JCPS at a Glance

Students: 98,000+
Schools: 90 elementary, 24 middle, 21 high, 20 other learning centers
Teachers: 6,000+
Teachers holding a master’s degree or higher: 83 percent
Average years of experience per teacher: 11.6
Parent Teacher Association membership: 59,000+

JCPS is known across Kentucky and throughout the nation for developing innovative programs and setting ambitious goals. We are currently involved in two district-wide initiatives: Every 1 Reads, designed to get every student reading on grade level, and Add it up: Math + Science for All, designed to boost students’ skills in those subjects and to raise the already impressive number of our graduates who go to college or postsecondary training to 70 percent or higher.

JCPS is also known for award-winning students, teachers, and schools. The following is just a small sampling of honors earned.

Our Students*

• 162 Governor’s Scholars
• Two Presidential Scholars and several Presidential Scholar finalists
• 57 National Merit Semifinalists and 29 scholarship recipients
• Intel Science Talent Search finalists and semifinalists
• Girl’s JROTC National Drill Team champions
• Annual Shakespeare Competition national winner
• Siemens Award for Advanced Placement
• Key Club International UNICEF Ambassador
• All-USA High School Band musician
• 44 All-State Band, Chorus, or Orchestra members
• Kentucky Academic Decathlon champions
• Kentucky chess champions
• Kentucky middle school Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest winner
• Two Arthur Ashe Essay Contest winners
• 140 Duke University Talent Identification Program honorees
• 201 U.S. Achievement Academy Leadership Merit Awards
• Junior Travel Award from the Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica

Our Staff*

• 2007 Principal of the Year Award from the Kentucky Association of Secondary School Principals
• 2007 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
• 2007 Outstanding Teacher Award from the Kentucky Council for the Social Studies
• 2007 Teacher of the Year from the Kentucky Association of Family and Consumer Sciences
• 2006 National Distinguished Principal for Kentucky Award from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Association of Elementary School Principals
• 2006 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award
• 2006 Kentucky World Language Teacher of the Year
• 2006 Preserve America History Teacher of the Year
• Seven Ashland Inc. Teacher Achievement Award winners

Our Schools*

• Four schools included on the U.S. News and World Report 2008 list of America’s Best High Schools
• Three schools included on Newsweek magazine’s 2007 list of Best American High Schools
• Four schools listed among the Southern Regional Educational Board’s 100 High Schools That Work
• Greathouse/Shryock Traditional Elementary named a 2007 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education, Field Elementary named a 2006 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School
• Noe Middle designated a 2007 School to Watch by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, Crosby Middle designated a 2006 School to Watch
• A dozen schools designated National PTA Parent Involvement Schools of Excellence
• More than sixty schools designated U.S. Department of Agriculture Gold Level Team Nutrition Schools
• Atherton High received the 2007 Spinning the Globe Education Award from the Kentucky World Trade Center.

* Denotes awards earned in the past few school years. During the past decade, numerous awards and honors have been presented not only to JCPS students and staff but also to the entire school district, including two What Parents Want Awards, a Kentucky Department of Education Certificate of Excellence Award, a KnowledgeWorks Foundation Schools as Centers of Community Award, a National Schools of Character Citation, a finalist award for the Broad Prize for Urban Education, and accreditation as a Quality School District through the Southern Association of College and Schools—an accreditation earned by only a few other urban school systems.

Of course, we enjoy state and national recognition, but local appreciation is even better. For the past several years, Jefferson County parents have consistently given JCPS high marks. On the districtwide 2006-07 parent survey, 58 percent of respondents graded their child’s school with an A. Thirty-one percent gave a grade of B. Here are some more results from the survey:

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