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Looking beyond No Child Left Behind

“Setting our bar at 21 on the ACT means that our students will be performing at a level that the state now considers to be advanced. I am not aware of another large school system in the nation that is performing at this level. Given our current level of performance and the current trend, I am convinced that this goal can be achieved here in Knox County.” –Dr. Donna Wright Assistant Superintendent Curriculum and Instruction

The Knox County School System leadership has proposed an academic performance measure for students in Knox County schools that will place the school system ahead of all other systems in the nation.

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Donna Wright has proposed using the national ACT performance results to drive how students are assessed at all grade levels in Knox County Schools. The ACT is a national college readiness indicator and entrance exam that is taken by about 75% of Knox County students.

The school system currently has an average student score of 22.2 on the ACT. This is over one point higher than the national average and almost two points higher than the state average. Wright wants 90% of Knox County graduates to take the ACT and 90% of that number to score 21 or higher. This would have the probable effect of pushing the system’s average score to over 25.

“No other school system of our size in the nation can currently come close to that level of performance,” said Wright. “We know that our graduates today need the same skills whether they plan to enter the workforce or continue to higher education following their high school career. This measure will help us help our students achieve a level of performance that will make them successful regardless of their life goals.”

Setting the bar at this level will take the school system far beyond the state’s defined and often criticized definition of proficiency.

The federal No Child Left Behind act requires all states to set a level of proficiency and then to make progress toward that goal. The result is that every state has defined proficiency differently. Some states set the proficiency bar high and others, like Tennessee, have chosen a lower standard for proficiency.

“The ACT test is as good a measure of a student’s readiness for college or readiness to enter the work force as we have on a national level,” said Dr. Mike Winstead, the school system’s director of instruction and accountability. “The ACT provides nationally comparable results and it is woven throughout our curriculum here in Knox County. Our students already take ACT preparation tests called Explore and Plan in the eighth and tenth grades respectively. We also have the ability to project a student’s ACT score starting in the third grade.”

“The state performance tests that we give students every spring are designed so we get some good information about how students will perform in the future if nothing intervenes to change that performance either positively or negatively,” said Winstead. “If we use this information appropriately, we can change a student’s ACT track as early as the fourth grade.”

According to Winstead, students who score 21 or higher on the ACT are generally in a better position to experience greater college success than do students who have a lesser score.

“Setting our bar at 21 on the ACT means that our students will be performing at a level that the state now considers to be advanced,” said Wright. “I am not aware of another large school system in the nation that is performing at this level. Given our current level of performance and the current trend, I am convinced that this goal can be achieved here in Knox County.”

The Knox County School System has experienced some exceptional improvement in student performance on the ACT test over the last five years. In fact, student performance in Knox County has improved so rapidly that the ACT organization has highlighted practices in Knox County as a model for other systems around the nation to emulate.

The Knox County Board of Education has an established goal to improve student achievement. Wright’s proposal sets some easily understood targets and measurements to help students, parents, educators and the community to achieve that goal. It also allows Knox County to be able to compare its performance with other school systems across the nation.

Wright’s full vision is to have all students in Knox County schools complete a course of study. At least 90% of students would complete their course of study by gaining a regular diploma from a Knox County high school. At least 90% of that number would take the ACT test, and at least 90% of the students taking the test would score 21 or higher on the test.

“One of the benefits to changing our testing focus is that all of our teachers will be aiming at the same target,” said Fred Nidiffer, director of elementary education for Knox County Schools. “We will all be talking the same language and tailoring our strategies to achieve the same long term goal. I think this will help our teachers at all levels work more as a team.”

According to Wright, changing the focus will help achieve a higher goal, but it must also be accompanied by changing and adapting strategies in the classroom at all levels.

“We have to find ways to give teachers the tools and the help they need in the classroom so they can be successful in reaching this ambitious goal,” said Wright.

According to Wright, the greatest challenge will be providing teachers and schools the resources to meet the established goals.

“We have identified a number of needs that must be addressed to make it possible for us to achieve this level of performance,” said Wright. “We need to work to get teachers some additional help in the classroom in the form of teachers’ aids and assistance with students experiencing behavior problems. We have to make it possible for our teachers to address the needs of all students.”

“We are piloting some very good procedures and processes at all levels across the school system,” said Wright. “We must find ways to implement the best of these across the county. We have to change what we are doing in the classroom and not just try to do more.”

Also in this Issue:

Focal Points is the Knox County Schools system-wide newsletter published five times each year (August, November, February, April, and June). Focal Points is mailed to parents of Knox County students and is available as a downloadable PDF file here.

Volume I, Number 4: April 2007 Focal Points

• Knox County School System looks beyond No Child Left Behind
• Building Communications between home and school
• KCS selects teachers of the year