Overton County Director of Schools Kim Dillon said the state’s education report card released this week shows there is more work to do to educational outcomes.
Overton County Schools received three B’s, three C’s, and one D. Dillon said every school saw some growth, with four schools moving up a letter grade. Dillon said it is great to see growth, but the school system is not where it wants to be.
“I couldn’t ask for teachers to be working harder and administrators to be working harder and administrators to be working harder,” Dillon said. “They are doing a phenomenal job. And I mean, I feel like that we are going to see the progress. We might have to chip away at it a little by little, but sometimes that’s better and more sustainable.”
AH Roberts Elementary was one of the four schools to improve its letter grade, going from a D to a C. Dillon said using Mastery Connect ot look at student data has been a big help in seeing the improvement.
“It gives teachers more of a chance when you do TCAP prep right before or EOC prep right before TCAP or EOC that they are able to hit those standards really hard,” Dillon said.
Dillon said one school that will have to be focused on is Hilham Elementary, as it scored a D for the second year in a row. Dillon said several administrative changes at Hilham have likely contributed to the limited growth. Dillon said she believes better results are ahead.
“I feel like they have made the proper moves to continue to increase and get better,” Dillon said. “They did show improvement, and I know it didn’t show with their letter grade, but they did show tremendous improvement. They came off the TSI (Targeted and Support Improvement) list. They came up from a 1 to a 2.4. So they are going in the right direction, and I feel like that is gonna show in their letter grade this next year.”
Dillon said Overton County Schools has yet to have a school receive an A letter grade since the state began assigning them in 2023. Dillon said it will be tough achieve an A, but believes it is possible.