During the 2017-18 school year, the Hamilton County School District faced many challenges. The district's one and only middle/high school had one year to improve their school grade or be put under the control of an external management organization. The newly built consolidated elementary school was immediately placed in the state’s turnaround program when the new school number it was assigned was rescinded by the state and given the school number of one of the elementary schools that was involved in the consolidation. This occurred only days before the new school year and involved the reassigning of designated staff at the last minute. The district’s budget had been falling for the past few years and the financial ratio reached -1.78% at the end of the 2018-19 school year.
Despite all these obstacles, both schools in the district raised their school grade point totals by 11% which allowed both to exit the state turnaround system. The number of level 5 scores earned by students on the state test or end of course assessments tripled from the previous year! The budget rebounded during this same time frame to a project 3.21% financial ratio. The school district was re-accredited for another 5 years by AdvancEd. The target for both schools was a grade of “C” in the state system but both finished just 7% below a “B”! The focus of the district moved to the individual student and what each child needed to move forward. Goals were set for individual students and not as a grade level or specific course. Standards based instruction but more importantly standards based assessments were given to each student to allow for specific learning interventions. Time was allocated each day for this purpose and grade level teams made the decisions for their students. The entire district staff bought into the mission of the district and played a tremendous role in the achieved successes. Also, the community, pastors, retired employees, and business partners came together to support the district to achieve their lofty goals.
Now the movement is for the “B” or “A” grade waiting at the end of this year! The staff and students have picked up where they left off last year and expectations are high for another outstanding school year! NEFEC and FREE are proud to be a partner in Hamilton's rise.
