Press Release

5 min read

The Prichard Committee's 2024 Groundswell Summit Ignites Local Education Action

Written by

The Prichard Committee

Published on

June 13, 2024

More than 350 education and community stakeholders in attendance

LEXINGTON, Ky. — More than 350 education stakeholders from across Kentucky gathered in Owensboro June 10-12 for The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence’s Groundswell Summit and Annual Meeting.

“The Groundswell Summit is an opportunity for education champions from all corners of Kentucky to come together to share what they are doing in their own communities to enhance education outcomes and school experiences for students,” said Prichard Committee President/CEO Brigitte Blom. “We know that some of the most effective work happens at the hyperlocal level, and we can all take ideas from each other and adjust them to meet our own community’s needs.”

The three-day summit, held at the Owensboro Convention Center, featured tours of innovative local schools and programs; the Great Schools Showcase; and sessions on addressing chronic absenteeism, creating welcoming schools, designing high-quality early childhood ecosystems and more.

National keynote speakers Dan Wuori and Seth Kaplan were in attendance to share their insights on early childhood education and hyperlocal community engagement. Additionally, the Summit featured a legislative panel with Rep. Scott Lewis, Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong and Rep. DJ Johnson, highlighting bipartisan support for improving education outcomes in Kentucky. Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson and President and CEO of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce Candance Castlen Brake welcomed conference attendees.

The Summit also included an award ceremony recognizing outstanding schools and educators across the commonwealth. The committee honored Ruth Lynch with the Beverly Nickell Raimondo Leadership Award, which recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership toward improving student achievement among Kentucky students. Lynch has championed student achievement by diligently trying to recruit more teachers of color to return and work within her local public school system in Christian County.

Additionally, the Prichard Committee recognized:

29 new Family Friendly Schools and Early Care Centers that have shown exceptional dedication to creating a welcoming, supportive and inclusive school environment for students and families

33 Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership Fellows, who have displayed a deep dedication and commitment to improving education in their communities

Seven Groundswell Action Awards honorees, who are working in their communities to improve education outcomes

Greater Owensboro was honored as the inaugural Groundswell Community for their efforts supporting a deeply engaged community that works together on solutions to improve outcomes

The 2024 Groundswell Summit and Annual Meeting was sponsored by Owensboro Health. The next Groundswell Summit will take place in June 2025.

Ruth Lynch of Christian County was honored with the 2024 Beverly Nickell Raimondo Leadership Award during the Groundswell Summit and Annual Meeting. The award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership toward improving student achievement. Ruth has spent her career championing Kentucky students and recruiting more teachers of color to work within her local public school system. Thank you for all you have done for Kentucky students, Ruth!

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The Prichard Committee Releases 2025 Groundswell Community Profiles

The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence today released the 2025 Groundswell Community Profiles...

Contact: Lisa McKinney, Communications Director, The Prichard Committee

(cell) 859-475-7202

lisa@prichardcommittee.org

The Prichard Committee Releases 2025 Groundswell Community Profiles

Profiles show strong points and weak spots on indicators of education and economic well-being for each Kentucky school district

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LEXINGTON, Ky — The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence today released the 2025 Groundswell Community Profiles, offering an in-depth look at the state of education in each of Kentucky’s 171 school districts. These profiles provide key indicators of learning progress from early childhood through postsecondary education, enabling communities to compare local school district performance to state averages on critical education measures.

As part of its commitment to fostering community engagement in education, the Prichard Committee updates and publishes the Groundswell Community Profiles annually ensuring Kentuckians have access to essential local data on educational progress.

“Real, lasting progress in education and economic outcomes happens when communities are deeply engaged at the local level,” said Prichard Committee President/CEO Brigitte Blom. “It’s up to all of us to take an active role in shaping the educational landscape of our commonwealth. The Groundswell Community Profiles are designed to spark local discussions on bridging educational gaps, using the unique strengths and resources of each community to build a brighter future for all Kentuckians.”

Beyond education, the profiles incorporate economic and health data linked to educational success, illustrating the long-term influence of learning on both individual and community well-being.

The profiles are a companion to the Big Bold Future National Rankings Report, which was released last week by the Prichard Committee. Although the National Rankings Report showed Kentucky is recovering from COVID-19 learning losses faster than most states, many of the quality-of-life indicators show Kentucky declining in the rankings among the 50 states or improving too slowly to move Kentucky up into the top 20 states within a decade.

“The 2025 Groundswell Community Profiles complement the Big Bold Future National Rankings Report, illustrating how improvements at the local level collectively raise Kentucky’s standing among all 50 states,” said Todd Baldwin, director of the Center for Best Practices and Innovation at the Prichard Committee. “By identifying each district’s strengths and needs, the profiles help communities tailor strategies that boost student success, enhance workforce readiness, and improve quality of life. As more local districts make measurable progress, Kentucky moves upward in the national rankings—proving that when every community thrives, the entire commonwealth benefits.”

To explore the 2025 Groundswell Community Profile for your school district, visit prichardcommittee.org/community-profiles.

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The Prichard Committee believes in the power and promise of public education –early childhood through college– to ensure Kentuckians’ economic and social well-being. We are a citizen-led, non-partisan, solutions-focused nonprofit, established in 1983 with a singular mission of realizing a path to a larger life for Kentuckians with education at the core.

5 min read

Statement from Brigitte Blom, President/CEO of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Today, the Prichard Committee released the 2025 edition of the Big Bold Future National Rankings Report...

Feb. 6, 2025

Contact: Lisa McKinney, Communications Director, The Prichard Committee

(cell) 859-475-7202

lisa@prichardcommittee.org

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Statement from Brigitte Blom, President/CEO of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

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LEXINGTON, Ky — Today, the Prichard Committee released the 2025 edition of the Big Bold Future National Rankings Report, and bluntly, much of the new evidence is troubling.

In 2020, the Prichard Committee urged all Kentuckians to join the work of creating a Big Bold Future for the Commonwealth. To frame that work, we identified key indicators of educational achievement and quality of life to compile into a biennial national rankings report. Together, these data points let us:

Compare our work to other states
Analyze trends over the years
See results for Kentuckians of varied backgrounds and ages
Find cause for celebration
Recognize areas of concern

The 2025 report contains some good news. Kentucky is moving back toward 2019 reading and math test scores, as shown in last week’s results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAEP scores indicate Kentucky has been more successful than most other states in recovering from the learning loss that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, our NAEP scores have not fully bounced back to 2019 levels, and the 2019 levels were not strong enough. However, most other indicators show Kentucky declining in the rankings among the 50 states or improvement that is too slow to move Kentucky up into the top 20 states within a decade. Below are Kentucky’s rankings on the 14 included indicators: Bright Spots

4th of 50 states in high school graduation rate
4th in two-year postsecondary graduation rate
12th in grade four reading

Strong Trends (on pace to be one of the top 20 states in another decade)

25th and rising in voter turnout
27th and rising in four-year postsecondary graduation rate

Weak Trends (not on pace to be one of the top 20 states in the next decade)

32nd and rising slowly in grade 8 math
33rd and rising slowly in babies with healthy birth weight
46th and rising slowly in life expectancy

Declining/Flat Rankings

42nd and declining in households with broadband access
44th and unchanged in residents holding associate degrees or higher
46th and declining in children living at or above the poverty line
46th and declining in postsecondary enrollment
46th and unchanged in household median income
47th and declining in preschool enrollment

These results should summon us all to new effort.

The Prichard Committee now calls on the whole state to respond to this hard news with fresh energy and determination. As people who love Kentucky, let’s join together and get to work on building deeper insights, deeper engagement, and deeper investment, both at the state level and in each of our local communities. We invite everyone to explore the report’s evidence here, and we invite all Kentuckians to join us in renewed efforts to make education Kentucky’s pathway to a larger life and a Big Bold Future for all of us. The Prichard Committee believes in the power and promise of public education –early childhood through college– to ensure Kentuckians’ economic and social well-being. We are a citizen-led, non-partisan, solutions-focused nonprofit, established in 1983 with a singular mission of realizing a path to a larger life for Kentuckians with education at the core.

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5 min read

Kentucky Shows Promise with Post-COVID Test Scores

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released their 2024 Nation’s Report Card today...

Jan. 29, 2025

Contact: Lisa McKinney, Communications Director, The Prichard Committee

(cell) 859-475-7202

lisa@prichardcommittee.org

Kentucky Shows Promise with Post-COVID Test Scores

Scores are a call to action for communities, families, educators

LEXINGTON, Ky -- The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released their 2024 Nation’s Report Card today, which shows Kentucky is making progress on recovering from COVID-19 learning losses. NAEP scores are drawn from a representative sample of Kentucky 4th- and 8th-graders tested every two years in reading and math.

“In today’s NAEP release, Kentucky held its ground and even posted some gains during a period when results for many states declined,” said Prichard Committee President/CEO Brigitte Blom. “While the results do not show full recovery of recent losses—both during and before the pandemic—they do show Kentucky’s strength compared to national trends, even while our students face greater challenges and our schools work with fewer resources than the nation as a whole. These gains are a testament to the commitment of Kentucky educators to use the resources at their disposal effectively and efficiently.”

For 2024 percent proficient or above, Kentucky ranks among the states:

12th in grade 4 reading up from 29th in 2022

26th in grade 8 reading up from 28th in 2022

28th in grade 4 math up from 33rd in 2022

32nd in grade 8 math up from 41st in 2022

In percent of students reaching NAEP proficiency or above, Kentucky’s newest results are statistically tied with the nation in grade 4 reading, grade 8 reading and grade 4 math, with results below the nation in grade 8 math. Kentucky’s 4th-grade math results showed statistically significant improvement compared to 2022.

Kentucky’s results in 4th-grade reading and 8th-grade math and reading remained steady for percent proficient or above, which makes it the first year the commonwealth has stopped the backward slide that began prior to COVID-19 and was further exacerbated by the pandemic.

“This data demonstrates that strategic investments in schools and evidenced-backed policy actions work to move the needle on education outcomes,” said Blom. “This is the moment for families, community members, state leaders and educators to rally together to build on these gains and continue in an upward trajectory through both local action and state policy.”

The Prichard Committee will release its biennial Big Bold Future national rankings report on Feb. 6, which includes the NAEP data as well as other indicators of educational achievement and quality of life. The report contextualizes the testing scores by looking at other indicators that affect education outcomes such as poverty levels and preschool participation. The Big Bold Future report will be available on prichardcommittee.org.