Boyd Randolph
Academically, the Somerset Independent school district is recognized as a High Performing district with overall student achievement at the 94th percentile. Under the current state accountability system, each of the district’s schools rank in the top 15 percent or better of all similar schools in Kentucky.
The major focus of instruction is an active, hands-on approach by all involved – students, teachers and administrators. Student progress is monitored on a frequent basis by having specific, measureable learning goals that are constantly evaluated for student mastery. Classroom testing is no longer simply an end goal, but is a means to identify strengths and weaknesses and acts as a guide to encourage teachers to change or modify classroom practices and routines to find the best experience for each student.
Through the efforts of each school’s leadership and faculty, the district has heightened its focus on science, engineering and technology-based curricular experiences for students. Vertically aligned programs such as Project Lead the Way and AdvanceKY emphasize the skills needed for students to be successful in a technology-saturated environment. Concurrently operating programs such as the 21st Century Learning and Gear Up grants focus on community- and industry-driven learning experiences that give targeted students an extra boost in establishing their academic direction.
The district has a number of ongoing initiatives on an individual and classroom level to use the ever-changing technology landscape to its fullest advantage. Currently, all classrooms are outfitted with interactive boards for instruction and an improvement/upgrade protocol has been developed to allow systems to be updated and ensure modernization of classroom technology resources.
To effectively support the district and school programs, the district maintains a resource utilization/prioritization process tied into improvement planning, which ranges from building and capital construction projects to learning resource acquisitions to appropriate personnel allotments and assignments. This ensures every dollar is efficiently and appropriately used. The “profit” margin sought by the district is that our students will be competitive when challenged academically and economically.
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