# FCPS Students Outperform State, 81% of Schools Earn Top Ratings **Published:** 2026-10-15T04:02:00.000Z **Source:** [Fayette County Public Schools](https://www.fcps.net/post-details/~board/fayette-county-public-schools-news/post/fcps-reaches-new-heights-in-student-achievement) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-5-5) **Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/fcps-students-outperform-state-81-of-schools-earn-top-ratings LEXINGTON, Ky. — Students in Fayette County Public Schools outperformed state averages at every level in the 2025-26 school year, and more than 80% of district schools earned Kentucky’s three highest ratings, according to [a district announcement](https://www.fcps.net/post-details/~board/fayette-county-public-schools-news/post/fcps-reaches-new-heights-in-student-achievement) of state and federal accountability results released Oct. 15. All FCPS schools met state benchmarks for Black and Economically Disadvantaged students for a third straight year, and all schools met benchmarks for Hispanic students for the second time in three years. The district had no schools flagged for Targeted Support & Improvement, the first time that has happened since the current accountability system began in 2018. It also had no schools flagged for Comprehensive Support & Improvement for the second time in three years. The four-year graduation rate reached an all-time high of 93.9% in 2026. The postsecondary readiness rate rose from 69.4% in 2022 to 86.4% in 2026, a 25% increase. Ratings for School Climate and Safety were green at the elementary, middle and high school levels for the first time. The [Kentucky Department of Education](https://education.ky.gov) publishes the ratings annually, based on the Kentucky Summative Assessment and measures such as postsecondary readiness and graduation rates. The system also examines how individual groups of students perform by race, family income, English language proficiency and special education identification. Schools whose subgroup scores do not improve after being flagged are placed in the Additional Targeted Support and Intervention category. Ten Fayette schools fell into that category, down from 12 in 2025. Of the 337 demographic groups evaluated across the district, 96% met federal thresholds in 2026. Twelve groups fell below benchmarks, an 81% decrease from 64 in 2022. Under Kentucky’s five-color system, 14 Fayette schools received blue ratings (very high), 14 received green (high), 18 received yellow (medium), 10 received orange (low) and one received red (very low). Interim Superintendent Bill Bradford acknowledged the recent challenges the district has faced. “This is very strong data and I want our community to feel a sense of pride in how our students are performing,” he said. “The one variable that has been constant is our schools. Our schools are doing great things, and our schools produced these results.” Bradford credited the district’s secondary opportunities, including dual credit courses, career academies and work-based learning, which he said the Fayette County Board of Education has prioritized. He also pointed to teachers. “Our teachers are certainly the reason why our students are performing to the level of which they are,” he said. School board Chair Tyler Murphy said the results reflect “the extraordinary work of our educators, staff, families, and community.” He added, “We remain fully committed to sustaining our progress across the district.” Bradford said the district will use the data to build continuous improvement plans and address remaining gaps. “Today’s data is now our new floor – it’s not our new ceiling,” he said. ## Sources - [Fayette County Public Schools](https://www.fcps.net/post-details/~board/fayette-county-public-schools-news/post/fcps-reaches-new-heights-in-student-achievement) - [Kentucky Department of Education](https://education.ky.gov) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) based on source material from Fayette County Public Schools. The original source is available at https://www.fcps.net/post-details/~board/fayette-county-public-schools-news/post/fcps-reaches-new-heights-in-student-achievement.