Williamson Doing Better Than the State Averages for TNReady

While the data from last year’s TNReady test won’t count for Williamson’s accountability, the results demonstrate the baseline for a new testing era in Tennessee.

The Tennessee Department of Education released the annual report card on Tuesday morning, showing the results of the TNReady test from this past spring. It also showed data relating to the 2015-2016 school year.

“These results were expected, but it doesn’t mean our students are learning any less,” state Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said. “These results are the final step of a decade-long journey of higher standards and expectations for our students.

“We’ve been raising the bar. We are now the fastest improving state in the nation. Our ACT average is rising. We knew it would dip when we set a higher bar of expectations. We know what we are doing and how we are aligning is working.”

Administering the last TNReady test became a tumultuous issue, when the online versions for the mandated testing wouldn’t work. The Department of Education had to then transition back to pencil and paper, which caused delays for some districts across the state.

Because of the complications, WCS Superintendent Mike Looney balked at wanting to take the test, sending out a video to parents about the issue. The state then pushed back, threatening to cut funding if the district failed to participate.

In response, WCS had higher absenteeism the week of testing among high school students, which is the only data made available on the state report.

Achievement data for grades three-eight was suspended. So Williamson’s elementary, middle schools nor the Franklin Special School District have any new data from the past year.

“We didn’t have anything odd in the data or strikingly different types of results from one district to another,” McQueen said. “There were some concerns some students didn’t take it seriously. But we can’t get into the minds of students, nor are we going to proclaim to.

“What we do know is the data is consistent from school to school. We still had overall a strong participation rate for students across the board, and we saw expected results. Our challenges with delivery were real. These results were valid results for a starting baseline for moving forward.”

Overall, Williamson County students performed better in comparison to the rest of the state. Now boasting a 24.7 average, the Class of 2016 met the district’s goal of the strategic plan, which set out for students to hit a 24. The statewide average for the class was a 19.9, falling just short of its goal of 21.

WILLIAMSON TEST SCORES 2015-2016

TENNESSEE STUDENT TEST SCORES

 

“I am hopeful that last year’s testing challenges have been resolved by the state so that our students can get back to showing what they know on a valid and reliable assessment,” Looney said. “We will look at last year’s results in light of our low participation rates and motivation in an attempt to extract something useful from the data and then file it away and move on. I am sure everyone learned from last year’s testing experience.”

So, how should the district take this data?

McQueen said ultimately district-level administration, teachers and families should look at this data as what were the strengths and weaknesses. She added that looking back in the rearview mirror to the 2014-2015 TCAP assessment scores wouldn’t be an accurate comparison because of the different standards and difficulty of the test.

“For the first time in our state, we are providing a specific report for educators of how they did in their class per specific standards,” she said. “They can see that information by student groups. In the same way, we have new parent reports. They are easier to understand. They have icons, color, ease of knowledge of what the components mean. We have a website associated with the score reports in easier user friendly language. It will show strengths and area of improvement and potential next steps. We’ve not had anything like this before.”

The results came out much later than normal, which might make it more difficult for teachers to use. But McQueen said district leaders across the state were already using the data while looking forward to the spring semester.

“In future years, you would hope when they are receiving them in the summer they are making adjustments to staffing decisions, the placement of certain groups of students, where they should place an emphasis on professional development and where were we weak and strong,” she said. “We’ve done a lot of work on getting teachers to learn from other teachers. We are looking forward to having it much earlier and planning with our districts.”

All 42 of Williamson’s schools’ data is available on the Tennessee department website, with its redesigned report card. The release of this year’s test data builds on the release of the new report card on the state website, an effort the state has done to become more transparent.

“We think it will be a huge improvement as they work to better understand how our districts and schools are performing,” McQueen said. “We’ve not always ensured folks could navigate the site easily. We have to do a better job of sharing that information in a cohesive and transparent way. That’s our first step in our report card redesign.”

Here is where you can access the state report card.

Emily West covers Franklin, education, and high school football for the Franklin Home Page. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter via @emwest22.