By Steven Hoffman

Staff Writer

The Kennett Consolidated School District is earning high marks for the academic achievement of its students.

Superintendent Dr. Barry Tomasetti said last week that the district scored 94.4 on the district performance profile compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, placing Kennett in the top 7 percent of school districts in the state.

“When we came back for the new school year, we were greeted with some good news,” said Tomasetti, explaining that the district’s performance is directly related to the work that teachers do with students in classrooms.

While the district hasn't received the results for individual schools, the district-wide results are indicative of Kennett's success at improving each student's academic performance year-to-year.

“We don’t sacrifice the highest-performing students to improve only the lowest-performing students, and we don’t sacrifice the lowest-performing students to improve only the highest-improving students,” Tomasetti said. “We’re adept at differentiating instruction.”

In addition to the high marks on the district performance profile, Kennett has earned other accolades as well. District officials recently learned that Kennett High School was again ranked among the Newsweek/Daily Beast’s list of Top High Schools in the Nation.

According to The Daily Beast’s website, six indicators from school surveys were used to compile the ranking of public high schools in the U.S., with graduation and college acceptance rates weighing most heavily. Other criteria included college-level courses and exams, the percentage of students on free or reduced lunch, SAT and ACT test scores. The data used in the ranking was from the 2012-2013 school year.

Kennett High School had a graduation rate of 90.5 percent and 79 percent of the seniors were college-bound, while 29 percent of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch—a socio-economic indicator that was factored into the rankings. Kennett students had a composite SAT score of 1545 and an ACT score of 25.5.

Kennett was designated as an “overachiever” school district by the Pittsburgh Business Times two years in a row, and last year ranked 48th out of 500 Pennsylvania school systems because, according to that publication, it “smashes academic expectations based on students' test scores and economic status.”

“This type of recognition is not a surprise to those associated with the school system,” said Tomasetti. “It’s a result of great teaching and learning. I would like to congratulate and thank our teachers for their tireless efforts to increase the learning of every child every day, our building administrators who keep our goals for achievement in the forefront, and most importantly our students and their families for their support and great focus on a daily basis. The Kennett Consolidated School District is truly a great place to learn.”