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Schools See Work Pay Off -- Both Districts Gain in Test Scores

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 August 2005, 12:00 CDT

As principals at five Memphis city schools today celebrate getting off the state's dreaded "high priority" school list - five others struggling with three years of persistently low scores hope to avert a state takeover.

In No Child Left Behind statistics released today by the state, dozens of Memphis city schools made consistent gains in reading and math - enough to help the urban district as a whole make adequate yearly progress for the first time and move out from under the state's high priority label.

"It's about putting the right supports in place," Memphis Supt. Carol Johnson said.

Not a single Shelby County school made the state's list this year. All of the suburban district's schools made adequate progress under No Child Left Behind. Four county schools that were on the "target" list last year made it off this year by posting two years of consistent improvements.

"I jumped up and down when I saw that," county schools Supt. Bobby Webb said.

Amid the hopeful gains, however, there was concern for the fate of five Memphis city schools that are not showing enough progress despite steps to introduce programs and replace some staff.

State education officials will travel to Memphis late this week and next week to work with Memphis city school administrators on a plan to revive student performance at Vance Middle, Cypress Middle and Westwood Middle/High. The district already has decided to "fresh start" the other two schools that face state intervention - Geeter Middle and Winchester Elementary - with a crop of new teachers and two new principals.

The statistics released today are the first batch of data released twice a year under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Schools will see preliminary data today about how close, or how far, students are from meeting stringent standards for reading and math proficiency, attendance and graduation rates. The goal: for all students in all schools to be 100 percent proficient in reading and math by 2014. More details for each school will be released in the fall.

Schools that don't meet the benchmarks are placed in one of two major categories - "target schools" that don't face sanction but are under close watch from the state, and "high priority" schools that haven't met benchmarks for two or more years and ultimately face state intervention if they don't improve.

Five Memphis "high priority" schools that had historically struggled with poverty, highly mobile student populations and several years of low test scores made it off the list this year. Those schools were Booker T. Washington High, Georgian Hills Elementary, Hawkins Mill Elementary, Lanier Middle and Longview Middle.

Four Shelby County "target" schools also made it off the list: Arlington Middle, Millington High, Rivercrest Elementary and Woodstock Middle.

Memphis city school officials say they're equally proud of schools that remained on the list but continued to make solid improvements.

Of the 57 "high priority" Memphis schools, down from 62 last year, more than two-thirds are in an "improving" stage. They must post another year's improvement to get off the list.

Memphis school officials credit a number of factors for the turnaround - a districtwide literacy campaign that required teachers, parents and students to read at least 25 books a year; aggressive teacher and principal training; and intensive data huddles that picked apart every student's performance to personalize teaching.

The Memphis district has 25 schools on a "target list" for narrowly missing benchmarks. These schools face no sanctions, but will be under the state's and district's microscope for student performance. Six schools are on the "target" list for the first time. Nineteen others got off the list last year for making marked gains in reading and attendance, but found themselves back on again for math.

Math performance is a stubborn hurdle for Memphis city school students. In elementary, middle and high schools, performance on math continues to be spotty, and officials point to Gateway algebra performance as one of the toughest barriers to graduation for hundreds of high school students.

In response, the Memphis district plans to launch a math initiative that puts "math coaches" in schools with particularly low math performance.

New math textbooks are being adopted in elementary schools to "form a solid foundation for math," Johnson said.

Teachers have spent the summer getting additional math training to bring numbers alive. Math competitions and contests may also become popular as the district works to get its students excited about the subject.

- Ruma Banerji Kumar: 529-2596

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By the Numbers

82: Number of "target" and "high priority" Memphis city schools on the state's watch list, up slightly from the 65 on the list last year

5: Memphis city schools made it off the "high priority" list

0: Shelby County schools on the list, down from 4 last year and 16 the year before

5: Number of Memphis schools that face state takeover

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Across Tennessee

More schools make the grade

Eighty-five percent of Tennessee schools met federally mandated marks for No Child Left Behind, a 4 percent jump from 2004 that Gov. Phil Bredesen commended and school officials said should not all be credited to the three -year-old law.

Details

Of Tennessee's 1,693 schools, 242 - 15 percent - failed at least one of the federal benchmarks for a first or repeat time. Improvement was shown by 116, which if continued will put them in good standing next year.

In 2003, 47 percent of state schools landed on a "target" or "high priority" list.

This year, 91 percent of Tennessee's elementary-middle school students graded proficient or advanced in reading-language, compared with 86 percent in 2004.

In math, 88 percent of elementary-middle students graded proficient or advanced, up from 83 percent.

Among high school students, 93 percent graded proficient or better in reading-language arts, up from 90 percent in 2004, and 83 percent of high school students made the grade in math, up from 81 percent.

States are expected to make sure 100 percent of their schools pass the assessment by 2014.

On the Web

Tennessee Department of Education:

www.state.tn.us/education/

- Associated Press

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Scores improve in Memphis City Schools; attendance on the rise

Standardized test scores have improved steadily in the last three years in Memphis City Schools. The following charts show the percentage of students who have passed Tennessee's "Adequate Yearly Progress" (AYP) criteria and attendance and dropout rates:

Elementary and middle school math

2003: 61%

2004: 71%

2005: 77%

Elementary and middle school reading/language arts/writing

2003: 73%

2004: 78%

2005: 86%

Elementary and middle school attendance

2003: 93.4%

2004: 93.6%

2005: 94.2%

High school math

2003: 50%

2004: 61%

2005: 66%

High school language arts/writing

2003: 83%

2004: 83%

2005: 89%

High school dropout rate

2003: 5.13%

2004: 5.07%

2005: 4.46%

Source: Memphis City Schools

John K. Nelson/The Commercial Appeal

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

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