Fleming County, KY
Cognia Performance Standards steer Fleming County Schools out of priority status and into success.
Challenges
In 2014, Fleming County Schools (FCS) was among the lowest-performing districts in Kentucky. Its high school had been labeled a “priority school”— Kentucky’s designation for schools that consistently place in the bottom five percent on state assessments. A state-run audit found that the high school was not monitoring student performance data. The audit also revealed a lack of clear expectations and communication among central office staff. When Cognia (then AdvancEd) performed a state-mandated diagnostic review, it uncovered 18 Improvement Priorities.
Solutions
Fleming County Schools adopted the Cognia Performance Standards as the foundation for districtwide improvement, engaging all elementary and middle schools in the initiative. A strategic plan aligned to the standards guided their efforts, supported by an internal Quality Assurance Team. Over time, the district integrated Cognia tools—including eleot®, the Teacher Observation Tool, surveys, and the SHIFT evaluation instrument—to measure and monitor progress. When expanding accreditation to preschool, they implemented Cognia’s Environmental Rating for Early Learning™ (erel™). Insights from these tools informed key frameworks such as the Portrait of a Learner/Graduate, the district’s Measures of Quality, and its innovative Next-Generation Readiness Assessments (NxGRAs), which emphasize real-world performance, applied skills, and continuous assessment.
Results
Just one year after Fleming County Schools began using the Cognia Performance Standards as its roadmap, the district accelerated from the 37th percentile statewide to the 78th percentile. In addition, the Kentucky Department of Education changed the district’s accountability classification from “Needs Improvement/Progressing” to “Proficient.” By the 2015–2016 school year, Fleming County Schools’ accountability classification had risen to “Distinguished.” In 2024, the state’s education department published an innovation guide, in which it commended Fleming County Schools’ innovative new measures. And in 2025, a Cognia accreditation review found that the district now matched or surpassed the average performance on multiple performance standards.
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