K-12 Education



Wilson County's graduation rate exceeds 95%.


Tennessee is the fastest improving state in the nation.


In the last seven years, due to growth in Tennessee's economy, the Governor and General Assembly have invested over $1.3 billion more into K-12 education.


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IEA
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Wilson County Schools



Financial and Population Data


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Education in tennessee



The General Assembly Believes in Local Control and Accountability for Your Tax Dollars



State K-12 education is funded through the Basic Education Program. The BEP is a funding plan not a spending plan. In other words, the state uses the BEP formula in order to determine how much money each district will receive but districts are not required to spend the money based on the state formula.







Testing in Tennessee K - 12 Schools



The taxpayers of the state of Tennessee provide $4.5 billion dollars a year to the local school districts. The taxpayers demand accountability for their hard-earned money.



Mandatory Exams
The Following Three Exams are the only Mandatory Exams



TNREADY 3 - 8 GRADE



TNREADY is given in grades 3-8 (also called TCAP) Assess 4 subject areas – English language arts, math, science and social studies. This testing tells us what a student has learned during the school year and if the student has mastered the Tennessee state standards. The TCAP has been the state’s testing program since 1988.


TNREADY also includes alternative assessments, like MSAA and TCAP-Alt, take by students with special needs.



TNREADY 9 - 11 GRADES



Also known as End of Course Exams, these tests are given tho students in grade 9-11, and are based on the courses a student is taking. For example if a student is taking English I and Biology the student will participate in the English I EOC and the Biology EOC.


Test names also synonymous with TCAP are:

  • End of Course Exam
  • Performance assessments
  • Achievement tests


ACT or SAT



Students in Tennessee are required to take a college entrance exam (either the ACT or SAT) in the eleventh grade.


This is a graduation requirement for student seeking a regular high school diploma. The state pays for the cost of the ACT or SAT and the cost of one re-take test.



Optional Assessments



Local districts may optionally participate in the following assessments offered by the state:



TCAP Grade 2



The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)



The International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS)



The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)



The Following Exams are Given at the Decision of Your Local School District



AP tests



AP Tests are a student decision - only given to students in AP courses. It is given to evaluate what the student learned in their AP course. A student can take an AP course and not take the test but why would one do that because without taking the AP test the student will not receive college credit for the course from a college.



PSAT



PSAT is not mandatory - for 7th or 8th graders. Provides an idea at a younger age of how a student might do on the SAT. While the state does not require students to take the PSAT, it is possible that some local districts might require it.



Discovery assessments/benchmark tests



Benchmark testing is a decision of the local school district - given at the discretion of the locals school district to students 4 times a year in grades K-2 (Early Skills Assessment) grades 3-6 (Think Link) take the test three times a year.


MAP



MAP is a decision of the school district. An assessment that districts purchase and administer on their own.



No Longer Given to Students in Tennessee



Gateway tests



This was a final exam given to graduating seniors which the student needed to pass in order to graduate from a Tennessee high school with a diploma not an attendance certificate. But beginning with the 2009-2010 school year, graduating from Tennessee public high schools no longer hinged on the results of any one examination because the Tennessee Board of Education voted to do away with the Gateway exam, replacing it with a series of 10 final exams factored into class grades.



Plan test



The Plan is no longer mandatory - for high school sophomores to prepare them for the ACT or SAT.


A $50 test that was free for students in Tennessee public schools because the taxpayers pay for the exam.



Explore test



The Explore test is no longer mandatory - this test was given to 8th and 9th graders to give them an idea of how well they might do on the ACT.


A $50 test that was free for students in Tennessee public schools because the taxpayers paid for the exam.



Vouchers for Students with Disabilities


In 2015, the General Assembly created a voucher program for students with disabilities called the Individualized Education Account (IEA) Program.

The IEA Program gives parents more options to choose the educational opportunities that best meet their child’s individual learning needs.

Parents can visit the online portal to submit an application for their child.

This program is open to children with one of the following disabilities identified in their IEP as their primary or secondary disability:

  • Autism,
  • Deaf-blindness,
  • Hearing impairments,
  • Intellectual disability,
  • Orthopedic impairments,
  • Traumatic brain injury, and/or
  • Visual impairments.


For more information CLICK HERE


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The Law on Class Size in Tennessee


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State Education academic Standards



Understanding their purpose and application.



?What are state education standards





State education standards are quite literally the bare minimum that you, as a tax payer or a parent, can expect students (your child) to be taught each year in any given grade.


For instance, the English/Language Arts (ELA) standards for 1st graders in the state of Tennessee have a total of 32 standards. Your child will be taught 7 foundational literacy standards 10 reading standards 6 speaking and listening standards 10 writing standards.


Here is an example of a first grade ELA standard

  • Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence, such as first word, capitalization, and ending punctuation.



How do standards that help parents





Through the standards, parents are provided with a clear understanding of what their child will be taught in each grade, and parents also see measurable results at the end of the school year through testing.


When viewed as a whole, this information makes it very clear what your child will be taught, what they have learned, and which schools, which grades and which teachers are most successful at teaching, which exceed the standards and which need improvement.


The state Department of Education provides a great deal of supplementary training for teachers whose students do not show growth whether the lack of growth is due to a need to improve their own skills, or due to the skill level or disabilities of their students, or due differences between the teacher and the socioeconomic make up of the students.



What is meant by student growth





Student growth is a year over year measure of how much a student has learned. The standards are used to measure this growth.


For example, a 3rd grader is tested at the end of the school year. The results reveal which of the standards he or she has mastered and which he or she has not. As the 4th grade year begins, the student's 3rd grade testing is his or her baseline. Over the course of the 4th grade school year, many of the 4th grade standards review and reinforce the 3rd grade standards as well as add new 4th grade level material. At the end of 4th grade, the student is tested again and the results are measured against the 4th grade standards in order to discover how well the student has mastered the standards. Growth is the difference between what the student knew upon entering 4th grade and what the student knows at the end of 4th grade. Hopefully, it will be shown that not only did the student master the 4th grade standards but he or she has now also mastered the 3rd grade standards which the 3rd grade testing revealed he or she had previously missed. A great teacher will show students made a lot of growth.



How do textbooks and state standards fit together





Textbook companies develop textbooks for Tennessee based on our state's standards. Textbooks are developed and then submitted to the state Textbook Commission for evaluation. This evaluation ensures that each textbook is teaching each of the state standards to students.


Each Textbook company accomplishes the teaching of the standards in their own way they have a lot of latitude to be creative and inventive with the content of their textbooks. They create exercises, word problems, stories, illustrations, diagrams and provide photos and literary references.


In recent years, many parents, legislators and watchdog groups have criticized the content of the textbooks because some contain a decidedly political slant. The Tennessee General Assembly has instructed the state Text Book Commission to begin rejecting textbooks that display a political agenda instead of merely teaching the three R's.



Why have state standards





Why not just let every teacher teach what he or she feels is appropriate in any given grade? That sounds good but the discovery decades ago that some students were being "socially promoted", that is given passing grades and then promoted to the next grade level when in fact they hadn't been taught much, is what brought about the creation of state standards and the accompanying standardized testing.


In Tennessee, your child has a constitutional right to a K-12 education [insert reference]. This does not mean merely serving time warming a seat in grades K-12 but it means actual, measurable learning. Whether a first grader lives in Mountain City or Memphis, at minimum, each will be taught the same concepts developed for first graders.


How can you as a parent measure what your child has learned? You can know exactly what he or she will be taught by reviewing the state standards for each given grade, and then review their testing to see how well they mastered each standard...



What do state education standards mean to parents





State education standards are the bare minimum of what each child will be taught in any given grade in Tennessee. In other words, the standards provide concrete expectations for parents. Parents know in advance exactly what to expect their child to be taught in school.


Poor schools will struggle to meet the bare minimum contained in each of the standards. Good schools will meet or exceed the minimum. Great schools will far exceed the minimum.


Standardized testing works to reveal which type of school your child attends.


If you are a parent with a student in Wilson County Schools, the standards mean that you can have confidence that your child is in a great school with a great teacher because that is what results overwhelmingly reveal.


We Love Wilson County Schools!



Common Core is gone





I have heard a lot about Common Core, including that Tennessee is still using Common Core State Standards. Is this True?


No - Tennessee uses Tennessee Standards. The idea behind Common Core State Standards was for every state to use the same standards so that when comparing student performance between the states, results could be compared apples for apples.


The TN State Board of Education adopted the Common Core Standards in 2010, and the Tennessee General Assembly got rid of the Common Core State Standards in 2015 by way of legislation HB1035 - click to see the bill and the vote.



Show me an example of our Tennessee standards





All Tennessee standards are available on the state Department of Education's webpage for all to review (linked for you below) Tennesseans can also download and print the standards.


Parents should review of the standards so that they can judge for themselves how appropriate each standards is for their child, and to gain an understanding of what their student will be taught in their current grade. At the end of the school year, the information permits parents to judge whether their student learned the concepts in the standards...



Example of 1st grade academic standards





For instance, the English/Language Arts (ELA) standards for first graders in the state of Tennessee have 32 standards in all


7 foundational literacy standards (see below)

10 reading standards

6 speaking and listening standards

10 writing standards.


Below are the actual 1st grade standards for E/LA Foundational Literacy.



1st Grade Standards for Foundational Literacy



Each of the seven standards below is a part of the English/Language Arts standards for basic foundational literacy.





Read each standard below to gain an understanding of what a standard is, and of what a standard requires a student to be taught. As you can imagine, the talent of teachers' classroom instruction combined with classroom materials like workbooks, a students' assigned homework and time spent reading with parents and caregivers, all work together to help students learn the concepts in these standards.



Foundational literacy standard #1



Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.


a. Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence, such as first word, capitalization, and ending punctuation.



Foundational literacy standard #2



Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).


a. Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.

b. Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

c. Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

d. Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).



Foundational literacy standard #3



Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when decoding isolated words and in connected text.

a. Know the sound-spelling correspondence for common consonant digraphs.

b. Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.

c. Know the final –e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds, including r controlled vowels.

d. Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.

e. Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.

f. Read words with inflectional endings.

g. Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

h. Read grade-level decodable text with purpose and understanding.



Foundational literacy standard #4



Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when encoding words write legibly.


a. Use conventional spelling for one-syllable words with common consonant spelling patterns, including consonant diagraphs, double letters, and initial and final consonant blends.

b. Use conventional spelling for one-syllable words with common vowel spelling patterns including VCVe, common vowel teams, final -y, and r-controlled vowels.

c. Spell words with inflectional endings.

d. Spell two-syllable words that end in -y or -ly, are compounds, or have two closed syllables.

e. Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions.

f. Write many common, frequently used words and some irregular words.

g. Print all upper and lowercase letters.



Foundational literacy standard #5



Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.


a. Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

b. Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding of words reread as necessary.



Foundational literacy standard #6



Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when speaking and conventions of standard English grammar and usage, including capitalization and punctuation, when writing.

a. Use common, proper, and possessive nouns.

b. Use singular and plural nouns with correct verbs in basic sentences.

c. Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns.

d. Use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future.

e. Use frequently occurring adjectives.

f. Use frequently occurring conjunctions.

g. Use articles and demonstratives.

h. Use frequently occurring prepositions such as during, beyond, and toward.

i. Produce and expand simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in response to prompts.

j. Capitalize names of people and dates.

k. End sentences with correct punctuation.

l. Use commas in dates and to separate single words in a series.



Foundational literacy standard #7a



​Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.


i. Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

ii. Use frequently occurring affixes as a clue to the meaning of a word.

iii. Identify frequently occurring root words and their inflectional forms.



Foundational literacy standard #7b



With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.


i. Sort words into categories to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.

ii. Define words by category and by one or more key attributes.

iii. Identify real-life connections between words and their use.

iv. Distinguish shades of meaning among words by defining or choosing them or by acting out the meanings.



Foundational literacy standard #7c



Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships.



To the right are the state
Education Academic Standards


for English/Language Arts grades K - 12




See all of the state academic standards for all grades and courses the link below


Tennessee state education academic standards

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