Tennessee Department of Education Releases 2012-13 District Accountability Results

Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Department of Education recognized school districts across the state that significantly improved student performance and narrowed achievement gaps under Tennessee’s accountability system.

The following five districts achieved exemplary status: Bells City Schools, Bradford Special School District, Elizabethton City Schools, Perry County Schools and Stewart County Schools.

These districts raised proficiency levels on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program tests; made substantial progress in closing gaps between groups of students; and ensured improvement for racial minorities, as well as students with disabilities, limited English proficiency and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Growing results while closing achievement gaps is incredibly hard work,” said Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman. “The goal of Tennessee’s accountability model is that all students grow. Accountability data help us sharpen our focus on the students who need added support.”

In 2012-13, the majority of districts in the state grew student achievement in the majority of subjects, but as seen in state-level data released earlier this summer, the state has struggled to improve achievement for students with disabilities.

In many districts, students with disabilities did not improve their performance in 2012-13 over the prior year. These districts are In Need of Subgroup Improvement. Districts In Need of Subgroup Improvement may have successfully attained their goals in achievement, gap closure or even both, while experiencing declines among particular groups of students.

Because the state strives to raise standards for all students, these districts labeled as In Need of Subgroup Improvement will focus efforts on addressing the declines among particular groups.

Districts that neither reached a majority of their achievement goals nor significantly narrowed a majority of achievement gaps are labeled as In Need of Improvement. These districts will meet in-person with department officials to set an aggressive, effective plan to meet the goals they missed the year prior.

Directors and data specialists at the Tennessee’s eight Centers Of Regional Excellence, or CORE offices, will support all districts in their plans to continue and expand improvement in the coming year.

A complete list of districts designated as: Exemplary, In Need of Improvement and In Need of Subgroup Improvement can be found on the department website. School-level determinations and results will be released later this month. A district-by-district look at Tennessee’s growth on this year’s TCAP assessments can be found here.

For more information, contact Kelli Gauthier at 615.532.7817 or Kelli.Gauthier@tn.gov.

2013 Overall TCAP Results for Montgomery County