Increasing the graduation rate and decreasing chronic absenteeism in the past year helped the high school reach a 4.5 out of 5 overall rating on the annual school Report Card, the highest score among Knox County schools.
Principal Brent Garee said the staff’s focus on attendance for the past two years has helped both graduation numbers and test scores.
When a student’s attendance approaches chronic absenteeism or truancy, a mentor teacher reaches out to encourage and assist that student; staff members also work with families.
“If kids feel like they’re seen and they have a relationship with an adult in the building, they’re more likely to come and to stay in school,” he said. “That’s shown by research.”
Garee said videos and other communication with all students stress the importance of attendance, and this year, Trojan Time small groups have been added to help students and staff connect.
“It’s about building those relationships so that students feel there’s a reason to come to school,” Garee said.
In two Report Card components, the school’s Achievement score (4/5) reflects state test scores, and Gap Closing (3/5) tracks performance of certain groups toward specific goals. Garee said teachers are working to improve these by continually adjusting instructional practices to increase rigor.
“We’re trying to not just move our limited and basic students up to proficient [testing levels],” he said. “We’re also trying to move our proficient students up to advanced and accomplished.”
Garee credits the high school staff for the overall Report Card results.
“We have an awesome staff that goes out of its way to make sure students feel
comfortable here and that they’re learning,” he said. “They continue to amaze me every year.”
Middle and elementary
The middle and elementary schools each scored 3/5 on the Report Card, which means that they meet state standards.
Middle School Principal Alex McIntire said that the sixth grade English Language Arts (ELA) achievement level went up 5 percent, and seventh graders met their Progress goals in both ELA and math.
“Progress is an area we need to improve on,” she said, “so seventh grade is setting a nice standard there.”
McIntire said teachers are addressing the need for improvement in multiple ways, including identifying and helping students who are “on the bubble” to move to a higher level of proficiency and using a tool called assessment authoring.
“Kids log into assessment authoring the exact same way that they would for the state test; it makes them more comfortable using the system,” she said. Teachers can enter practice questions or let the program itself generate them from previous state tests.
Elementary Principal Miguel Thompson said the elementary continues to do well in the Achievement component, with most students proficient or higher on the state test.
“Our Performance Index percentage did go down from the year before,” he said, “which means that the number of proficient or higher students went down.”
This means that the Progress component, which shows growth each year from third to fourth grade and then fourth to fifth grade, is an area that teachers are working to improve. Progress is also part of the Gifted Indicator.