News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The State Department of Education released its annual report card on education Monday, an effort to understand how school districts are serving students.
Van Buren County Schools one of 15 systems in the state to receive the top ranking of “exemplary.” Fentress, Pickett and White Counties all received “advancing” rankings.
The rest of the Upper Cumberland School Systems ranked as “satisfactory.” No school systems received the lowest grade.
The White County School District was classified as “advancing” with high scores in high school achievement, attendance and graduation rates. Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said achievement at the middle school level will be targeted to achieve the “exemplary” status.
“We’ve seen traditionally in our district a dip in the middle grades 6-8,” Dronebarger said. “We certainly have some high scoring students there and some great teachers, but we overall have a dip in scores there that we are focused on.”
In the state report card, schools are ranked in four categories on a four point basis. White County Schools ranked between 2.1 and 3.0 after averaging five categories that include achievement, graduation and attendance.
Dronebarger said the feedback will be used to focus on specific students groups that may have not met expectations. Dronebarger said elementary school achievement also ranked highly. Dronebarger said he credits the success of the overall system to the teachers.
