District Profiles
The following pages contain profiles of
each of the 136 school districts in Tennessee.
The data used to construct these profiles are
from the 2007-2008 academic year, as this was the most recent
data available at the time of publication. Each district profile
provides the local statistic for each metric described below. For
comparison, the profiles also include the state averages for each
of these indicators. However, for the number of schools and
number of students in the state, the state median is given rather
than the state average, as large urban districts severely skew
these averages. Descriptions of each metric are below.
district Characteristics
Schools: This is the number of schools operating in each district
according to the Tennessee State Report Card. In the 2007-08
school year, Tennessee had 1,718 schools. The median district
had 7 schools.
Students: This is the number of students enrolled in each
district according to the Tennessee State Report Card. In the
2007-08 school year, Tennessee had 929,543 students. The
median district enrolled 3,334 students.
Grades Served: This lists the grades served by each school
district.
Student Characteristics
Demographic Breakdown: This is the percentage of white,
African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American
students in each district according to the Tennessee State Report
Card. In the 2007-08 school year, Tennessee had 68.8 percent
white students, 24.6 percent African American students, 4.8
percent Hispanic students, 1.6 percent Asian students, and 0.2
percent Native American students.
Percent Limited English Proficiency: This is the percentage
of students in each district labeled as having a limited English
proficiency on the Tennessee State Report Card. In the
2007-08 school year, 3.2 percent of Tennessee’s students had
limited English proficiency.
Percent Economically Disadvantaged: This is the percentage
of students in a district labeled as being on free or reduced
price lunch on the Tennessee State Report Card. In the
2007-08 school year, 54.5 percent of Tennessee’s students were
economically disadvantaged.
a
achievement
TCAP Score: This is the average of math and reading third
through eighth grade TCAP scores as reported on the Tennessee
State Report Card. For the 2007-08 school year, Tennessee’s
average TCAP score was 58.
Courtesy of Teresa Suarez
TVAAS Score: This is the average of math and reading
third through eighth grade TVAAS scores as reported on the
Tennessee State Report Card. For the 2007-08 school year,
Tennessee’s average TVAAS score was 1.67.
Governor Phil Bredesen helps kick-off the Tennessee State
Collaborative on Reforming Education at a press conference
at Fall Hamilton Elementary School in Nashville.
54
The STaTe of educaTion in TenneSSee
Growth Score: This is the growth a district’s 2008 eighth grade
cohort experienced over the previous five years. This growth
is calculated by taking how a district’s eighth grade students
performed relative to students in the rest of the state in 2008 (as
a percentile) and subtracting from it how a district’s third grade
students performed relative to students in the rest of the state in
2003 (as a percentile). Separate growth scores were calculated
for both math and reading and then averaged together to create
a single growth score. By definition, Tennessee’s average growth