by gentrys | Dec 8, 2018 | Announcements, Archive, District Event
The Franklin Special School District has announced the following TCAP testing dates this spring. The testing window is April 15 – May 3, 2019. TCAP Testing Schedule for FSSD Grades 3 and 4 April 15 English Language Arts, Part 1 (writing) – (80 minutes) April 16-17 Make-ups for ELA, Part 1 (if needed) April 18 Science Field Test (50 minutes) April 23 English Language Arts, Part 2 (35 minutes) and Part 3 (35 minutes) April 24 English Language Arts, Part 4 (30 minutes) and Math, Part 1 (45 minutes) April 25 Math, Part 2 (30 minutes) and Part 3 (40 minutes) April 26-29 Make-ups TCAP Testing Schedule for FSSD Grades 5 – 8 April 15 English Language Arts, Part 1 (writing) – (80 minutes for grade 5; 85 minutes for grades 6 – 8) April 16-17 Make-ups for ELA, Part 1 (if needed) April 18 Science Field Test (75 minutes) April 23 English Language Arts, Part 2 (40 minutes for grade 5; 50 minutes for grades 6 – 8) and Part 3(40 minutes for grade 5; 50 minutes for grades 6 – 8) April 24 • English Language Arts, Part 4 (40 minutes for grade 5; 45 minutes for grades 6 – 8) • Math, Part 1 (45 minutes for grade 5; 40 minutes for grades 6 – 8) OR • Algebra or Geometry Part 1 (35 minutes) April 25 • Math, Part 2 (30 minutes for grade 5; 35 minutes for grades 6 -8) OR • Algebra or Geometry Part 2 (50 minutes) • Math, Part 3 (40 minutes for grade 5; 50 minutes for grades 6 -8)...
by gentrys | Nov 28, 2018 | Announcements, Archive, District Event
Throughout the past six months, the Franklin Special School District School Board and Leadership Team have begun the process of designing a new long-range strategic plan. We have guided our discussion around goals using the extensive feedback we gathered during the AdvancED accreditation process this spring, academic data from state and local assessments, and planning documents that the district uses each year to design instruction, improve culture, develop technology goals and improve academic performance. We are excited to have enough information and feedback at this point to have put together a draft Five-Year Strategic Plan. Called Reach 2024, this one-page talking points flier is attached to this email and the more complete plan is now ready for public review and input. This is where you come in! We invite you to one of two public review and input sessions. The public review sessions are Tuesday, November 27 and Thursday, November 29. Both sessions will be 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room at Moore Elementary School, 1061 Lewisburg Pike. During public review, we will explain how we arrived at our broad goals and what strategic objectives we have developed to achieve the goals. Best practice in strategic planning is to keep goals broad and limited to 3-5 achievable targets. While we have discussed and refined the current goals in the Reach 2024 document many times, we are ready to hear your thoughts regarding possible revisions to these goals. Please consider attending one of the two sessions mentioned above. Thank you for helping us to “Reach 2024” with clear, thoughtful and well-defined goals that will strategically guide our school district over the next five...
by gentrys | Oct 23, 2018 | Announcements, Archive, District Event
In order to foster understanding and improve inclusive peer relationships among students, the FSSD Special Education department is hosting a parent meeting on Tuesday, November 13, 2018, from 6:30-7:30 PM in the Franklin Elementary School Media Center at 1501 Figuers Drive. Haley Hatchell, Community Engagement Manager for Best Buddies Tennessee, will be joining us to talk about the importance of inclusive friendships for students with and without special needs. Best Buddies is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Child care is available. Many of our special education teachers and paraprofessionals donate their time for you to attend this very important meeting. You do not need to make reservations for child care, but it would be beneficial if you would let us know how many children you plan to bring. If you have any questions, please call FSSD Special Populations Supervisor Beth Farrar at 615/794-6624 or...
by gentrys | Oct 1, 2018 | District Event
Late Friday afternoon, districts across the state waited anxiously for the Tennessee Board of Education to ratify the Department of Education’s accountability results, which places schools and school districts in several distinct categories. Education Commissioner Candice McQueen announced the 2018 District Designations as well as the Reward and Priority schools, which are two key designations under Tennessee’s school accountability system. There are 147 school districts across the state. The FSSD is one of only 14 districts to be named Exemplary. The good news didn’t stop there, though. Five of the eight FSSD schools were named Reward Schools, another top designation. “We were very excited and extremely proud of the Accountability Results released Friday. Being an Exemplary district and having 62% of our schools designated as Reward Schools are noted accomplishments,” said Director of Schools Dr. David Snowden. This was the first year Tennessee implemented its new school accountability model, which looks at multiple measures of success based mainly on the results of the TNReady tests given to students in grade 3-12 each spring. According to the Department of Education’s website, districts designated as exemplary are generally exceeding expectations on average for both all students and each historically underserved student group. “All of these positive results are due to the work of our passionate, dedicated and talented teachers, the hard work by our students and the support of parents, school and district leaders and the School Board,” Snowden...
by gentrys | Sep 11, 2018 | Announcements, Archive, District Event
On September 4, several Franklin Special School District teachers and administrators were able to participate in a roundtable discussion, along with other educators from across the region, with Governor Bill Haslam and state Education Commissioner Candice McQueen about the difficulties of the 2018 administration of TNReady testing. The Governor plans to take the feedback from the six events held across the state, as well as from an online form available to anyone who wants to provide input, and formulate a report by the end of September. The input will guide the discussion on TNReady assessment timelines, vendor selection, and the meaningful communication of the value of assessment results. The listening tour panels consisted only of educators; however, the state welcomes input from all teachers, staff, parents, and community members. If you would like to provide your input through the online engagement process, please go to www.tn.gov/governor/contact-us/listening-tour-feedback.html Hosted at Freedom Middle School, Governor Haslam and Commissioner McQueen listened as teachers, principals and testing administrators shared their experiences and frustrations regarding last year’s testing process. Feedback from around the region included concerns over lack of computers for testing, online testing failures and delayed test results. “Governor Haslam and Dr. McQueen were very receptive to each person’s input,” said FSSD Student Performance Supervisor Dr. Kay Boan, who was an invited member of the panel. The discussion was led by Wayne Miller, former executive director of Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents (TOSS), who is serving as a consultant to the state on this project. Boan said the preponderance of concerns was for online delivery, particularly in schools without 1:1 technology, and for high school...
