East Ridge High School students begin their weekend leaving school in this file photo.Fewer than half of Hamilton County schools earned “good standing” status under federal benchmarks this year, according to state data released Friday.
And for the first time, the district itself was identified as “high priority,” putting the system at risk of sanctions if reading and math scores don’t improve.
Many local schools failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act because state standards were raised to be more in line with national standards.
“It’s an unrealistic expectation right now,” said Kirk Kelly, director of testing and accountability for Hamilton County Schools. “We now have true, honest standards. Making a 20-point gain is tough to do in math.”
On Friday, Gov. Bill Haslam and state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman told reporters that only about half of Tennessee schools made AYP.