The head of Bristol Tennessee City Schools is pleased with student achievement data released in a state report card this week.
“Overall, I am pleased with our progress in most areas,” BTCS Director Dr. Annette Tudor said Thursday. “Our student achievement is approaching or exceeds pre-pandemic levels and exceeds state averages.”
According to a Tennessee Department of Education press release, the 2021-22 State Report Card is an online tool providing data and performance indicators helping “inform decisions and strategic investments to best support students.”
State data shows the Bristol achievement rate was above Tennessee’s all-grades success rate of 33.8% in all categories — grades 3-5 (42.6%), grades 6-8 (37.1%) and grades 9-12 (42.5%) — with achievement success defined as the percentage of students who met or exceeded expectations on the state’s math and English Language Arts assessments. Student growth for grades 3-8 was a level 1 out of 5, meaning students made less progress than expected on their state math and ELA tests, while grades 9-12 were a level 3.
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“We are committed to improving the rate at which our students are growing compared to other students in the state, particularly in elementary and middle school,” Tudor said. “We are also focused on decreasing chronic absenteeism.”
BTCS’s rate of chronic absenteeism (13.5%) was well below the state average of 20.3%. Chronic absenteeism is defined as the percentage of students who missed at least 10% of instructional days.
“We are adding more layers of support for our most at-risk populations of students, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged and those with disabilities,” Tudor said.
Compared to city school systems in Kingsport and Johnson City, Bristol had the most “Distinction” badges on their report card with four.
BTCS has been recognized by the state as a Best for All District for its use of federal COVID funds to improve academics and is an Innovative High School Models grant recipient for the Friendship Career Center. The system is also a Reading 360 Model District for early literacy, as well as a TN ALL Corps participant, which is a grant-matching program focused on tutoring to curb learning loss.
“We will continue to focus on accelerating learning for all students with initiatives such as Reading 360, Innovative School Model, early grades literacy, and high dosage tutoring,” Tudor added.
According to the report, BTCS spent more than $1,000 more per student than the state average of $10,581 last year.
Overall, BTCS received a designation of Advancing, which is next-best to the state’s top designation of Exemplary.
