By Pat Crowley
Special to NKyTribune
Newport High School has been ranked as one of the best in the state at preparing high school graduates for college and career readiness.
Middleton
Among the high schools in Northern Kentucky’s river cities, Newport High School had the second-highest score (Dayton was first) and also scored better than other Northern Kentucky high schools.
Kelly Middleton, Superintendent of the Newport Independent Schools, said the scores reflect the Newport Board of Education’s mission statement – preparing students for the future.
“We don’t spend time chasing a lot of elusive test scores,” Middleton said. “We are more concerned with our students being prepared to work in the 21st Century. And this data proves that we are on that path.”
The percentage of Newport students in the state’s various categories of Transition Readiness is also on the rise from the 2017-18 school year to the 2018-19 school year:
• Transition Ready – 57% to 78%
• Academic Ready – 29% to 32%
• Career Ready – 52% to 73%
• ACT English – 35% to 48%
• ACT Math – 31% to 42%
• ACT Reading – 31% to 46%
Career pathways
A growing number of Newport High School students are also in career and technical education programs through the school’s Career Pathways program and a dual credit program Newport has with Gateway Community and Technical College.
Currently, 73 Newport seniors are in one or more of the following Career Pathways:
• Accounting
• Administrative Support
• Management Entrepreneurship
• Marketing
• Construction TRACK
• Graphic Design
• Consumer & Family Management
• Early childhood education
• Printing & Finishing
• Residential Carpenter Assistant
• PLTW Biomedical Sciences
Newport’s goal is to learn if a Career Pathway is right for a student before they even enter high school. During the spring of their eighth-grade year students preview the pathways and conference with teachers and administrative staff to determine the best “fit” for the student, Middleton said.
Newport also has 11 juniors and 12 seniors attending Gateway Community and Technical College.
Four of the students are studying Logistics as part of the new Vocational Certification Program being offered through Gateway by the Navigo River Cities Network.
In addition, one Newport senior is currently attending Northern Kentucky University.
Newport’s commitment to preparing students for careers and college has particularly taken hold in the last few years.
In 2016, Newport was honored by the Kentucky Department of Education in for increasing the rate of College and Career Readiness graduates by more than 50 percent from 2010 to 2015. The high school also received the CTE Career Readiness Gold Standard Award.
The accomplishments go back to the mission and vision of the board to have students prepared for the 21st Century.
Middleton said he is proud of how far the program has come.
“We were basically called a dropout factory,” Middleton said. “I’ll never forget that, and it inspires me and our entire administration, staff and teachers.
“With this new data, and our ongoing commitment to preparing kids for education, career, jobs and life after high school, clearly shows that those days are over.”
