Lebanon High School climbs to top in NCLB scores

August 3, 2005
Lebanon High School and district administrators are ecstatic with test results that show the school is purged from federal No Child Left Behind high-priority status.
They are also celebrating news 100 percent of county schools made adequate yearly progress last year.
In fact, Lebanon High School's scores topped all other high schools in the county, ranking it as one of the top in the state. The news has Lebanon High principal Don Hassler joyous. A celebratory pep rally was held Tuesday to thank the entire school for their successful efforts.
"We are just thrilled with our new status, staff and students," he said. "The students came through and we've shown, yes, we can compete with the other schools in this county and across the state."
Overall, Lebanon high scored 96-percent proficient in algebra and 98-percent proficient in English.
Top-level administrators are also bubbling with the latest test scores.
"We just feel great about the progress at Lebanon High School," Wilson County Schools Director of Schools Dr. Jim Duncan said. "They did a tremendous job of improving and are completely off the federal high-priority list. They met every benchmark and will continue to improve."
Just released achievement test scores – measures of how much students learned in the last academic year – show every Wilson County School System school meeting mandated No Child Left Behind benchmarks. To meet the goals, schools had to receive passing scores in attendance or graduation rates, reading/English, math/algebra, and percentage tested in nine subgroups.
System officials learned this week the school met the mark and improved enough in these areas to be purged from NCLB "black list," a spot it held for the last two years. Had the school's special education and economically disadvantaged students not improved in Language Arts, the school risked being taken over by the state or becoming a "School of Choice" whereby students drop out of the school to cross zones to another. And, if more improvement is shown this school year, the school will then be put on NCLB's "Celebration List."
Wilson County Schools Elementary Education Supervisor and Testing Coordinator Felicia Duncan said state Department of Education has categorized Lebanon High School as an "improving" school now.
"The teachers and administrators there worked very diligently last year to improve their status," she said. "It worked. Those special education kids and those who are economically disadvantaged tested higher, and now we just need to improve even more."
Wilson County schools joined 85 percent of schools across the state that met all federal standards for the 2004-05 school year, despite increased benchmarks. Overall, the county's four high schools scored in the 90-percent category or higher in algebra and English. Mt. Juliet High's overall English score 97-percent proficient. The score was mirrored by Wilson Central High School.
Felicia Duncan said she was most impressed with third-grade scores that showed marked improvement over a three-year period. Stats that measure students who scored below proficient in Language Arts are dwindling in this critical grade for reading. In 2003, nine percent scored below proficient. In 2004, 11 percent and in 2005, seven percent. State test results for elementary and middle schools show excellence in proficiency with Stoner Creek Elementary the top of the list with 98-percent mastery of English and Math overall, and all of these schools scoring 90 percent or higher proficient.
"The biggest thing is the guidelines are giving us a target for our standards," Duncan said. "And we can adapt our objectives and improve scores."
NCLB was implemented during the 2002-03 school year. It requires schools to have 100-percent proficiency among students in math, reading and language arts by 2014. They must also meet attendance and graduation standards.