TRACY HARRIS – Staff Writer
The grades were reported on Dec. 21 and are designed to be a “snapshot” of how each school is performing according to the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE).
TDOE was required to establish a letter-grading system for public schools after state legislation was approved in 2016. The implementation of an individual grade for each school was delayed a few years after testing challenges and COVID-19.
Their website explains: The calculation to generate A-F letter grades for schools, presented on November 2 to the State Board of Education, includes four separate indicators—student achievement, student academic growth, growth of the highest need students and college and career readiness measure just for high schools—and will differentiate between elementary and middle schools, and high schools. Schools will receive an indicator score for each of the indicators, ranging from levels 1-5. Each indicator score will be multiplied by a weight based off the grade band to create a total score, which will then be used to determine the school’s letter grade.
Similar to how classroom letter grades provide a snapshot of student learning, school letter grades allow families and communities an opportunity to see how well their schools are serving all students.
There are several components that make up the overall score that determines the letter grade and both the letter grades and total score are listed below for all Marshall County Schools. This information is online at www.tn.gov/education/schoollettergrades/ where you can find it listed for each school, in addition to a more detailed summary.
Here are the results:
Chapel Hill
CHES: C total score 3.1
DHIS: A total score 4.9
Forrest: C total score 2.9
Cornersville
CES: B total score 4.4
Cornersville: C total score 2.6
Lewisburg
OGES: Not available for a letter grade
MES: D total score 1.7
Westhills: C total score 2.7
LMS: D total score 1.5
MCHS: D total score 2.2