City Schools get recognition through test scores
It was revealed last week that, out of 144 Districts statewide, Clinton City School’s (CCS) 6- 8 grade classes ranked third place in the state in Math and second place in English & Language Arts (ELA) in the TN Ready testing.
“Not only did we make it in the top five in the state of Tennessee in one reporting category, but we made it in two categories which no other district in the state of Tennessee had done,” said Kelly Johnson, Director of CCS.
CCS’s “on track and mastered” percentage grew 7.8 – percent from 2017 to 2018 which also ranked third in the state.
And, according to Johnson, the fact that CCS only has a sixth grade class makes the feat even more impressive.
“When other schools have 6 – 8 grades, you’ve got a little bit of room for some below basics and approaching. But really all of our kids mattered because our cohort was so small.”
The two districts ahead of CCS were Williamson County and Germantown.
Johnson said, “When you look at those districts and compare our socioeconomic status to theirs, honestly knowing that achievement is directly tied to socioeconomic status, it is a huge accomplishment that we are in their playing field and something the community should be very proud of.”
Johnson recognized sixth grade teachers Lauren Murphy (sixth grade ELA), Lauren Witt (sixth grade Math) and Kimberly O’Dell (sixth grade science) from Clinton Elementary School.
From South Clinton Elementary Joan Altobelli (sixth grade math and science) and Whitney Hawkins (sixth grade ELA).
From North Clinton Elementary Johnson recognized Megan Amos (fifth and sixth grade Math) and Mindy Wilson (fifth and sixth grade ELA and Social Studies).
But Johnson recognized all the teachers that had put in hard work with the current sixth graders before they were there.
“This is due to a lot of hard work, not only from the teachers who have come today. You can’t all of a sudden create proficient kids in sixth grade. That is kudos to all the Pre – K through fifth grade teachers that work hard to make sure that those grade levels are mastered so that when they arrive in sixth grade we are able to grow them.”
Johnson also bragged on the 3 – 5 graders, which ranked in the top 15 – percent collectively.
Now that the bar has been set high, Johnson noted that her and her team and teachers are already plotting on how to improve to first.