College of Education steps in to help
Williams Wells Brown Elementary
W
STORY AND PHOTOS BY AMANDA NELSON
hen state test results arrived in 2014, it was a blow to the staff,
students and families at William Wells Brown Elementary in
Lexington. It was the lowest-ranked elementary in Kentucky.
Nobody wanted to see this happen again, so a
community formed around the school and began to
rally.
Entrenched in poverty, 98 percent of students
qualify for free or reduced lunch at William Wells
Brown. But school officials do not allow such
challenges to become barriers to success.
“We had to pick ourselves up, stay positive and
stay focused on the kids and what we
needed to do for them,” principal Jay
Jones recently told the