Scores show students excel in social studies
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While not excited about the school system’s Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVASS) results, Dianna Zadeh, the school system’s Director of Testing, ESOL and Equity, said the scores can be a bit confusing and are not a complete picture of how local students are currently performing.
“In many cases these scores contradict the NP (national percentile) scores,” said Zadeh, pointing to the fact NP scores show local students performing better than the national average. “Also, it should be noted these scores are three-year averages and may not reflect the improvements already taking place.”
TVASS was instituted in 1997 and shows the progress of the state’s fourth- through eighth-grade students. It is part of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, which is also comprised of achievement tests, writing assessments and high school Gateway exams. Unlike achievement tests, which test a student’s knowledge on a particular day, value-added scores reflect the gains each student makes from year to year.
Value-added analysis compares those gains to the gains made by a normal sample for that same subject between those same grades. For example, if the normal gain from third to fourth grade was 15 points, a fourth-grade teacher’s students who averaged a 15-point gain for the year would score 100, or 100 percent of normal gains. Students who averaged an 18-point gain would score a 120, and so on.
As a whole, Warren County students scored best in social studies, with a 118 percent cumulative gain. Falling just shy of the average national cumulative gains, local students scored a 98.1 percent gain in science, a 96.9 percent gain in reading, a 95 percent gain in language, and a 93.4 percent gain in math.
Making up the system’s averages were average scores from each grade, four through eight, in every elementary school in the county. Among the highest scoring schools were Bobby Ray Elementary and Centertown Elementary, which each averaged over 100 percent gains in every subject tested.
Eastside Elementary, which underwent construction during last spring’s testing, averaged the lowest scores, not meeting 100 percent gains in any subject area.
Director of Instruction Bobby Cox said the system has already begun using the data to determine weaknesses and is taking steps to improve instruction, including the use of curriculum maps to make sure all testing criteria is covered.
“We will concentrate our efforts first in those areas and grades where we had the lowest scores, while at the same time trying not to lose ground in those areas where we’ve made gains,” Cox said.
Detailed TVASS results for the Warren County School System and its individual schools can be found at www.k-12.state.tn.us/assessment.
Warren County TVASS results
A score of 100 is the national average
Social Studies 118.0
Science 98.1
Reading 96.9
Language 95.0
Math 93.4