Good and bad news from Department of Education on The Murfreesboro Post

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Good and bad news from Department of Education

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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer

Posted: Monday, July 28, 2008 1:08 pm

There was good and bad news from the Tennessee Department of Education today – schools across the state and in Rutherford County are improving, but Oakland High School and Murfreesboro City Schools remain on the dreaded “high priority” list.

TDOE released the list of schools and school districts today that met No Child Left Behind standards during the 2007-08 school year.

“Tennessee schools are showing excellent progress in meeting the demands of No Child Left Behind,” Education Commissioner Tim Webb said. “However, Tennessee’s primary focus remains our state’s work to raise the academic standards to which we hold students in order to prepare them for a better future after high school. The education Tennessee students receive, not testing, is our mission.”

The good news is this year only one Rutherford County school – Oakland High School – made the “high priority” list, meaning it failed to meet standards for two consecutive years.

“The report definitely gives Rutherford County reason to celebrate because it shows our school system continues to make Adequate Yearly Progress even though academic benchmarks were raised this year by the state,” Gill said. “Our teachers, students and administrators deserve much praise for the hard work they’ve put in over the past year to keep our schools among the best in Tennessee.”

Last year, Oakland High School was also the only Rutherford County school listed as “High Priority – School Improvement II” for failing to meet graduation benchmarks.

“School Improvement II” means Oakland has not met the target graduation rate over the past three years.

But the school is improving, explained James Evans, RCS spokesman, but was still assigned “high priority” status this year, because the NCLB report doesn’t take the most recent year into account.

So, this year’s report does not show the impact of graduation coaches, who assist parents, students and school faculty in help children graduate and were added to all six of the large high schools in Rutherford County at the beginning of the last school year.

Oakland has also hired graduation coaches and algebra coaches, who help students that struggle with math and started several other programs to keep kids interested in staying in school.

The bad news is Murfreesboro City Schools was assigned “High Priority, School Improvement I” status.

Last year Murfreesboro City Schools was assigned “target status” because of low special education scores, however the overall scores for the system outpaced No Child Left Behind benchmarks.

The system saw a similar event this year, with students on the average outscoring the state and nation at every grade level and in every subject area. But the system receives “high priority” status because of low scores for Hispanic students (HISP) in Reading/Language Arts and Writing and students with limited English proficiency (LEP) in Mathematics.

“A leadership team will be assembled to focus on narrowing the achievement gap for the two subgroups who did not make AYP,” Director of Schools Marilyn Mathis said.

“The system has been allocating additional resources to serve underperforming students across the city and has been analyzing data using online assessments through the year to measure student progress and allow teachers to adjust instruction accordingly,” she continued. “However, a more intense review will be given to our two subgroups who did not meet the benchmarks as set by NCLB.”

Also Cason Lane Academy was assigned “target status” for low math scores from students with disabilities.

No Child Left Behind requires students in special education and students with limited English proficiency achieve the same level of skill as typical students.

The Adequate Yearly Progress report is part of the sweeping No Child Left Behind legislation. NCLB requires schools meet the goals of 100 percent of students testing proficient in reading/language arts and math and a 100 percent graduation rate by 2014.

According to Tennessee Department of Education, schools that miss any benchmark in one year are given “target status.”

Schools, which miss benchmarks two or more consecutive years, are assigned “high priority” status. Removal from “high priority” status requires the school to meet benchmarks two years in a row.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.

Tagged under SCHOOLS

Member Opinions:

By: JM325 on 7/28/08
I think it will take a very long time for the city schools to recover from the devastation caused by opening Erma Siegel and Cason Lane with open enrollment. Many proactive, involved parents pulled their kids from the older schools and sent those numbers spiralling. McFadden's opening in 1999 and The Discovery school's recent opening (and then enlargement) pulled many of the remaining top students out of Hobgood, Bradley, Mitchell Nielson (P and E), Northfield, and Black Fox. I can't see how they are ever going to recover.

By: Paused on 7/29/08
Oh I think closing and rezoning Bellwood to Cason Lane is the problem.

By: GrumpaEd on 7/30/08
The solution to the city problem - give the school director another raise!

Now, will the school board ask the questions or will they just sit there like kittens on a window ledge?

By: getreal5 on 8/3/08
Who is going to be on the leadership team that the Director says is going to be put in place. How much input will teachers actually have concerning the challenges they face EVERY day? Will there be a parent component? Yes, schools can move students forward wtihout regular help at home; however it is much more difficult.
What was done this past year by the powers that be in the central office to keep these groups of students from being on the target list again?