January 3, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
The Tennessee Department of Education has released the DeKalb County School District’s 2022-23 School Letter Grades which provides a snapshot of how each school is doing in meeting the state’s expectations for learning. In addition to DeKalb County, the state has released letter grades from A-F for every public K-12 school in Tennessee.
Both Northside and DeKalb West Elementary Schools each received a “B” letter grade. DCHS got a “C” and DeKalb Middle School a “D”. Smithville Elementary did not receive a grade because that school is not subject to the state testing which determines the letter grades for this system.
Several factors determine school letter grades for each school, including student achievement, academic growth, growth of the highest need students, and a measure of college and career readiness just for high schools.
The state’s grading scale is as follows:
A- 4.5- 5.0
B- 3.5- 4.4
C-2.5-3.4
D-1.5-2.4
F-1.0-1.4
In DeKalb County, both Northside Elementary and DeKalb West School each scored a 3.5 (B), DCHS 3.1 (C), and DeKalb Middle School 1.7 (D).
“School letter grades provide Tennessee families with a clear rating system that gives them a snapshot of how their child’s school is performing,” said Lizzette Reynolds, Commissioner of Education.
“No matter what your school’s letter grade is, everyone can play a role in supporting the success of our students and the success of our schools by engaging with your local school communities and joining the conversation.”
While he would prefer that all the schools in the district earn an “A” letter grade, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps said he is happy no school got an “F”.
“We’re happy but not tickled. Its not where we want to be,” said Director Cripps. “There is room for improvement at every level. We’re tickled we didn’t have an “F” but we don’t like to have a “D” or “C”. We would like to be straight “A”s across the board,” said Director Cripps.
“These letter grades are based on end of course and Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) test results,” Director Cripps continued. “ The high school also had other things listed in their report card such as ACT and Career Readiness, which takes in ACT but also Early Post Secondary Opportunities, such as dual enrollment classes, Advanced Placement (AP) classes and industry certification classes”.
Director Cripps said this new grading system can be a bit misleading in that it unfairly favors proficiency on standardized tests, instead of overall academic growth from year to year, making it harder for schools to earn As or Bs.
“The way the grades are attained can be misleading because the state places an emphasis on achievement and that is students passing the tests, the TCAP or End of Course tests and ACT,” Director Cripps explained.
“They place more emphasis on them (students) passing it than the growth they are making throughout the year. I think growth plays an important part in where a kid starts their school year and how much knowledge and information they gain going forward and that is not being weighted as much as their achievement level,” he said.
“At the high school our ACT scores have improved each year and its hard to increase your ACT score when you are testing everybody. All 11th graders have to take that ACT test even though we have kids taking that test that don’t necessarily have plans of going to college. The goal is to get an overall composite score as an average of 21 for your school and we have increased ours each year. We are at 19.1. For us to have a 19.1 is encouraging because it does continue to grow and when you look at school districts around us we are running right there with them.” Director Cripps continued. “
Cripps added that he is also proud of the DCHS dual enrollment program in which students can earn credit in both high school and college or even a career and technical education path which also helps improve scores.
“For a school district our size to have the number of students we have taking dual enrollment classes is exceptional and the students who participate are getting credit at high school and college or at a tech school and that helps to increase those scores. It gives kids an opportunity to get those credits to get a leg up in their career when they leave the high school”.
Director Cripps said the school district has already put targeted support measures in place to help improve future results at DeKalb Middle School.
“The big things tested are math, English, and science and they (DMS administration) has doubled up their math and English blocks to help support those curriculums in hopes of making those gains. We also have math and reading coaches at other schools to help support teachers”.
“As for the entire school district, we always strive for all our schools to be the best. That’s what we want them to be,” said Director Cripps.