Director Aytes reports on state of schools

The State Report Card was released last month, so now is a good time to update our citizens on the status of Roane County Schools.  

The report card shows academic improvement — and also shows many areas for growth.

Our greatest improvement was in math, where we received an A in value-added scores and a B in achievement.  

Our goal this year will be to maintain the A and improve our achievement score.  

Our other achievement scores were an A in social studies with B’s in reading and science.  

We want our science scores to improve to an A and our reading scores to move closer to that level.

These achievement scores put us at the top of counties in East Tennessee, but we are not satisfied.

Our goal is to be equal or above those in Oak Ridge, Mary-ville and Alcoa.  

Our additional value-added scores were a B in social studies with D’s in science and reading.

We have established goals this year to raise social studies to an A and science and reading to a B.  It is important to note here that a C in value-added shows a year of growth, and as we raise our achievement, we need to have these above that level.

The additional data on the report card shows that our attendance, promotion, and discipline numbers are very good and we hope to continue these improvements for next year.  

Our ACT scores were equal to the state average but this is an area where we need to make significant growth.

We give every 11th grader the ACT test, and we are striving to make gains in this area.  

We also face a challenge in closing achievement gaps for our special education students and the economically disadvantaged sub-group.  

Our five-year strategic plan is based on four goals established by the Board of Education.

These goals center on raising achievement levels, having safe and secure facilities, hiring and retaining high-quality teachers and administrators and increasing parent and community involvement.   

I wish to express my appreciation to the individuals who represented parents, community and business leaders, higher education, teachers and administrators in this process.   

Some of the immediate goals that have been established through this process are to increase the dual-credit offerings in our high schools, increase our collaborations with Roane State and the Tennessee Technology Center, hold training academies for our aspiring and current school leaders, and improvement of our parent/community involvement in each community.  

The perspectives of all stakeholders are important as we move forward in our school system.  
We have many challenges ahead of us as we lead Roane County to be the best school district in Tennessee.