Tennessee Releases 2007 State Report Card on Schools

Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Department of Education released its redesigned state report card on schools today aiming to make it easier for educators, parents and the public to understand important information about Tennessee’s public schools. The annual state report card provides a profile of academic achievement, demographics, discipline, and attendance and graduation rates for the state, each school district and every school. The 2007 report card is based on performance and statistics from the 2006-07 school year.

“One of Tennessee’s greatest assets is the data we have on education,” Education Commissioner Lana Seivers said. “Educators at all levels use the information on this report card to improve teaching in the classroom and raise achievement for students.”

Educational improvements highlighted by the 2007 state report card include:

• Tennessee students statewide met more federal standards used to measure academic achievement than in 2006
• The state met achievement goals for every elementary level standard under No Child Left Behind
• The statewide dropout rate declined from 9.8 to 8.5 percent
• The percentage of students testing proficient or advanced increased or stayed the same in 33 of 36 possible categories

“For 15 years, Tennessee has produced a thorough report on the health of Tennessee schools,” said Connie Smith, Executive Director of Accountability. “Each year, we are able to provide more information to communicate the progress of education to the community and to provide tools for further improvement.”

Tennessee has had an accountability system in place since 1992 with the passage of the state’s Education Improvement Act. The state modified its report card to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind in 2002. Archived report cards are available online back to 1995. The 2007 Report Card can be found online at: http://www.state.tn.us/education/reportcard .

For more information, contact Rachel Woods at (615) 253-1960 or Rachel.Woods@state.tn.us, or Katharine Mosher at (615) 532-3318 or Katharine.Mosher@state.tn.us.