News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Putnam County Schools made strides in both third grade ELA and math proficiency last year, with improving numbers in most areas of elementary education.
The School Board received a first update Thursday as part of the state’s TISA Accountability Process. Data and Testing Supervisor Jason Stickler said third grade proficiency in reading/language arts improved by some four percent to 46.9 percent.
“We met our year one goal for TISA accountability,” Stickler said. “That put us ahead of our year two goal as well. We had a target on year two, which would be this year of 45.6, but we’ve already surpassed that. That already puts us at the requirement for us to close 155 percent of an achievement gap to 70 percent, we’re already right there in year three. So again, Just a testament to the great job that our teachers do in the classroom.”
Stickler later told the board during a work session that 2nd grade ELA proficiency increased 30 to 40 percent in some schools last year.
In math, the system meet its goal of 53 percent of students proficient.
“We’re doing great things and making progress to meeting all of our goals,” Stickler said. “All of our expenditures, the things that we put in place, they’re working. When we look through the accountability report, the things that we have in place, we’re not looking at changing much this year. We want to continue doing what we know works.”
One of those areas where the system made a change, using retired teachers as tutors to help students grow their skills. Stickler said that is having a positive impact as those teachers know the curriculum better that random tutors.
Middle school math scores continued a steady rise last year, but ELA scores were mixed. Fifth and seventh grade proficiency fell, while sixth and eighth graders saw their scores rise. Director of Schools Corby King said the system is at work trying to address those issues at the middle school level. King said teacher turnover had been a factor in those scores.
In addition to third grade ELA and math proficiency, the school system must report to the state its progress in improving ACT scores, the third goal, as part of the annual TISA report. The system has a goal of reaching a 21 composite score by the end of 2026. That number finished at 19.5.
“I think if we make some minor adjustments to what we’re doing at the high school level, we’ll be able to get that,” Stickler said. “And all that’s in the plan that we’ll be turning into the state as well.”
The public will have a chance to comment on the system’s goals and the progress made during the last year. That comment period will continue for the next several weeks. The TISA Accountability Report will be approved by the board and presented to the state next month.
The state instituted the report with the new TISA funding formula to provide accountability on school spending.
