RCHS students make the grade
On November 4, the English department was delighted to hear that Rhea County High School received an A in writing on the TDOE Report Card. This score has been a work in progress with a 3.8 in 2007 and a 3.9 in 2008. In addition to getting an A in writing, the school has continued to beat expectations in Science (Biology II), English (English II), and US History, while staying near predicted scores in Math and English I.
The TDOE Report Card is given to the school by the test, and it is based on test scores. Receiving an A in writing means that Rhea County High School improved and met a a state goal. According to junior English teacher Ms. Ballentine, the school has been working towards an A in writing since the first year Jerry Levengood was president of RCHS in 2001. Ms. Ballentine never felt that it would be an easy feat, and the English teachers all had to teach the students to apply writing skills in a different way. Ms. Ballentine believes that a contributing factor to the higher writing score is that other teachers have begun to incorporate writing into their lessons, which has shown the students that communication is influential to anything they do and given them extra encouragement.
Although there is no requirement for the writing test, the better the scores, the better of the school is in the No Child Left Behind standings. Ms. Ballentine says that this test is important because, “it is a good judge of how well a student can communicate and put ideas together in a coherent way.” Ms. Ballentine told her students that, ” the good new is that last years juniors raised the average; the bad news is that you all have to keep up the average.”
Associate Principal Mrs. Toliver is confidant that the students can keep up the A in writing because the school has met the AYP goals the past 7 or 8 years except the year that Graysville flooded, which kept the school from meeting the 95% testing requirement. Mrs. Toliver expressed some concern over the increased standards for math and science due to the State of Tennessee Diploma Project, which requires students to take more courses to ready the for life after high school. This has caused the need for teacher to fix any gaps in what the students have learned. She has no doubt that the school will meet these new standards because of the state and national training the teachers have received. She added that she is very proud of the school and this years seniors who took the test at juniors that raised RCHS’s writing score.
Leave a comment...