News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Overton County Schools were satisfied with their graduation rating this past year but looks to address key areas that need improvement.
That according to Director of Schools Mark Winningham. According to the Tennessee Department of Education, Overton County saw a graduation rate of just over 92 percent in 2018.
“We were pleased with our increases from the previous year, however, we’re still not where we’d like to be but we were pleased with the increases we had,” Winningham said. “There are several areas we can improve, primarily, with our economically disadvantaged and our students with disabilities.”
Just over 80 percent of students with disabilities and 87 percent of economically disadvantaged students in Overton County graduated in 2018. The subgroups were the lowest-ranked in the county. Overall, Overton County ranked ninth in the Upper Cumberland with a 92.3 percent graduation rating overall, putting them ahead of White County (92.1 percent) and Putnam County (90.4 percent).
The Department of Education also ranked the district as ‘satisfactory’ in its 2018 District Accountability report. The ratings are based on ACT and TNReady test participation as well as student attendance. Winningham said the district looks to improve on that rating.
“We were pleased with that as well, however this is not where we’d like to be,” Winningham said. “We would like to improve upon that as well. We’ve put some things in place as far as attendance and different things like that to address those needs in those specific areas.”
Overton County received an ‘achieving’ rating from the state’s previous accountability report, signifying a slight decrease between 2017 and 2018. Smith County Schools were the only other district in the region to be rated as ‘satisfactory’ this year.
