Working arm-in-arm with the Public Education Foundation, school officials have labored to identify the causes for Hamilton County Schools' low scores on the latest state report card. And with new, tougher state standards going into effect this school year, School Superintendent Dr. Scales is enacting a variety of strategies for improving instruction and achieving higher academic performance.
Four months ago, Hamilton County Department of Education (HCDE) began learning of drops in academic performance in elementary and middle schools throughout the district. In July, reports from the U.S. Department of Education showed that among the schools that slipped were a number of Benwood schools—elementary schools that receive additional funding from the Benwood Initiative as well as the federal government.
Over the past eight years, the Public Education Foundation (PEF)—serving as the fiscal agent for grants from the Benwood Initiative—and HCDE have focused much attention on raising academic achievement in the Benwood schools. Until this school year, those schools showed steady improvement. In fact, the Benwood Initiative has received wide recognition across the country for increasing student achievement in the nine high-poverty Hamilton County schools that were once some of the lowest performing schools in Tennessee.
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