Every Student Succeeds Act ranks Tennessee schools from A to F

BRADFORD, Tenn. — Tennessee students will take home more than just their grades at the end of the year. A new kind of report card won’t track student progress but instead the school they go to.

“We set very high and clear expectations for each and every student,” said Jo Robbin Buckley, a math teacher at Bradford High School.

Buckley is one of many teachers throughout the school district, but she says their goal for students is all the same.

“They know coming in we want them to work hard and give their best each and every day, and in the end it pays off.”

But a new law may change how some educators in the state prepare their students.

The U.S. Department of Education announced the Every Student Succeeds Act was approved in Tennessee.

The new law means every school in the state will receive a letter ranking from A to F.

Bradford Special Schools Superintendent Dan Black says this will boost performance.

“I think it’s going to cause some systems to raise their expectations for what’s really important, and I think that’s going to help our performance,” he said.

The school rankings will be based on areas such as student readiness for college, out-of-school suspensions and student achievement.

Black says the grades will be sent to parents at the end of the year.

“It’s going to help our educational system identify areas we are strong in and areas we need to get better in,” he said.

Black says the changes mean a lot of adjusting but that higher standards are a good thing.

“We will adjust to it. Our teachers will adjust and our students will get better,” he said. “That’s what we try to do every day.”

Tennessee was one of three states to have the Every Student Succeeds Act plan approved Aug. 30.

The plan is already in effect for the 2017-18 school year.