Would you like to really know how Hamilton County and Tennessee students are doing in school? Would you like to know what and how they are learning? Well, good luck with that.
In recent weeks, the Chattanooga Times Free Press brought you an analysis of our local schools data, finding that nearly two thirds of a public school students, 63%, were not making their grade level in all subjects. Only 37% — just over a third — had passing proficiency scores across all subjects.
We noted that we usually talk only about 3rd-grade reading scores, but it seems too many people assume the youngsters will catch up. The TFP’s analysis, on the other hand, offers stark proof they don’t. If our schools and students have a problem at the third grade, a dark learning cloud hovers over them for the rest of their lives.
This week, we don’t have better news.
The district announced Monday evening that Tennessee education officials for the 2020-21 school year named 13 Hamilton County schools as “Reward schools” and identified 13 “Level 5” schools (the highest designation possible) and removed Brainerd High from the dreaded “priority list” (the state’s 5% of lowest performing schools or high schools with less than a 67% graduation rate).