Bruce Borchers
In any transition year in which the state’s standards and/or tests change, it is difficult to make meaningful comparisons with the results on those tests from previous years. Comparisons within the year can be meaningful, such as the fact that the percentage of students in Oak Ridge Schools that were at or above proficiency is higher than the state average on nearly every test administered; or that the state said that “strong gains†were made on the high school tests, and our data shows that ORS continues to far outperform the state on every high school End of Course examination.
That being said, ORS did find areas for growth and also celebration within our results. Our overall student population did not achieve as highly as we had hoped. However, we did see significant increases in some of our subgroups. In fact, ORS closed the achievement gap in 10 of the 16 areas monitored by the state. For instance, our English Language Learners had a nearly 8 percent increase in the number of students who were proficient on the state’s mathematics examination.
So what do we do when the state changes the standards and tests? Is there a way that we can continue to monitor our progress to ensure the success of our students? Yes! We can look to the measures that we know indicate the success of our students—ORS Seven Keys to College and Career Readiness. These Keys were developed collaboratively with the community and focus on the steps needed to prepare students for the rigors of life after high school. In our Keys, we see positive gains on the majority of measures.
- Last year’s graduating class took 1,417 Advanced Placement courses while at Oak Ridge High School. That’s more than four classes per graduate.
- Three out of four of our 2014 graduates took an Advanced Placement course, Dual Enrollment course, or an industry certification.
- 111 of our high schoolstudentswere named to the AP Scholars list.
- 45 AP Scholars—students had to score a three or higher on three or more AP examinations.
- 19 AP Scholars with Honors—students averaged at least 3.25 on all exams and had a score of three or higher on four or more AP examinations.
- 47 AP Scholars with Distinction—students had to average at least 3.5 on all exams and score three or higher on five or more exams.
- 12 National AP Scholars—students had to average at least a four on all exams and score a four or higher on eight or more AP exams.
- ORHS administered 81 more AP exams in 2014 than they did in 2013, a 12.7 percent increase over the previous year.
- 41.4 percent of last year’s eighth-graders met the College Readiness Benchmarks on all four portions of the EXPLORE examination. Typically, the national average is 10-15 percent. Our results were:
- an increase of 8 percent over the previous year,
- an increase of 13 percent over the previous two years, and
- the highest percentage as far back as we have data, since 2008.
I am proud of our teachers and students for the great work that they committed to last school year. Oak Ridge is a district of excellence, and we continue to set a high bar for achievement based on our Seven Keys to College and Career Readiness. I am a believer in constantly looking at our results and making improvements based on those results. I am very pleased that we made gains on the majority of our Seven Keys to College and Career Readiness.
Click here to see the District Level Score Card for the Seven Keys to College and Career Readiness.
Bruce Borchers is superintendent of Oak Ridge Schools.
Raj Jain says
Borchers; it looks like you are being disingenuous. Probably because
you are new to Oak Ridge, you have not yet realized that we are Oak
Ridge and WE DO NOT LIKE BEING COMPARED WITH THE REST OF TENNESSEE. We
love being compared with our match like Maryville and Johnson City. We
compete with them all the time. We spend over $3,000 per student per
year more than the State average and you do not have much to show.
By the way you forgot to include the number of students who actually
took AP exams. Many students take AP courses but do not take the exam.
You also conveniently forgot to tell us how many made above a 3.0
because anything below that does not count.
Oh! You forgot something important. Let’s talk about our dismal
performance in TCAPs, probably you ran out of excuses. I know, I know;
you need to save face. But Oak Ridgers are a smart bunch. We know
EXCELLENCE.
You spent a lot of effort to look for nuggets of
fool’s gold in order to write you op-ed, full of rhetoric void of
substance. Your 7 keys ain’t opening no doors. Just fancy words. Stop
wasting your time on press releases. There is work to be done.
Raymond Charles Kircher says
Raj, we can handle being compared to TN, since TN looks at ORS for improvement. It isn’t your given dictator ruling that “We do not like being compared with the rest of TN”. We do, but keep it close to our heart. Many of us do not like your manic claims and inability to find American solutions to our problems. We wouldn’t mind being compared to the world, or is that too much work for you to do, Raj? The students taking the test is in his report, you have to do the math. This is where you are just pushing some kind of deranged attack on a person who has been on the job for one year. Again with the TCAPS, may I remind you that math is involved there and when you work through the cumulative numbers to dissect the students and go into each grade for each school, smart people can see that the problems of ORS are not being ignored rather explored and improved by the many smart people who work in our schools. Your anger toward Mr. Borchers’ isn’t helping anyone, Raj. By your response and inability to work out the math problems presented in this news release shows that you don’t want to work with Mr. Borchers, rather railroad someone who has been on the job for one year while he is new and unknowing. If only our City of Oak Ridge residents acted in this vitriolic manner toward you when you came here, because you did compare Oak Ridge Schools to other schools nationally, maybe you will see your mistakes.