Report Ranks Tennessee’s Public Schools Mid-Pack In Terms Of Quality And Safety
Image Credit: tn.gov
By Steve Wilson [The Center Square] –
Tennessee ranks mid-pack nationally in a new report detailing the quality and safety of public school systems in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The Volunteer State was ranked 28th overall with a score of 49.18 out of 100, behind Kentucky (21st) but ahead of neighboring states Mississippi (43rd), Alabama (42nd), Georgia (36th), Missouri (35th), Arkansas (32nd) and North Carolina (29th).
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Wallethub, a personal finance website, used 32 measures to rate public school systems mainly on quality (80% of the 100-point score) and safety. The report also measured state spending on public schools in terms of per-student funding, where Tennessee ranked 38th.
Metrics used to rate quality included the presence of public schools in the U.S. News & World Report’s “Top 700 Best U.S. Schools”; schools honored by the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program; high school graduation rates; dropout rates; mathematics; reading; SAT and ACT scores; teacher/student ratios; and the share of licensed and certified teachers.
Among the metrics used to grade safety included the existence of a digital learning plan; state laws on out-of-school access to instructional materials; students threatened or injured with a weapon on school property; access to illegal drugs; number of school shootings; presence of mandatory school resource officers; and youth incarceration rate.
Tennessee scored 27th best on the quality of its public schools, but was near the bottom (46th) when it came to school safety.
Massachusetts earned top marks for its public school system, followed by Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland.
New Mexico was ranked worst, with Alaska and Louisiana just slightly better.
As many states did after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tennessee Department of Education received a waiver on federal education standards, which measure how districts and individual schools are performing as measured by test scores and graduation rates, among other metrics.
The most recent report card for districts from 2019 showed 21 Tennessee school districts received exemplary scores, 88 were considered advancing, 27 were considered satisfactory and seven were rated as in need of improvement.
One of those districts listed as in need of improvement — Shelby County (Memphis) — is one of two areas of the state along with Davidson County (Nashville) that will be participating in a new education savings account program that was the subject of a court fight that ended at the Tennessee Supreme Court.
The other ESA program participant, Davidson County, was graded as satisfactory by the TDE.
Tennessee’s ESA program is aimed at low income and low achievement students in those two urban school districts, providing $7,000 for students to attend the private school of their choice.
