All schools in system met state and federal guidelines

TAZEWELL, Tenn. — Claiborne County School System met the performance standards under the federal No Child Left Behind guidelines for the 2007-2008 school year.

All of Claiborne County’s eleven schools and the Claiborne County School System met the demands of No Child Left Behind and are in good standing due to their TCAP and Gateway achievement test scores; writing assessment score; attendance rate; and graduation rate.

Schools and districts must meet performance standards in 37 categories at each grade span including the subgroups of economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities to be deemed “in good standing” under the No Child Left Behind guidelines.

Director of Schools, Dr. Eddie Shoffner said the positive report for the Claiborne County Schools was achieved despite the fact that the test score proficiency benchmarks were raised significantly this year. Raising benchmarks typically makes achieving adequate yearly progress more difficult.

Schools that did not meet one or more benchmarks for the years 2006-2007 increased from 106 to 172 for the school year 2007-2008. To have all eleven Claiborne County Schools in the district in good standing is an accomplishment.

All of the counties that surround Claiborne, with one exception, have at least one or more schools on the Target of High Priority list, according to Shoffner — meaning that they failed to meet benchmarks in one or more capacities.

The Claiborne County School System credits the achievement to the administrators, teachers, and support staff including teaching assistants, office personnel, cafeteria, custodail/maintenance, and bus drivers who make the welfare, safety and education of students their number one priority. The school system has a number of programs in place which helped them reach the No Child Left Behind goal for 2007-2008.

The school system appreciates the support it has received from the Claiborne County School Board, the Claiborne County Commission and parents and taxpayers.

Dr. Shoffner stated, “With your help and support Claiborne County Schools have met the challenges of No Child Left Behind.”

C.J. Harte is a Correspondent for the Daily News. He can be reached via e-mail at charte@middlesborodailynews.com.