Elk Valley Times - Staff Report - March 6, 2024 Edition

Lincoln County Schools is ranked No. 1 overall for the eighth consecutive year in achievement for the South Central Core Region rankings for the 2022-23 school year. The South Central Core Region is made up of 16 school districts, including Lincoln County. School officials said the ranking as first is “the best and highest” a school system can be ranked.

“A big congratulations to our staff members, teachers and administrators, our support staff, and students,” said Director of Schools Dr. Bill Heath. “It takes everyone to do this and maintain it.” The data was put together by the Marshall County School System, according to Heath.

Lincoln County Schools had the highest ranking of the 16 school systems in English language Arts in sixth and eighth grade, English II at the high school, Algebra II at the high school, sixth- and eighth-grade science, sixth-grade social studies, and U.S. History. “That is a lot of areas to be at the very top out of 16 school systems,” Heath said.

The areas Lincoln County Schools were in the top four out of 16 school systems include seventh-grade English language arts; English I; sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade math; Algebra I, third-, fourth-, fifth- and seventh-grade science; biology, seventh- and eighth-grade social studies; and ACT. “We weren’t first in these areas but we were either second through fourth,” Heath said.

The Lincoln County School System was also ranked by U.S. News & World Report, a group that ranks schools across the nation. Heath said the group is ranking schools with elementary up to the fifth grade, schools with middle grades, and high schools.

Heath said when compared to the 16 school systems in the South Central District, there are 78 schools that fall in the elementary category. He said out of those schools, Highland Rim is ranked No. 5, Flintville is ranked No. 10, South Lincoln is ranked No. 11 and Unity is ranked No. 24 by U.S. News & World Report. Heath said Blanche would most likely be ranked as well but the school didn’t have enough students to meet the metrics used by U.S. News & World Report.

In the middle grade category, Heath said, there are 48 schools in the district. South Lincoln is ranked No. 1, Flintville is ranked No. 2, Highland Rim is ranked No. 4 and Unity is ranked No. 5.

He said in the high school category, Lincoln County High School is one of 31 schools in the district and is ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report.

When it comes to finances, Heath said Lincoln County Schools was ranked No. 11 out of 16 school systems when it comes to per pupil funding. Heath said Lincoln County was $368 per child below the average of the 16 school systems.

When it comes to local funding, Heath said Lincoln County is $740.88 below average per child in the South Central Core Region.

“We are getting our bang for our buck in Lincoln County when you look at our results and look at where we are on funding,” he said. “We are doing more academically with less financially.”

Unity School

County Schools Again Ranked First Overall in Achievement in South Central Core Region