Perhaps lost in the deserved hoopla surrounding the Hamilton County Schools’ celebration of the district’s achievement of the highest possible level of academic growth this week was Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson’s comment to the Hamilton County Board of Education Thursday.
The district, he said, would have to retire the goal “of being the fastest-improving school district in Tennessee.”
That’s the problem with achieving the top levels possible, based on the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) scores and TNReady test results during the 2018-2019 school year. Anything less than 5’s (the highest growth possible) in the future looks like the district is going backward.
Trust us when we say Johnson is delighted so much progress was made. Being “the fastest-improving district” is what he promised when he was hired by the school board two years ago. And accomplishing what you said you’d do is a significant achievement for any executive (especially if there was doubt said achievement could be accomplished).
But it does, in fact, come with some drawbacks.