By JAMES EVANS
Rutherford County Schools
Rutherford County Schools again has received high marks for its academic performance, based on accountability results released by the Tennessee Department of Education.
“We are very pleased with a great deal of our testing results, and our schools have much to celebrate,” Director of Schools Bill Spurlock said. “We scored a Level 5 composite and in other areas, had continuous value-added gains across all grade bands and had 14 schools named as ‘Reward Schools’ for scoring in the top five percent of the state.
“We also have identified a few challenges within some of our subgroups of students, and we plan to use these results as an important factor in our school improvement plans,” Director Spurlock continued. “We are ranked as an ‘advancing’ district now, and our expectation is to be an exemplary-rated district moving forward.”
The state’s education department releases accountability data and designations in August each year as part of its requirements under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. It will also release a report card on education later in the year, which will include additional information.
As part of the August accountability announcement, the state measures academic performance for school districts as a whole and also for individual schools.
As a school district, Rutherford County Schools received a growth score of 5 for its composite ranking, and also for literacy, numeracy, and in the combined literacy/numeracy category. Level 5 is the highest score possible on the state’s ranking scale.
The district also had nearly a third of its schools recognized for scoring within the top five percent of all schools in Tennessee. Schools that perform in the top five percent for either performance or growth are designated as “Reward Schools,” and this year, Rutherford County Schools had 14 schools earn the designation out of 44 schools that were measured for accountability.
The reward schools are: Barfield Elementary School, Cedar Grove Elementary School, Central Magnet School, Homer Pittard Campus School, John Colemon Elementary School, Kittrell Elementary School, LaVergne Middle School, Rock Springs Elementary School, Rockvale Middle School, Rocky Fork Middle School, Stewartsboro Elementary School, Stewarts Creek Elementary School, Stewarts Creek Middle School and Thurman Francis Arts Academy.
Rutherford County Schools is an award-winning school district and the fourth-largest school system in Tennessee. The district comprises approximately 48,000 students and 49 schools.
The mission of Rutherford County Schools is “To Empower Today’s Students to Grasp Tomorrow’s Opportunities.”
