Updated August 20, 2019
Measured comparatively with its peers on spring testing, Giles County Schools are slowly climbing Tennessee Department of Education’s accountability ladder, receiving a recent “Satisfactory” for academic growth, according to the yearly report released last week.
Assistant Director of Schools Keith Stacey presented a spreadsheet of each school score during the Giles County Board of Education work session last week.
TVAAS scores for each school in Giles County which are composite scores for all subjects and grade levels on a 1-5 scale with 5 being the best score possible. The reports were Bridgeforth Middle School...level 4; Elkton School...level 1; GCHS...level 4; Minor Hill School...level 5; Richland Elementary...level 1; Richland School...level 4; Southside Elementary...level 3; and overall District...level 4.
Richland School was also recognized as a reward school.
Pulaski Elementary had no score because they don't have grade bands that are required to test.
Stacey said remember that these are growth scores, meaning they compare to all other schools in the state that gave the same tests in the same subjects in the same grade levels. A score of 3 is considered at expectations meaning students grew at the normal level over one school year. It is considered the normal growth expectations. Level 4 and 5 exceeded one year's growth and levels 1 and 2 fell below one year's growth.
Reports show that schools in Giles County scored very low in Social Studies.
Stacey said he was immensely proud of the work that our teachers and principals are doing to push progress in Giles County Schools.
TVAAS is calculated by comparing a student’s performance on a state assessment to the performance of peers who have a similar testing history. It is designed to measure student growth year-over-year. A Level 3 rating reports student growth as expected, Level 4 and Level 5 indicate growth that exceeded expectations whereas Level 1 is considered below expectations.
More than 50 percent of the state’s school districts improved their scores, with 41 percent of all schools reaching a rating of Level 4 or 5. Schools are scored from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest in the score system.
