TVAAS Scores Greatly Improved Locally

November 10, 2005

NASHVILLE — Both the Scott County School System and the Oneida Special School District posted significant gains in Tennessee’s Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) in 2004-2005.

Those gains were reflected in the state Department of Education’s annual Report Card, which evaluates schools and school districts in four specific areas: Non-academic indicators (attendance rate, promotion rate and dropout rate), student academic achievement, the value-added scores and whether the school and district met the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The value-added system, which uses a controversial and complex mathematical system to measure student progress rather than achievement, was much criticized locally after both school districts posted low marks in that area in 2003-2004. In 2004-2005, however, those marks were significantly higher, with the Scott County School District receiving “B” grades in each subject area measured by TVAAS and the Oneida Special School District receiving three “B” grades and one “D” grade.

In other areas of the state’s Report Card, both school districts met statewide goals for non-academic indicators, and both improved their student academic achievement from a year ago. As reported in August by the Independent Herald, every school in the two districts had met the AYP benchmarks.

SCOTT COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM

“We’re just tickled pink here at the Scott County School System that we’re making the TVAAS “honor roll” for the first time,” Director of Schools Mike Davis said last week after the state’s Report Card was released to the public. “We’re really pleased with the results of TVAAS.”

The Scott County School System received B grades across the board — in reading/language, math, science and social studies — this year after receiving no grade higher than a C one year ago.

The school system reported mean gains of 0.7 in reading/language, 0.6 in math and science, and -0.1 in social studies.

Davis also pointed out the high percentage of highly-qualified teachers in the school system. According to the state’s records, 280 of 305 core courses taught in the school system, or 91.8 percent, are taught by highly-qualified teachers. That’s significantly higher than the statewide average of 79.9 percent. The local percentage will climb in 2005-2006, Davis said.

“This year, we only have one person who has not obtained highly-qualified status,” he said. “Last year, we had a total of six teachers who were not highly-qualified.”

In grades K-8, Scott County’s attendance rate was slightly lower than last year — 94.3 percent this year, 94.6 percent last year — but remained higher than the state goal of 93 percent. In grades 9-12, the attendance rate was 91 percent, two percentage points lower than last year’s rate and the statewide goal.

The promotion rate in grades K-8 rose slightly from a year ago, from 97.6 percent to 97.8 percent, and remained ahead of the statewide goal of 97 percent. At the high school level, the graduation rate of 78.5 percent remained lower than the statewide goal of 90 percent, but the dropout rate, 8.1 percent, fell below the statewide goal of 10 percent, and was significantly better than the 2004 dropout rate of 15 percent.

In student academic achievement, which is based on the annual TCAP test, Scott County schools showed improvements across the board. At the K-8 level, 86 percent of students tested proficient or advanced in math, compared to 23 percent in 2004. In reading/language arts, 90 percent of students tested proficient or advanced, compared to 83 percent in 2004.

The county’s grades for Criterion-Referenced Academic Achievement, which are based on three-year averages of students’ TCAP tests, showed grades of C in math, reading/language and science and D in social studies. But Davis pointed out that the county was five points away from much better grade scores.

“We were two points shy of a B in reading/language arts (scored 50; needed a 52), two point shy in math (scored 49; needed 51) and one point shy of a C in social studies (had 49; needed 50). So, accumulatively, we were five points away from having two Bs and three Cs,” he said.

But, Davis added, “We have made improvements over the previous year in all categories. The letter grade doesn’t always show the overall improvement, but we’re still pleased with the progress we’ve made and we credit that to the hard work of our teachers, staff, administrators, and of course our parents and students.”

ONEIDA SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Oneida Director of Schools Henry Baggett is also proud of his schools’ improvement on value-added scores in 2005.

“Traditionally we have not done well on value-added,” Baggett said. “But we made significant improvements in all areas of value-added. I am proud of our students, teachers, parents and administrators for a job well done. Our teachers worked hard to improve in this area and it paid off.”

Oneida schools posted value-added scores of B in reading/language, science and social studies and a D in math, up significantly from 2004. In mean gains, Oneida posted a gain of 0.7 in reading/language, -1.6 in math, 0.1 in science and social studies remained unchanged.

In non-academic indicators, Oneida schools posted improvements in every area and remained well ahead of statewide goals in most categories.

In grades K-8, Oneida posted an attendance rate of 95.2 percent, up from 94.7 percent in 2004 and ahead of the statewide goal of 93 percent. The promotion rate in the lower grades was 99.6 percent in 2005, up from 98.2 percent in 2004 and ahead of the state goal of 97 percent.

At the high school level, Oneida posted an attendance rate of 94.8 percent, up slightly from last year’s rate of 94.7 percent and ahead of the statewide goal of 93 percent. The dropout rate was down significantly —to 2.5 percent in 2005 from 6 percent in 2004 — and well ahead of the statewide goal of 10 percent. The graduation rate at Oneida was 93.5 percent, ahead of the statewide goal of 90 percent.

Of 462 core classes in the Oneida Special School District, 398 —or 86.15 percent — are taught by highly-qualified teachers.

The Oneida Special School District posted good grades in academic achievement at the K-8 level, with improvements made across the board.

In math, 94 percent of students tested proficient or advanced on last year’s TCAP tests, as compared to 87 percent the previous year. In reading/language arts, 94 percent of students tested proficient or advanced, up from 86 percent in 2004.

The three-year Criterion-Referenced averages were also kind to Oneida, with the school system posting Bs in every subject area. Oneida’s math score in 2005 was 54 (B), unchanged from 2004. In reading/language, the score was 55 (B), up slightly from last year’s 54. The score was also unchanged from 2004 in social studies (55 - B) and slightly up in science (55 - B, up from 54 in 2004).

“Our overall report card is good,” Baggett said. “Our achievement remained about the same and we improved our value-added scores. With the continued support of our community, I expect to see this trend continue.”

newsroom@ihoneida.com

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