The results of students’ Kentucky Core Academic Standards spring testing were released on Friday and local schools saw scores take a dip as expected, but some Logan County schools still did comparatively well.

Auburn finished in the top 95 percent of all schools in the state with both its elementary and middle school grades.

Auburn’s middle school score was 71.7 (out of 100 possible) and ranked in the top 97 percent of middle schools in the state. Auburn’s elementary grades scored a 72.5 and was in the 95th percentile of all Kentucky elementary schools.

Adairville was also in the top 96 percent for middle school with a score of 69.9.

All three of those were noted as “schools of distinction” by the Kentucky Department of Education.

“I think we’re overall pleased with the first round of these new assessments,” said Logan County schools superintendent Marshall Kemp. “The results show that we have done relatively compared to all the people around us. The district as a whole has done very well.”

Lewisburg also scored well for the middle school grades, getting a 65.2 and being in the top 90 percent of the state’s middle schools.

The middle schools of Auburn, Adairville and Lewisburg were all ranked at the top of the Kentucky neighboring school districts for Logan County, which includes Butler, Muhlenberg, Todd, Warren and Simpson counties as well as the Bowling Green and Russellville independent school districts.

Adairville elementary received a proficient classification by scoring 68.6 and ranking in the state’s 87th percentile.

The rest of the school’s in the Logan County district were all classifieds as “needs improvement.”

“The rest need improvement like a large number of schools in the commonwealth,” Kemp said.

Last year was the first time the new assessments were given to students in Kentucky.

“We’ve got to adjust to a new system ,” Kemp said.”The new assessment is considerably harder and in line with what you’d find in the rest of the world.”

The other scores for the Logan County district included: Chandlers middle with a score of 58.6 and a percentile rank of 69; Chandlers elementary (56 score, 42nd percentile); Lewisburg elementary (56.3 score, 44th percentile); Olmstead elementary (60.1 score, 60th percentile); Olmstead middle (55.8 score, 56th percentile) and Logan County High School 56.1 score, 60th percentile).

The scores for the Russellville independent school district were down considerably after the first round of assessments using the new tests.

Stevenson Elementary scored a 40.2 and finished in the fourth percentile of Kentucky schools. Russellville Middle School scored a 47.9 and was in the 18th percentile. Russellville High School scored a 44.4 and was in the 14th percentile.

“As a school district, the scores are coming back as expected; lower than last year, just like they are for other school districts in the state of Kentucky,” Russellville schools Superintendent Leon Smith said.

Smith said that - especially for the elementary students - the new tests had new challenges like strict time limits and longer reading passages that children were unused to.

“I think we’re looking for nice gains the next time,” he said. “We’re not used to timed tests and long reading passages. We are already addressing those and making improvements.”