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District officials present spring assessment results, discuss state "level" and letter grades
Summary
Lake County Schools staff presented spring assessment results showing gains in some proficiency categories, discussed a district "level 1" designation, and reviewed pending Tennessee Department of Education guidance on school letter grades and weightings.
Lake County Schools staff presented an overview of spring assessment results and discussed how the state will assign school letter grades once statewide guidance is finalized. District staff said overall proficiency in English language arts and other tested areas moved in a positive direction in some bands but that the district remains below target in proficiency.
Gerald (district staff) walked board members through performance-level shifts, noting movement from lower proficiency toward the "approaching" band in several grades but with some small dips in specific categories. The presentation cited the Tennessee School Report Card as the data source for the 2022–23 performance tabulation. District staff reported the district is currently designated as a Level 1; officials said TDOE (Tennessee Department of Education) still needs to finalize the letter-grade formula that will be used to assign school letter grades later in the year.
Board members and staff discussed whether the state will weigh achievement or growth more heavily; staff said superintendent and director groups had urged that achievement and growth be "equally yoked," and that growth is particularly important for lower-income districts where a correlation exists between poverty and achievement. District staff said more detail about the letter-grade formula is expected by October and that letter grades would be published in November once the state formula is finalized.
The board also discussed district goals and benchmarks for 2024, including a guideline that local education agencies (LEAs) set improvement targets typically within a ±3 percentage-point band for the coming year. District staff described an assessment calendar and benchmark schedule intended to provide interim data to track progress toward annual goals rather than waiting for end-of-year results.
The presentation and discussion were described as the start of ongoing work to interpret state data releases, brief teachers and building administrators, and align classroom practice with assessment outcomes.
