Hamilton County Schools is one of three major Tennessee school systems that received the lowest possible composite score on an annual state assessment that measures student growth.
The Tennessee Value-Added Assessment Scores measure student growth year over year by looking at student performance in five subject areas: literacy, numeracy, literacy and numeracy, science and social studies.
Student growth in each subject for the 2016-2017 school year was scored from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. With the exception of literacy, which earned a 5 and showed improvement "significantly above expectation," Hamilton County Schools received a 1 in every category.
Shelby County and Davidson counties also both received a 1 overall. Shelby received a 1 in every category, while Davidson managed a 3 in literacy and a 4 in social studies.
On the other end of the spectrum, Knox County received a 5 in every category. In total, 55 of the state's 141 school districts received a composite score of 5, while 47 districts received a 1.