Cumberland County Schools
2008 Report Card Summary

The words “Report Card” have always been accompanied with feelings of anticipation, excitement, and anxiety. When we were students ourselves, the periodic report card always meant a time of reckoning. Did we measure up to the standards given? What would our parent’s reaction be? Would it be a time of reward or a time of correction?

These same words apply to our county as we have recently received our “Report Card.” This report is a reflection on our last school year’s accomplishments and deficiencies. From this report, we have cause to celebrate as well as take note of weaknesses we must address. What follows is a brief summary of Cumberland County’s 2008 Report Card.

General Information:
Our county-wide No Child Left Behind status is “Good Standing.” This is the highest category awarded by NCLB standards. Specifically, ten of our schools (all of our elementary schools and the Phoenix High School) are listed individually as in “Good Standing,” while two of our schools (CCHS and SMHS) are listed as “Targeted” for their individual graduation rates.

We are happy to announce that all of our schools are 100% SACS accredited. This is a perfect score considering that only 72% of the state’s elementary schools and only 91% of the state’s high schools have attained this accomplishment.

Elementary:
All of our elementary schools met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks in all areas (reading/language arts and math) and in all subgroups that apply to us (all students, Hispanic students, white students, economically disadvantaged, and students with disabilities).

Our academic achievement grades reflect the actual Norm Curve Equivalent (NCE) scores our students averaged. As a general reference, obtaining a NCE of 50 will earn a C. We are excited to announce that our elementary students (grades 3-8) scored an A in math, an A in reading/language, a B in social studies, a B in science, an A in 5th grade writing, and an A in 8th grade writing. We are proud that all subjects exhibited a numerical NCE increase for each of the last three years.

Switching to our growth indicator (Value Added), our county receives a grade to indicate how much growth our students experienced over the last year. One normal year of growth will earn a C. Any indications of growth above and beyond what the students were expected to earn will yield grades higher than a C. It is with pride that we announce our growth grades: an A in math, an A in reading/language, an A in social studies, and an A in science.

After pausing for a moment to celebrate these successes, our staff and teachers are working diligently to keep this progress moving in a positive direction. State standards are in the process of being raised, and state benchmarks are being set higher. Much effort must be applied to ensure that we continue to succeed. A few programs that are being actively implemented and monitored include our RTI program (Response to Intervention: a program that identifies students in grades K-3 who may need extra strategies and effort to succeed) and our AR Program (Accelerated Reading Program: a program which encourages frequent reading practice opportunities and monitors the comprehension level of each individual student).

High School
It is with enthusiasm that we announce increases in the number of high school students across the county who scored “proficient” or above in the area of reading/language plus writing. Not only did we see improvement in our own scores from the previous year, but also we celebrate exceeding the state goal and the state average in each subgroup.

Looking at our areas of concern and growth, we observe that our “high school students with disabilities” collectively did not meet the benchmark for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the area of math. Looking deeper into the data, we also note a drop in the number of students across the county who scored “Proficient” on the high school math test (Gateway for Algebra I). Further analysis of this group of students shows a drop in proficiency in the subgroups: all students, economically disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities.

So what steps are we taking to improve this category? Efforts to increase proficiency include:

• quality staff development for our teachers who instruct these students,
• the implementation of inclusion classes for these students (the student remains in the regular education class receiving quality math instruction geared toward the State Standards to be assessed with individualized instruction from trained professionals),
• scheduling of contextual CTE classes (where these students may learn the skills needed through varied research-based strategies and teaching styles), and
• increased technological approaches (such as the use of the SMART board during instruction).

An additional area of concern is our high school graduation rate. The state goal is that 90% of the students who started together as freshmen graduate in four years and a summer with a regular education diploma. Keep in mind that GEDs, special education diplomas, and certificates of attendance do not count toward the graduation rate. Those situations actually count against us as the state figures our graduation rate. Our collective Cumberland County average is 76.5%. This number is reported from the 2006-2007 graduating class. Good news is to follow as we already have calculated our rate for 2007-2008 and it has improved to 80.6%. To what may we attribute this increase? Two major factors contributing to this increase are the Freshman Academies at CCHS and SMHS and the Phoenix School’s efforts to recover those students who may need an alternate setting to complete their graduation requirements.

It will be another year before our Report Card is issued, but we are making efforts to use our available data (RTI reports, AR reports, Benchmark Tests, Gateway and EOC tests) to make sound instructional decisions and adjust to our students’ needs.

You may access the entire Report Card document at http://www.tennessee.gov/education/.

For additional discussion and comments you may log on to the Cumberland County School’s blog location at avanwinkle.blogspot.com.