TCAP results show exceptional and above average academic performance within Elizabethton’s city schools

Published 3:29 pm Monday, July 24, 2023

By Danielle Morin

Star Correspondent

The numbers are in! Elizabethton City Schools have been working hard to implement strategies that maximize academic performance, and their hard work has paid off.

  The Tennessee Department of Education released data on the 2022-2023 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) results, which demonstrate exceptional and above average academic performance within Elizabethton’s city schools.

   Students across city schools out-performed the state average in English Language Arts (ELA), Math, Science, and Social Studies categories. Grading is broken down into four categories – Below, Approaching, Met, and Exceeds. Test results revealed that 46.7% of students either met or exceeded expectations in ELA testing, as compared to the state average of 38.1%. Similarly, 46.2% of students received a grading of Met or Exceeded in the Math category, beating the state average of 33.8%. In Social Studies and Science categories, the percentage of students who reached Met or Exceeded grading was 55.9% and 52.5% respectively, trumping the state’s average of 43.1% in both categories.

    In addition to beating state averages, the city’s schools exceeded their own past performances by demonstrating grades that surpassed those of pre-pandemic years as well as last year’s numbers.

“ECS demonstrated significant achievement gains in almost all subjects in multiple grade levels as well as various subgroups,” Elizabethton City Schools announced in a press release on July 19. Richard VanHuss, Director of Schools, went on to congratulate the students and teachers within Elizabethton City Schools on the fruits of their hard work in the same press release, saying, “I can’t begin to relay how proud I am of all our teachers and staff members across the district that worked so hard to maximize learning opportunities for our students. To see our students consistently outperform results from the previous year, which were very strong, speaks to the contributions of all our stakeholders. Our students and their families have also worked extremely hard, and the results speak for themselves. There is always room to improve, but I am confident that the Cyclone Family is up to the challenge. The staff and programs we have in place put us in position for another year of significant growth.”

     A more detailed breakdown of ECS TCAP data for the 2022-2023 school year can be found at www.ecschools.net.