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Tennessee: 5 schools don’t meet standards

By: Chloé Morrison
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Mark Griffith

Five schools in the region failed to make “adequate yearly progress” under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to state records released Monday.

Cleveland Middle School, Sequatchie County High School, Jasper Middle School, Marion County High School and South Pittsburg High School are designated as “high priority,” which means they have missed the same benchmark two years in a row.

Under NCLB, schools and districts are measured on whether students in third through eighth grade meet benchmarks in math, reading and attendance. High schools are judged on math, English and graduation rates.

Education officials in Sequatchie County did not return calls seeking comment Monday. Those in Cleveland and Marion County said they are working to improve high priority schools.

Cleveland Director of Schools Rick Denning said city elementary schools all met requirements in the 37 needed areas.

“Results show that 93 percent of our students in grades K-8 were proficient in reading and 95 percent in mathematics,” he said in a statement.

Cleveland Middle School was identified as high priority in 2007 because it did not meet requirements in the subcategory of “students with disabilities,” officials said. The school met requirements this year, but will need to do so for one more year to be taken off the list.

Dr. Denning said the staff at Cleveland Middle has done well to achieve federal standards.

“They came up with a plan to reach the special education students in math and the proficiency level went from 55 percent to 79 percent,” he said.

In Marion County, Director of Schools Mark Griffith said new staff has been hired, including literary specialists for kindergarten through eighth grade and “graduation interventionists” for high schools.

“(A graduation interventionist) closely monitors the 9-12 grade years to make sure their needs are being met,” he said.

Low attendance also hurt Marion schools. Mr. Griffith said school officials are aggressively monitoring attendance by making daily contact with parents, if needed.

Officials said there are pros and cons to No Child Left Behind requirements. Mr. Griffith said accountability is essential, but some goals of the goals are unrealistic.

“I think as the reauthorization comes up for that in the future, I hope that policy-makers really look at some of the concerns that the superintendents across the state have had,” he said.

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