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Official says Report Card drops will show schools have progressed

By Brad Hicks
Press Staff Writer
bhicks@johnsoncitypress.com

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Though it was originally expected to be released Monday, school officials and parents can see how their districts and schools fared today when the Tennessee Department of Education Report Card is released.

At Monday’s meeting of the Johnson City Board of Education, the board briefly discussed the Report Card, which will be for all school systems in Tennessee. Individual schools in Johnson City will also receive grades.

Like school districts statewide, Johnson City is expecting to see a drop in Report Card scores. However, Anderson said it is important for parents to remember that this is not due to a loss of learning.

“This is just a matter of the state’s entire initiative,” said Dr. Robbie Anderson, Johnson City Schools director of accountability and school improvement. “This is one piece of the entire initiative of the state for more rigor, more relevance and to make sure that we are prepared as we go into the new curriculum and new testing process.”

Anderson said Friday that the state has made two changes this year that will have an effect on the Report Card. Firstly, the baseline year for achievement has been renormed to the year 2009. Previously, data was compared looking at a baseline year of 1998, but since that time Anderson said teachers and administrators across the state have worked diligently and, as a result, average student achievement has grown and improved statewide.

The second change is a revision of the scale used to determine all grades A through F.

“It’s a good thing,” Anderson said. “We’ve all made progress. Tennessee has made progress so now we have to realize that, and we have to reframe our efforts and our progress in light of the fact that everybody has made progress.”

The Report Card available today will actually reflect achievement testing from this past spring, which was the 2008-09 school year. Anderson said scoring decreases may also show up on next year’s 2010 Report Card as it will reflect changes in testing, benchmarks and curriculum.

“So this first change in the Report Card is really a reflection of the scoring and the grading scale,” Anderson said. “And then next year’s Report Card you’re going to see the impact of implementing new curriculum and new testing.”

The Report Card will be available today at 11 a.m. and can be viewed at http://tn.gov/education/reportcard/index.shtml. There will also be a link to the Report Card on the Johnson City Schools Web site at www.jcschools.org.