Wade Shipman with "Book Whisperer" author Donalyn Miller, who recently spoke in a workshop about the school's reading initiative

Shipman evaluates annual report card

By Michael Butler

Tallassee City Schools superintendent Wade Shipman spoke about the school system's recent report card.

The Alabama State Department of Education issues the scores for each system based on a variety of criteria from test scores to attendance.

The overall score for the system was a 77, up two points from last year's 75. The recent scores are based on the 2017-18 school year.

"This is last school year," Shipman said. "I wish they would publish this a little sooner, so we can make our decisions if decisions are to be made regarding it.

"For the elemenatary and middle school, 45 percent is on academic achievement meaning you've met the benchmark. 40 percent is on academic growth, which is how much improvement you've made that year. The other 15 percent is attendance. The high school has more markers. They have attendance, achievement and growth as well. They also have the graduation rate and college and career readiness."

The high school scores were the lowest in the system with a 73, compared to a 76 at the middle school and an 80 at the elementary school.

"There are probably two or three things that we missed opportunities on," Shipman added. "We're still working on attendance. I think attendance incentives will help. Our graduation rate slipped a little bit. Sometimes that's a double edged sword. We've had some expulsions. Another area in which we should be able to make some improvement on is the college and career readiness factor."

Shipman expects Tallassee's scores to improve.

"I think we need to own our report card. In no way are we satisfied. The high school dropped. On the flip side, the middle school had some challenges and they improved 11 points. Everyone wants to be an A school. Tallassee ought to be at least a B school working to be an A school."

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