800 West Tigrett Street

Halls, Tennessee 38040

731-836-5579

October, 2008

From the school leader,

          My words of wisdom for this month all pertain to student grades. If I could offer any words of wisdom to our students and parents concerning grades it would be this, concerning the grades that the students have just received, I do not believe the students are as good or as bad as the grades indicate. Students who received failing grades are probably not getting enough credit for subject matter that they know, and students who are receiving excellent grades are probably receiving too much credit for knowing more than they actually know. I realize that this is a somewhat mixed message, but we all need to realize that it is extremely hard to assess student learning. I encourage everyone to not get too high or too low with respect to report card grades, but to approach each day as an opportunity to learn new things. Parents as well as students look to grades as an indicator of student learning. After all, grades are our primary source of feedback. Teacher grades and achievement test grades may or may not closely match each other. In fact, in many cases across America, teacher grades and Achievement Test grades do not resemble each other. As a school, we are taking a very close look at this, and we are attempting to align our grading to what students are actually learning instead of the old policy and procedure grading that schools have used forever. In the age of assessment and accountability, it is important to accurately assess the academic strengths and weaknesses of each individual student. In closing, I encourage everyone to do their best everyday. Everyday is an opportunity to learn.
                                                               Sincerely,
                                                               Ned Lewis