cawood Elementary with a 59.5.

Wallins topped the state average of 77.3 in practical living and vocational assessment, increasing 24.46 to a score of 81.5. Black Mountain scored a 79.3.

At the middle school level for seventh and eighth graders, the district accountability index increased from 56.0 to 61.1, but fell below the estate average of 68.1. Wallins Elementary School was the only school at the state average at the middle school level. Rosspoint and Cawood elementary schools narrowly missed by about one point.

In reading for the middle schools, Wallins and Cawood were above state average of 82.7. Wallins had a score of 95.3 and Cawood with an 81.7. Black Mountain and Cumberland Middle missed the state average by one point or less.

Two schools topped the state middle school science average of 68.3. Rosspoint, with a gain of 6.85, scored a 74.9. Black Mountain had a 27.24-point gain, climbing from a 44 to 71.

Cawood Elementary topped the state average of 70.3 in social studies, recording a 73.4.

In writing, five schools topped the state average of 51.9 in writing. Wallins scored 75.7, Rosspoint 64.3, Hall 60.2, Evarts Elementary 55.5 and Cawood Elementary at 54.7. Hall Elementary School showed a substantial 32-point gain with a 60.2.

Two schools topped the state middle school average of 69.3 for arts and humanities. Cawood Elementary School had an 80.0, Black Mountain scored 74.3, which was an increase of about 26 points.

Black Mountain Elementary School topped the practical living and vocational state average of 70.0, with 70.7.

Saylor said his district would be analyzing the scores in great detail. A workshop is scheduled for Thursday at the central office to study test scores and make suggestions for improvements.