The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) publicly released assessment and accountability data for the 2025-2026 school year on Oct. 15, as required by state statute and the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Results are shared through a color-coded dashboard with five colors: blue, green, yellow, orange and red, in order from highest to lowest ranking.
McKee Elementary scored an Overall Combined Indicator Rank of 96.1 For Mr. Truett and the McKee Elementary Bulldogs, this is the fourth consecutive year they have earned a Blue ranking and the highest performance level possible!
McKee Elementary ranked as #18 (out of 715) among elementary schools throughout the entire state of Kentucky!
Sand Gap Elementary scored an Overall Combined Indicator Rank of 85.7 placing the Tigers in the Blue Category and the Highest Performance level possible. (Last year they ranked Green).
Sand Gap Elementary was ranked #70 (out of 715) among elementary schools throughout the entire state of Kentucky! Tyner Elementary scored an Overall Combined Indicator Rank of 49.1 placing them in the Orange Category. (Last year they ranked Yellow).
The Jackson County Middle School scored an Overall Combined Indicator Rank of 56.2 placing them in the Yellow Category. (Last year they ranked Orange).
The Jackson County High School scored an Overall Combined Indicator Rank of 76.4 placing them in the Green Category for the third year in a row.
(It is important to note that the private Christian schools in the county are not required to take this standardized assessment.)
Overall, as a school district, the newly released 2025-2026 Kentucky assessment data show a mixed but encouraging picture for Jackson County Public Schools: local students posted strong reading results in several grade spans, while mathematics—particularly at the middle and high school levels—remains an important focus for improvement.
The Kentucky Department of Education released the results Oct. 15. Students in grades 3-8, 10 and 11 took the Kentucky Summative Assessment or its alternate version in subjects including reading, mathematics, science, social studies and writing. Statewide, reading reached recent highs, with 50% of elementary students, 48% of middle school students and 49% of high school students scoring proficient or distinguished.
Combining the two highest performance categories, 63% of Jackson County elementary students scored proficient or distinguished in reading, compared with 50% statewide. At the high school level, the district’s combined reading rate was 57%, compared with 49% statewide. Middle school reading reached 43%, five percentage points below the statewide rate.
Mathematics results showed a wider spread. The combined proficient-or-distinguished rate was 51% at the elementary level, 30% at the middle level and 42% at the high school level.
Five Schools, One District Story
For McKee Elementary, Sand Gap Elementary and Tyner Elementary, the districtwide elementary totals point to reading as a notable strength. Nearly two-thirds of tested elementary students across Jackson County reached proficient or distinguished in reading, and just over half reached those levels in mathematics.
Jackson County Middle School’s district-level results show the clearest challenge: 43% of students reached proficient or distinguished in reading and 30% did so in mathematics. Those figures suggest that strengthening core skills during the middle grades will be central to sustaining progress into high school.
At Jackson County High School, reading produced the strongest tested result, with 57% of students scoring proficient or distinguished. Mathematics reached 42%, including 2% at the distinguished level.
School-by-school 2025-2026 percentages for McKee Elementary, Sand Gap Elementary, Tyner Elementary, Jackson County Middle School and Jackson County High School were not available in the public sources reviewed for this article. The figures above are the district’s published results by grade span and should not be interpreted as individual school rates.
How Kentucky Measures Performance
Kentucky’s accountability dashboard combines current-year performance, called “Status,” with year-to-year movement, called “Change.” Overall ratings run from blue, the highest level, through green, yellow and orange to red. State officials said fewer schools earned blue or green ratings in 2025-2026 largely because improvement slowed, even as current performance remained relatively stable.
The 2025-2026 administration also marked the final year for separate editing and mechanics and on-demand writing assessments. Changes approved by lawmakers will begin with the 2026-2027 school year, meaning future comparisons will require caution because calculations and indicators will change.
For Jackson County families and educators, the newest results offer both a point of pride and a roadmap. Reading performance at the elementary and high school levels stands above statewide rates, while middle school achievement and mathematics across the upper grades provide clear targets for continued instructional work.
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