Second of two parts

The state Report Card is online line at the Tennessee Education Association's website. More features continue to be added to this website in an effort that the community better understand state indicators.

I have learned much, and been a little aggravated at times, I'll admit, reading this report over the years. It certainly has been an "educational" process for this reporter.

Throwback.

When I first worked at the Times-Gazette, right out of college, I had the distinct honor of talking to Dr. Bill Sanders, who developed Tennessee Value Added Assessment System-the tool used to measure academic achievement and growth in Tennessee schools.

Dr. Sanders called me one day at the office. I felt honored.

It seems I had made a comment about the TVAAS System, which he proceeded to explain to me was unfounded. Then again, what did I know, I was young. So I listened.

I did get the opportunity to explain to Dr. Sanders that I felt the TVAAS comparisons did not develop a fair representation of the overall education picture, hence, what is absorbed, especially from excellent educators, within the classroom.

I still remember many things of important value my teachers instilled in me while we were studying literature or English. I also remember those students who lived in poverty and how they struggled in the classroom.

I still believe, having been around education now for many years, that daily classroom life has a lasting impact on our kids.

While I highly respect Dr. Sanders' work and always will, I still disagree with some of his TVAAS theories. Notice I said some.

He and I had a great conversation and decided at parting just to agree to disagree on TVAAS.

Truthfully, the most important thing is this, today's state Report Card is an open way of knowing how well students are progressing. And until someone builds a better method for ranking academics, TVAAS could remain the Achilles' heel of state school systems.

Future statisticians, the door is wide open within the education system. I think Dr. Sanders would be thrilled that someone was interested in researching education in his stead.

We have locally excellent schools and to be measured by just a few tests, well, the jury is still out.

Tennessee Education Association, on the other hand, says TVAAS is a powerful tool because it measures how much students grow in a year, and shines more light on student progress rather than solely considering their score on an end of year test.

For example, a student who is behind academically may show significant academic growth but not pass the end of year test. Another student may also not pass the end of year test, but not show any growth. The school system added a lot of value to the first student's academic development, and little value to the second student's academic development. However, only looking at the end of year test scores would not tell this full story.

TEA states how TVAAS allows educators to consider their students' achievement (their score on the end of year assessment), as well as their growth (the progress students make year to year, states TEA.

I think this is great. But attaching more and more accountability to this ranking of state standards is what I'm still on the fence about. I might just always be there, as I told Dr. Sanders many years ago.

I guess what really matters in the long run is that Bedford County graduated over 90 percent of its seniors last year and more than half of them enrolled in some type of post secondary education.

By the way, Bedford County's graduation rate is slightly higher than the state's current overall average of 89 percent. I think that's worth a high five.

I decided when writing this column to reach out to some educators on their current perspective of the TVAAS. Out of six contacted, one seasoned veteran reached out.

She said this: "A student's test scores are not a predictor of how successful this student will be in life, and neither are these scores a reflection of the teachers who are preparing them for life. There are a lot more important things in this world other than test scores."

-- Dawn Hankins is a Times-Gazette staff writer. She can be contacted at dhankins@t-g.com.