KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Weeks after almost every public school in Tennessee received letter grades, Dr. Jon Rysewyk, the superintendent for Knox County Schools, spoke with WBIR about what the grades meant for public schools.
"It wasn't like we were waiting for the scores to drop. We kind of already have kind of strategic plans for each school, and what we're trying to do, so we just continue to kind of move on those," Rysewyk said.
He said these scores don't paint the full picture of school success, but it's important schools are held accountable for learning measures like test scores.
"We need to make sure we're reaching those achievement goals for students," he said. "I'm not saying all that system's messed up. We need to be doing that, while we also do those other things. But I think you could do damage if it's not a broad enough picture. The transparency's there, but you also run the risk of people having a negative connotation of a school without really knowing the school."
In 2016 the state legislature passed a law that public schools needed letter grades, A - F. In December of 2023, gave out the grades.
For elementary and middle schools, these letter grades are determined by a formula solely from TCAP scores. For high schools, around 10% of their grades come from college and career readiness as well as test performance.
Rysewyk said superintendents across the state met with lawmakers to talk about how schools get these grades.
"Our biggest concern was again, 'What are you baking into that formula? Does it reduce a school down to just this one label?'" Rysewyk said. "We expressed, I think, pretty unanimously that that's probably not the best way."
He says schools should be held responsible for test scores, but trying to theorize the politics behind them isn't helpful.
"Legislators are gonna go in the next couple of weeks, and we're gonna hear all kinds of stuff and, and every time our focus is on that. It's not on teaching the student to read, right?" he said.
Instead, he is encouraging parents to do their homework.
"Our schools are in great shape," Rysewyk said. "You can be involved in your school, get to know the folks who work with students every day and see how you can help out."