Working arm-in-arm with the Public Education Foundation, school officials have labored to identify the causes for Hamilton County Schools' low scores on the latest state report card. And with new, tougher state standards going into effect this school year, School Superintendent Dr. Scales is enacting a variety of strategies for improving instruction and achieving higher academic performance.
Four months ago, Hamilton County Department of Education (HCDE) began learning of drops in academic performance in elementary and middle schools throughout the district. In July, reports from the U.S. Department of Education showed that among the schools that slipped were a number of Benwood schools—elementary schools that receive additional funding from the Benwood Initiative as well as the federal government.
Over the past eight years, the Public Education Foundation (PEF)—serving as the fiscal agent for grants from the Benwood Initiative—and HCDE have focused much attention on raising academic achievement in the Benwood schools. Until this school year, those schools showed steady improvement. In fact, the Benwood Initiative has received wide recognition across the country for increasing student achievement in the nine high-poverty Hamilton County schools that were once some of the lowest performing schools in Tennessee.
But when school report cards from the state became public one month ago, administrators and commissioners, as well as PEF and Benwood officials, were not only painfully disappointed, but still speculating about what caused the uncharacteristic drop in scores. Even now, there seems to be no clear answers. "We just really don't know," said Francis Haman-Prewitt, Director of Communications at PEF. "It is likely the combination of a variety of elements."
"Nothing has jumped out of the data," she added.
Multiple Theories for the Slip in Scores
Scales said, "It is hard to pinpoint an exact cause for the slip in academic achievement this year. Just as there are many factors that help students succeed, there are many challenges that we face that can contribute to the lower scores this year." However, he did explain that the district has at least a few theories for lower scores.
One theory is that the school system began to emphasize the new, higher state standards too soon. "With all of the talk about the tougher standards going into effect this school year, we didn’t keep our eye on the ball last year and continue to teach our students what they needed to know to be successful on standardized tests," he said.
Budgets cuts were likely responsible too. "When your year is dominated by talk of job losses and budget cuts, performance will be affected," Scales said: "We raised class sizes in 2008 and again this past year. That has a natural affect on achievement as we ask teachers to do more and more with less."
Another theory is that the district experienced "natural plateau." Scales pointed out that the district had made "huge leaps in academic achievement" from 2002 to 2008, and that it is only natural for a school district to plateau or take a step back in order "to keep moving up."
In a statement, PEF President Dan Challener suggests a host of potential causes for the lagging scores. One cited problem is complacency. "We got complacent," he said: "The consistent success of the past seven years led everyone to believe that we had 'cracked the code.' We all came to believe that as long as we did what we always did, the scores would go up. We lost the urgency and focus that improvement demands."
But because of the new set of state curriculum standards taking effect this school year, school officials are not treating slight dips as a non-issue.
Four Components to Improve Academic Achievement
Hamman-Prewitt said PEF is working arm-in-arm with the district to review achievement data, identify models of effective instruction, and share best practices with struggling teachers in an effort to raise the quality of instruction in the classroom. "What we're finding," she said, "is that when teachers set the bar high, everybody gets better."
Similarly, Scales said, "we are performing observations around the district, providing feedback to principals and teachers for how to improve instruction and encouraging those who are doing a great job to share their strategies and knowledge with their colleagues." And, he said, that's not all the district is doing.
Teacher quality is just one of four components expected to improve academic performance this school year. Effective use of data is another. "This year, we have drilled our data down beyond the individual student, grade and school levels to create a comprehensive look at each student and all areas of their performance," Scales said. This information will be used to help teachers address struggling students and empower schools to implement interventions and programs that will "support the achievement of students who otherwise may have dropped out or failed," he said.
The superintendent is also looking at school leadership to help curb lagging student achievement. In partnership with PEF, HCDE has initiated principal workshops aimed at aspiring administrators. PEF is currently seeking private funding for what will be a full-fledged Principal Leadership Academy.
Outside Agencies Assessing Hamilton County Schools
In addition to focusing on teacher quality, effective use of data and leadership, the district is in the process of using third-party performance assessments. Scales said, "The District has engaged with a couple of outside agencies and our community partners to conduct a comprehensive assessment of where the district is today, where we are going and how we can achieve our system-wide goals. These outside agencies, which are privately funded, are giving us a fresh look at our processes, goals, the level of effectiveness by which Central Office supports campuses and the system’s overall accountability structure."
The district's strategies not only aim to address lagging scores but also prepare schools for the Tennessee Diploma Project—an overhaul of state curriculum standards this school year. Though drops in achievement are not across the board in Hamilton County, the new set of curriculum standards are, and the district is bracing for the new challenges. Haman-Prewitt believes the new set of standards provide a significant shift toward more rigorous skills, as well as much tougher requirements for scoring proficient and advanced on standardized tests.
Aaron Collier
Rodneyvanv on Dec. 18, 2009
It is important to note that the test has been changing to include more "higher order thinking" questions. The students are not asked to pick the correct answer, but the "best" correct answer. The schools that have embraced the arts as part of the school culture, such as Ooltewah Elementary, have continued to do well on standardized testing.