The State Education Department released a redesigned state report card yesterday (12.4.18) and Lakeland School System (LSS) fared well compared to state scores and those from other Shelby County school districts.
Candice McQueen, education commissioner, said in a press release the tool was developed over the past year with educators, parents, and community organizations and includes a number of new features based on that feedback, including school ratings, a Spanish translation of the site and additional new data about the performance of different student groups.
Link to state report: https://reportcard.tnk12.gov/
Link to Lakeland School System report: https://reportcard.tnk12.gov/districts/797/page/DistrictOverall
Link to Arlington Community Schools report: https://reportcard.tnk12.gov/districts/793/page/DistrictOverall
Link to Bartlett City Schools report: https://reportcard.tnk12.gov/districts/794/page/DistrictOverall
Link to Germantown Municipal School District report: https://reportcard.tnk12.gov/districts/796/page/DistrictOverall
Link to Collierville Schools report: https://reportcard.tnk12.gov/districts/795/page/DistrictOverall
Data collected in the graph below shows Lakeland School System compared to others in Shelby County in academic achievement, rankings and student-teacher ratios. There is no ranking for LMPS (Lakeland Middle Preparatory School.) Dr. Ted Horrell, LSS superintendent, said, “The state considered 2017-18 as a baseline year for LMPS, so there were no ratings assigned to the school for that year’s data.”
The released data was compiled from this spring’s TNReady testing. In Lakeland and other school systems, testing was halted because of statewide failure of the Tennessee online platform. It impacted LMPS (Lakeland Middle Preparatory School) because students were testing with the online platform. LES (Lakeland Elementary School) students took their TNReady tests using paper and pencil and were not impacted by the snafus.
According to the press release, the new report card is intended to help families better understand school performance and support student success.
The updated design of the report card and information that is included in the tool, including the new rating system, is based on input the department received as it developed a plan to transition to the new federal K-12 education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, and has several components that are unique to Tennessee.
While the department has published a state report card for a number of years, the redesigned version includes a number of updates. For the first time, the report card provides schools with ratings on up to six indicators designated in Tennessee Succeeds, the state’s ESSA plan. These indicators capture different aspects of school performance and include academic achievement, academic growth, chronic absenteeism, progress on English language proficiency, and graduation rate. The report card also includes a new measure called the Ready Graduate indicator that looks for students’ readiness for college and career to let families know how students are being prepared for life after graduation.
The rating system provides a score of 0.0 to 4.0 on each indicator, similar to a GPA, with 4.0 being the highest. Parents can click through to see more information behind each rating, including how both the full student population and different student groups are performing. Ratings are based either on how well the school is doing overall or how much it improved over the last year; the school receives the higher of the two.
Additional new features include a new full Spanish translation of the website, an opportunity for principals and superintendents to share messages about their schools, and a wealth of new metrics, including new details on the performance of different student groups and new data in areas like discipline and attendance.
