The Graves County School District is, in fact, a Distinguished district on the 2014 Kentucky Unbridled Learning assessment.

The Kentucky Department of Education's Office of Academic Accountability "has finished the final 2014 data review process that follows the public release," Rhonda Sims recently wrote the district. She is KDE's director of its division of support and research. "We are providing this courtesy DAC (District Assessment Coordinator) e-mail to highlight Classification and/or Label changes in reporting for your district."

Graves County Assistant Superintendent Carla Whitis serves as the district assessment coordinator as well as secondary instructional supervisor. "Of course, we are delighted with this news," she said. "We've known this re-classification from Proficient was in the process for some time. The change was due to what amounts to a technical error, where a handful of students were incorrectly classified, based on KDE's reporting regulations."

"Congratulations to Superintendent (Kim) Harrison, Mrs. Whitis, [elementary instructional supervisor] Amanda Henson, the principals, teachers, faculty, staff, parents, and students," said school board chairman Jim Wurth. "This level of success takes a lot of work and a lot of people. I should say it takes a lot of caring people because every one of them puts their heart and soul into achieving student success! On behalf of the board, I want to say 'thank you very much' to everyone involved!"

"Obviously, we are very pleased with this news," said Harrison. "The Graves County School District ranked among the very top academic districts in Kentucky on the former state assessment for nearly a decade. Like every other district, we've had to adjust to the new K-PREP assessment and Unbridled Learning goals and regulations. This Distinguished rating for the entire district is clear evidence that we have adjusted and our schools, teachers, and students are thriving. We thank all of them, along with the parents, who play a key role. It's a great day to be an eagle!"

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