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The Tennessee Education Improvement Act of 1992 established
accountability standards for all public schools in the state
and required the Department of Education to produce a Report
Card for the public to assess each year.
Tennessee state law (Tennessee Code Annotated 49-1-601)
has since been amended to match regulations in No Child
Left Behind (NCLB) for meeting required federal benchmarks
for all schools, school systems, and the state. Additionally,
the State Board of Education has revised its performance
standards and requirements to meet performance criteria
in the new federal law.
The goal of NCLB is to ensure that all students in all
schools are academically proficient in math, reading and
language arts by 2014. Until that time, schools,
school systems and the state will be measured on their
ability to move toward that goal. In other words,
schools, school systems, and the state must show that a
greater percentage of its students are meeting required
proficiency standards.
Schools, school systems and the state must meet proficiency
benchmarks in nine subgroups, including five race/ethnicity
groups; students with disabilities; limited English proficient
students; economically disadvantaged students; and the
school as a whole.
Tennessee’s 2004 Report Card delineates the transition
from use of a norm referenced assessment (used under the
state’s previous accountability system) to a criterion
referenced assessment (used under NCLB) to measure student
performance. Tennessee administered both norm referenced
and criterion referenced tests in the spring of 2004. Since
each student took both tests, this has enabled an equating
of the two tests such that previous norm referenced test
data can be mapped onto the criterion referenced scale. After
mapping onto the criterion referenced scale, the data were
converted into state normal curve equivalents (NCEs) using
the 1998 data as a base. If a school has an NCE of
50, then that school’s mean achievement score would
be equal to the state average in 1998.
The Report Card is organized in three parts or sections:
Demographics, Student Achievement, and Adequate Yearly
Progress. Data required by No Child Left Behind are
defined in drop-down boxes containing explanations for
each criterion. Grades are assigned to appropriate
criteria, and a grade scale is available for explanation
of specific scaling.
Schools and school systems that do not meet required federal
benchmarks for one year are assigned the status of “Target.” Schools
and school systems that do not meet the federal benchmark
for two or more consecutive years in the same category are
assigned the status of “High Priority.”
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