Putnam Schools Labeled as “Needing Improvement” by TDOE

The Putnam County School System looks to address several concerns after the Tennessee Department of Education identified the district as “needing improvement”.

Superintendent Jerry Boyd said Putnam Schools are much more capable than what the state’s 2018 District Accountability report indicates.

“We’re going to and have been looking at areas we need to improve, but we also know one set of data from one year should not cause us to totally abandon everything we’re doing and also take the approach that the sky is falling,” Boyd said. “We’re taking the information very seriously and we also are looking at areas we need to focus more intently. But we do that anyway every year no matter what that outcome looks like. And we will continue to do that.”

Boyd said it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what may have caused state to demote the district that was labeled as exemplary in 2017.

“I wish it were easy to do that. That would be a simple task, but no, that’s part of the frustration that we can’t identify anything specific,” Boyd said. “There’s changes. It can’t be an excuse. As we met as a leadership team, some of the ground rules based on some of these outcomes includes we’re not going to make any excuses. We own this data. This is the data that is a result of our student’s achievement on the TNReady… and high school end-of-course exams.”

Boyd said one area that could use some improvement is the English learners subgroup included in the TDOE’s report, a group that continues to grow across Putnam County and the rest of the region.

“We have to look at our practices and how we support those students in their academic growth while they’re still learning the English language,” Boyd said. “We have that responsibility. So we’re looking how we structure our program that supports students that need that support and how we do it better… and see how that might be something we need to do in Putnam County to improve our services to students who need that support.”

Boyd said the district will examine its options in hopes of reaching the exemplary rating again at the end of the current school year.

TDOE’s report also indicates five schools within Putnam County are considered ‘additional target support and improvement’ schools. Those schools include Upperman High School, Burks School in Monterey, Prescott South Middle School, Algood Middle School, and Avery Trace Middle School.

Putnam County Schools weren’t the only ones in the Upper Cumberland labeled as needing improvement by the state. Clay County Schools and the Alvin C. York Institute in Fentress County were also given the lowest rating along with 23 other schools across the state.

The state’s District Accountability report examines schools based on ACT and TNReady performance by students as well as attendance ratings. The report also considers the performance of various subgroups such as English learners, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged, and other racial minorities.

Putnam Schools and the York Institute failed to meet requirements in a variety of categories, while Clay County was given the label for failing to meet the required TNReady and ACT participation rate set at 95 percent. Schools that are considered in need of improvement are eligible for additional state funding.