7 Knox schools named among top in the state

Joann Bost has wanted someone to recognize how special Whittle Springs Middle School is since she was 11. 

It finally happened Friday, when the principal learned Whittle Springs was one of seven schools in Knox County and 169 around the state to be named a "Reward School," a designation reserved for the top 10 percent of schools in performance or improvement on standardized tests. 

Blue Grass, Gap Creek, and Sequoyah elementary schools and the L&N STEM Academy were all among the top 10 percent in overall performance. Whittle Springs and East Knox and Pleasant Ridge elementary schools were among the top 10 percent for progress. 

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"Whittle Springs is in a community that some people think is kind of rough. This just proves that we are the best, and I think the kids need to know," Bost said after the announcement from state Education Commissioner Candice McQueen during an assembly in the school gym Friday. 

"I can say that because I grew here," added Bost, who said she attended the middle school and was later a teacher there before being named principal over the summer. 

At Whittle Springs, the school received recognition for improving student scores, though the tests are different from the previous testing year. TNReady data released Thursday shows that 23.5 percent of students there are reading at grade level and 20.8 are on track in math. 

Year-to-year data isn't comparable

Because this is the first year that elementary and middle schoolers have taken the new, more rigorous TNReady tests, the year-to-year data isn't comparable. Still, said McQueen, the state used its value-added system to determine which schools had advanced the most.  

"What we were able to see is that these students, compared to other students who would have been going through the exact same transition (between tests) as they were going through actually did end up improving more than other students," McQueen said. 

The state often looks to top schools in both the growth and performance categories to see what strategies are working well and if they can be adapted to other schools, she said.

"Typically with a Reward School, you’re going to see strength across the content areas to actually pull into the top 10 percent," McQueen said. "So there’s usually more than just you have an exceptional math program there. It’s that you have exceptional teachers teaching across subject areas, so something systematic is happening. I’ll give you an example of some schools we’ve seen that are both progress and performance. They have systemic professional learning and coaching in place where they’ve truly got teachers going across all the content."

The Reward Schools list is a recognition that comes without any funding or other rewards, but schools do hang banners for years afterward, she said. The goal for schools that make the list for progress is to eventually make the list for performance. 

This year, there are 25 schools that made both lists, including two Maryville schools: Coulter Grove Intermediate and Maryville High.

The following area schools made the list for performance:

John Sevier Elementary, Maryville City Schools

Sam Houston Elementary, Maryville City Schools

Foothills Elementary, Maryville City Schools

Grassy Fork Elementary, Cocke County Schools

L&N STEM Academy, Knox County Schools

Blue Grass Elementary, Knox County Schools

Sequoyah Elementary, Knox County Schools

Gap Creek Elementary, Knox County Schools

Highland Park Elementary, Loudon County Schools

The following area schools made the list for improvement:

North Clinton Elementary, Clinton City Schools

Carpenters Middle School, Blount County Schools

Fairview Elementary, Blount County Schools

Friendsville Elementary, Blount County Schools

Lanier Elementary, Blount County Schools

Montvale Elementary, Blount County Schools

Bean Station Elementary, Grainger County Schools

Lincoln Heights Middle, Hamblen County Schools

Dandridge Elementary, Jefferson County Schools

East Knox Elementary, Knox County Schools

Pleasant Ridge Elementary, Knox County Schools

Whittle Springs Middle, Knox County Schools

Kingston Elementary, Roane County Schools

New Center Elementary, Sevier County Schools

Seymour Elementary, Sevier County Schools