Cox pleased with school system’s progress report

The Tennessee Department of Education has released its annual progress report and the Warren County School System has met the majority of performance standards for the 2006-07 school year.

Only one school, Eastside, fell behind in one subject in accordance with No Child Left Behind and adequate yearly progress (AYP) benchmarks.

‘We’ve done really well on our annual progress report,’ said school system director of instruction Bobby Cox. ‘The good news is our system is in good standing, and all of our schools are in good standing, with the exception of one. We had Eastside Elementary designated as a target school.’

Cox explained how this came about.

‘You have to make AYP, and there’s literally 100 different areas that you have to make it,’ Cox said. ‘Eastside had an issue with their special ed subgroup in math, so they didn’t make it.’

But Cox says being designated a target school simply means the state is making the system aware of a problem.

‘Being a target school is kind of like getting a warning shot over the bow,’ Cox said. ‘We had an issue, and we’re addressing that with extra tutoring, identification of students with problems in that subject, things of that type.’

Other than this minor glitch, Cox says the system showed no other problem areas.

‘All in all everybody did really well,’ Cox said.

The progress report is based on a school system’s performance on a variety of criteria, including a series of standardized tests, such as TCAP and Gateway, and other statistics, such as graduation rates.

In Tennessee, students in grades 3-8 take achievements tests in math, reading and language arts. In grades 5, 8 and 11, they also take a writing assessment test. High school students take Gateway exams. Performance on these assessments is measured against standards set by the federal government to determine a school’s status.

Tennessee Education Commissioner Lana Seivers says the program isn’t intended to push schools into becoming fixated on statistics and test scores, but to utilize the information provided by those scores to improve the quality of education in the state.

‘We need to not lose sight of the fact that behind the test results are real students who rely on these schools for a quality education,’ Seivers said. ‘The nature of Tennessee’s accountability system is to analyze the data to identify areas of need and provide customized resources to boost student achievement. The intent of everyone involved is to make the changes necessary to deliver Tennessee students the education they deserve.’

State officials say the problems come when a system develops high priority schools, those that consistently post low scores on tests and criteria, which is where potential sanctions come into play, even up to the government taking over operation of the school.

Cox says Warren County’s school system has shown steady improvement over the past five years, and doesn’t have any of these kinds of problems to deal with.

‘We have one target school,’ Cox said, ‘but we have no high priority schools at all. And really, I credit our teachers for this. They are doing a wonderful job. We certainly wouldn’t be at this point without their hard work and effort.’

Cox says the system is also performing well on some of the other criteria, such as graduation rate.

‘Our graduation rate is really pretty good,’ Cox said. ‘Last year I think we were right at 88 to 89 percent, with a regular education diploma. But it’s really more than that. If you look at all the different types of diplomas we give, like special Ed diplomas or certificate of attendance, then we’re probably in the 90 percentile range. But what AYP and No Child Left Behind looks at is regular Ed diploma. Our state goal is 90 percent, which is one of the highest in the nation, and we are right at 88 to 89 percent. Right now we’re required to be at about 70 percent, so we far exceed what the mandate is on graduation rate.’

The initial progress report presents the basic statewide statistics and school standings, while the actual breakdown of school system scores will be published in November. Cox said even though the system is generally pleased with the current report, and to have all schools in good standing, officials still feel there is work to be done.

‘I would say we’re happy,’ Cox said, ‘but not satisfied. I don’t think we’ll ever be satisfied, because we always have a goal to get to.’