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District presents first-year ATLAS results: gains in several grades, limits on year-to-year comparison
Summary
Superintendent Graham and Miss Kim Slayton presented initial ATLAS assessment results Oct. 21, saying the district exceeded state averages in multiple grade bands while cautioning the exam is new and not directly comparable to prior tests; the board was also told the state will assign letter grades next spring.
Superintendent Graham and Miss Kim Slayton presented the NASHVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT—'s initial results from the state's new ATLAS assessment at the Oct. 21 board meeting, noting several areas of above-average performance and cautioning that the test is a new baseline and not directly comparable to previous years.
Slayton said the district "beat the state average in every grade level for literacy, except for third and fourth," and reported the district was above the state average in six of eight literacy categories and in six of eight math categories. She and other presenters highlighted strong sixth-grade math performance, which they described as 54%, or 18 points above the state average. They also noted algebra I missed the state average by one point and geometry by four points.
Board discussion emphasized two limitations: ATLAS is a first-year, revised assessment with different score bands than the district's prior tests, and statewide letter grades and some gross-score reports will not be released until later. Superintendent Graham told the board the state plans to release gross scores in late November and expects to assign letter grades in the spring; until then, year-to-year growth comparisons among different tests will be limited.
Slayton said the cooperative and state have methods to calculate growth and teacher-level measures from ATLAS, and that professional development to interpret those formulas is already underway. When a board member asked how the state will account for two different tests in calculating growth, presenters said the state has formulas and training in place but acknowledged the calculations are complex.
The board was also briefed on a mandated intervention requirement for students scoring at level 1 in the tested grades: the district must offer three intervention sessions per week for those students, with students receiving services via IEPs or dyslexia remediation exempted. Superintendent Graham said the district will need to decide whether those interventions occur during intervention time, after school, or by other scheduling, and that the cooperative meeting later in the week should clarify implementation details.
The board received charts comparing district performance with the state and co-op schools and asked for further detail as the state releases additional information. No formal district assessment policy changes were adopted at the meeting; the presentation was framed as an initial report and the board deferred further public communication until additional state guidance is available.
