| Professional Educators of Tennessee Comments on the 2023-24 State Report Card The 2023-24 State Report Card will be publicly launched on Thursday, December 19th. It will include state and federal achievement measures such as graduation rate, Ready Graduate metrics, school letter grades, enrollment information, and various designations. The law to issue letter grades for schools passed in 2016, but letter grades were only implemented in 2023. The State Report Card provides information on how Tennessee districts and schools are performing across the state. It is an important tool for parents and families, educators, communities, and elected officials to understand how our schools and districts are serving all our students. JC Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, asserts that “State Report Card Grades may not accurately reflect educational quality.” He highlights legitimate concerns about the calculation methods used and advocates for considering multiple perspectives beyond test scores. Bowman adds: “Key factors like student performance, graduation and attendance rates, teacher qualifications, class sizes, and community involvement should be considered for a more comprehensive evaluation of a school’s effectiveness. Additionally, parental satisfaction could play a role in these assessments. As low-performing schools often struggle to attract qualified teachers and staff, it is essential to continually reassess how we measure school quality, as state report cards are still evolving.” For more information or to schedule an interview on this or any education topic, please contact Patrick Basnett at patrick.basnett@proedtn.org or call 615-778-0803, ext. 100. A timely editorial can also be found here. |
| Professional Educators of Tennessee is a non-partisan teacher association headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the association are properly cited. |
