State Testing Begins This Week For UC Schools

Upper Cumberland school systems are preparing for end of year state testing to begin Tuesday.

White County Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said teachers the last couple of weeks have been focusing on getting students ready.

“Our teachers feel confident,” Dronebarger said. “They’ve been down this road before. They are hitting those standards, going back hitting those benchmark scores and seeing where they have deficits.”

Dronebarger said a real concern is the COVID slide in academics. Dronebarger said the school system still sees the impacts from school closures, especially early literacy with 2nd and 3rd graders that missed a lot of instruction in kindergarten and 1st grade.

“We still have a lot of areas to grow as far as achievement goes,” Dronebarger said. “We have several areas that were really concerned about and focused on.”

Dronebarger said tests have already arrived and are being organized by teachers. Dronebarger said grades 2-8 still test on paper while secondary classes test online.

Last year, the White County School System was ranked a level five district in growth. But, Dronebarger said achievement scores can improve.