Tennessee Using Data to Meet Challenge of Raising Standards

NASHVILLE – A new report prepared as a collaboration between the Tennessee Department of Education and SAS Institute, Inc. shows almost half of last year’s sixth grade students have a 50 percent chance of scoring a 21 on the ACT college exam, enough to earn them a Tennessee Hope Scholarship.

The “Academic Preparedness Report” is aimed at providing not only the state, but each individual school district, with information as educators meet the challenge of preparing students to be competitive in math and science in a global economy. The report summarizes the likelihood of 2008 sixth grade students’ future ACT success and looks back in time from the 2008 ACT performance of the district’s students to the performance as sixth graders. All report findings are based on Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS) projections.

“It’s an advantage for us to have both proactive and reflective materials as we move forward with raising our standards with the Tennessee Diploma Project,” Education Commissioner Dr. Timothy Webb said. “We do not want to leave any child behind especially as we start a new set of curriculum and assessments this school year.”

Other key findings:

• 55 percent of last year’s sixth-graders have at least a 50 percent chance of scoring 19 on the ACT in Math, being able to enroll in freshman-level math courses
• 27 percent of last year’s sixth-graders have at least a 50 percent chance of scoring 22 or higher on the ACT in Math, a benchmark that indicates they have a 50 percent chance of achieving an A or B in freshmen college algebra
• 39 percent of last year’s sixth-graders have at least a 50 percent chance of scoring 21 on the ACT in Science Reasoning.

 To view the entire report, please visit: http://tennessee.gov/education/doc/TN_Academic_Preparedness.pdf.

For more information, contact Rachel Woods at (615) 253-1960 or Rachel.Woods@state.tn.us. 

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