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Achievement in schools remains high; year-over-year academic growth lags
By SUSAN LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
Williamson County Schools’ received straight As in student achievement but not as flattering grades in the academic growth portion of the state’s 2010 Report released Friday.
“Good is not good enough in Williamson County,” Director of Schools Dr. Mike Looney said at a press conference Friday to go over the results.
“Fifteen schools have an F in academic growth in at least one area,” he said. That list includes Kenrose, Grassland and Nolensville elementary schools, and Woodland and Sunset middle schools.
At the middle school level, Brentwood and Fairview middle schools showed the highest scores in academic growth. BMS earned one A and three Bs.
Looney acknowledged it’s hard for many to wrap their heads around the fact that despite receiving almost perfect marks for academic achievement, the second set of academic growth scores, or “value added” as they are commonly referred to, continues to raise concerns.
WCS earned Ds in Academic Growth in math, reading/language arts and science while earning a B in social studies.
Looney used an analogy to explain academic growth. He cited a runner who is at an age and place in his or her training who should be improving. He said if the runner is clocked at a certain time one year, and then at the same time the previous year, there’s no growth.
“We don’t want to mask the fact that we have work to do,” said Looney, who took over as superintendent in December 2009. None of the changes put forth since his arrival are reflected in the just-released figures and results which are based on tests taken more than a year ago.
He also noted that the scores' late release makes it harder for districts to react. This year’s scores were delayed past the even normal late fall release.
“My wish would be to have the results at the start of the school year,” he said.
With the 2010 Report Card, the state of Tennessee began using new assessments with more rigorous standards, redefined proficiency levels and reset the number to identify achievement levels. While results from previous years are posted, there is no trend data available for achievement/value added in third through eighth grades as this is a “re-start” of all comparison reporting for achievement data.
All Williamson County schools are in Good Standing with exception of Hillsboro Middle, which was placed on the targeted list due to the percentage of students with disabilities who did not score proficient/advanced in math and reading.
Items to note to about this year’s Report Card:
The new standards hit every grade level at one time during the 2009-2010 school year, with the exception of social studies. At the district level, social studies improved from a “C” to a “B” from 2009 to 2010. In social studies, the standards and test did not change as it did in math, reading/language arts and science.
The district earned all As in writing at the fifth, seventh and eleventh grades.
At the high school level, Brentwood High’s 2009-10 ACT average was 25; almost five points above the 20.3 state average. Ravenswood’s average was 24.3. Both schools showed increases over a three-year period.
In the individual schools’ value-added scores, Crockett Elementary went from a D to a B in science, but dipped from a B to a C in math. Social studies went up, from a C to a B.
Edmondson Elementary showed a jump from a C to an A in social studies and a D to a C in science. It went from a B to a C in math.
Kenrose Elementary fell from a C to an F in math, a C to a D in social studies and retained its D score in reading/language. Science remains a B.
Lipscomb Elementary improved its one 2009 F to a D in science, and two Ds, in social studies and reading/language respectively, to Cs. It retained a C in math.
At Nolensville Elementary, math fell from a D to an F, but social studies increased from a D to a C and science from an F to a D. It retained its C in reading/language.
Scales Elementary’s value added math score fell from a C to a D. It retained its C in reading/language, an A in social studies and a D in science.
Sunset Elementary fell in two categories, from an A to a C in math and a B from an A in science. It retained its A in social studies and C in reading/language.
At the middle school level, Brentwood Middle, as noted above, received three Bs and one A. It improved its reading/language grade to a B from a C, but fell from an A to a B in science.
Sunset Middle School fell in three categories, from Ds to Fs in math, social studies and science, and retained a D grade in reading/language.
At Woodland, math fell from a B to a D in math, retained a C in reading/language, improved from a C to B in social studies and went from a D to an F in science.
Asked about per-pupil spending, Looney said it is time for “difficult conversations.”
“We need to ask ‘Is every child getting what they need from our school system?’ Are we satisfied with being high achieving or are we concerned?” Looney asked of the value-added scores.
The state also released the amount each district spent on its students. Williamson County spent $7,821 per student, as compared to $11,813 in the Oak Ridge; $9,403 in Maryville; and closer to home, $11,923 in the K-8 Franklin Special School District. .
Looney said funding affects equipment, teacher quality and other factors that help determine student success. He added that in his opinion, “we aren’t funding our schools at the state, federal and local levels at the proper levels.”
Williamson County “continues to be a leader in the state in academic achievement, and I’m proud of our successes. But, even though we are a high achieving school district, our academic growth scores must improve. What we have accomplished is not good enough -- students must make substantial academic gains each year,” Looney said.
“The Report Card information is affirming to what we already knew -- we have areas of weakness. We have already begun addressing some of them through our Scope and Sequence guides which we implemented this school year, by identifying instructional gaps and through other measures. But, let me clear -- I am deeply concerned with our scores. We have a great amount of work to do.”
For third through eighth grade students, the percentages of students scoring proficient/advanced must increase by approximately 20 percent each year in each area. The end goal is 100 percent proficient/advanced by 2013-2014.
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