Cumberland Schools TCAP Shows Gains In 8th Grade Math, High School History

Cumberland County Schools seeing gains across the board in its TCAP district scores.

Director of Schools William Stepp said that two of the biggest gains were in 8th-grade math and high school history. He said that one area they will focus on for next year is literacy across all grade levels.

“We know we have that third-grade goal of reading on grade level but we would like to see that at every grade level,” Stepp said. “Literacy is always going to be at the forefront of our goals just like it is at most Upper Cumberland counties. Literacy opens the door to all the other disciplines that we’re working on.”

Stepp said that they plan to use the data to help inform their school curriculum. He said that they use item analysis to see which subjects are scoring higher and which ones need more focus.

Stepp said that TCAP data gives the school system feedback on the fidelity that each teacher is doing with those curriculums. He said that they are within a two-year period of starting to create a new curriculum for every grade level that they feel meets the state’s standards.

“So seeing the upward trends of the teachers starting to trust the curriculum and work the curriculum with fidelity was good to see those trends upwards,” Stepp said. “And hopefully we’ll start to see even bigger gains when we get more comfortable with the new curriculums.”

Stepp said that the system is pleased with the data they are seeing from their TCAP scores. He said that none of this success would be possible without the hard work of teachers and the Cumberland County community supporting the students.