William Blount High School is turning
heads with its ACT scores. The Tennessee Department of Education
recently recognized William Blount "for significantly improving ACT
performance for the past five years" at the LEAD Conference.
Four additional schools — Daniel Boone
High School, Forrest School, Franklin High School and Gallatin High
School received this recognition. The LEAD conference, which was held
Oct. 27-29 at Music City Center in Nashville, is aimed at school-and
system-level administrators. State officials plan to use each school's
experiences to shape planning and resource development across the state.
Principal Rob Clark presented the state award to staff at Thursday's
faculty meeting. He praised educators for their hard work, noting they'd
nearly doubled the percentage of students who met all four
college-readiness benchmarks — 18 out of 36 in English, 22 in math ,21
in reading and 24 in science — in three years. The ACT is a nationally
recognized measure of college readiness. If students meet benchmarks on
the standardized test, they are considered college-ready, meaning they
could take a college-level course in that subject area and earn at least
a C.
SCHOOLWIDE EFFORT
In 2011, William
Blount High School had 11 percent of its students meet all four
benchmarks. Administrators including Clark, who was in his first year as
principal — identified the ACT as an area of emphasis and partnered
with teachers to directly address this measure of student achievement.
"Our goal is to prepare kids for what comes next," Clark said, in an
interview with The Daily Times. "As a staff,we asked ourselves, 'How can
we help our demographic of students excel at the next level?' We keep
coming back to the ACT. Increased performance on this test helps
everybody whether they pursue a postsecondary education, both two-year
and four-year institutions, or enter the work force. "We've increased
the number of AP (Advanced Placement) courses we offer students from one
course in my first year to eight courses this year. AP classes
automatically increase rigor. That's what we want. We want our students
to be challenged. "In November 2013, Blount County Schools was named to
the College Board's Fourth Annual AP District Honor Roll. The College
Board recognized five school districts in Tennessee, includng Maryville
City Schools.
The AP District Honor Roll recognizes
school districts for increasing access to AP course work while
simultaneously maintaining or increasing the percentage of students
earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams. Reaching these goals
indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated,
academically prepared students who are likely to benefit from rigorous
AP course work. In addition to these courses, William Blount High School
implemented an ACT prep class that serves about 50 percent of its
students. Three educators —one English, one math and one science — teach
the class, providing nine weeks of English instruction, 4½ weeks of
math instruction and 4½ weeks of science instruction. Every teacher has
also embraced instructional strategies that incorporate skills, such as
higher-order thinking and problem solving, which will be tested on the
ACT, Clark said. "Whether it's our core areas or CTE (career and
technical education), everybody has made it a point of emphasis. They
see the importance of these skills and this test. They differentiate
instruction and find ways to engage each student in their learning."
PUSH SCORES HIGHER
As a result of
these efforts, William Blount High School has made significant gains. In
2012, William Blount had 17 percent of its students meet all four
benchmarks.
Educators have continued to emphasize this area, boosting
this measure to 21 percent in 2013 and 2014. In 2014, the school
exceeded state averages in all benchmarks, exceeded the national average
in English and neared national averages in other areas. It had students
.meet the English benchmark; students meet the math benchmark; students
meet the reading benchmark; students meet the science benchmark. In
Tennessee, 59 percent of students met college-ready benchmarks in
English, 30 percent in math, 37 percent in reading, 28 percent in
science, and 19 percent met all four benchmarks. Nationwide, 64 percent
of students met college-ready bench-marks in English, 43 percent in
math, 44 percent in reading, 37 percent in science, and 26 percent met
all four benchmarks. While emphasizing college-readiness benchmarks,
teachers have also worked to boost composite scores. As a result,
William Blount's average composite score has steadily increased in the
past three years: 20.41 in 2012, 20.72 in 2013 and 21.18 in 2014. Each
result is higher than predicted by the state Department of Education's
model: 20.06 in 2012, 20.01 in 2013 and 20.49 in 2014. For the past
three years, William Blount's growth measure —0.57 — is a perfect 5.
"It's encouraging to look back and see the progress we've made," Clark
said. "We're certainly not content with it, though. We'll continue to
push these scores even higher. I'd love to see us compete with the
top-performing schools in our state."
BY MATTHEW STEWART -The Daily Times