Clovercroft Elementary’s fourth- and fifth-graders arrived this year with the highest math scores in Williamson County and few problems with any other subject.

Still, Principal Laura LaChance holds her breath when she thinks about what Clovercroft, which just opened in August, has to prove during TCAP testing next month.

Only 3 percent of her students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunches, and there are very few English language learners — a group that traditionally has struggled with standardized testing in Tennessee. But under the state’s new measuring system, even students at the top will have to make learning gains of at least 3 percent every year.

That’s the great equalizer that has the state’s best-performing districts, which include Williamson County, and the worst freshly considering how to move every child forward on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program. They’re using more practice tests, breaking more students out for individual attention and reteaching lessons that went over young heads along the way.

“It’s scary on some days, but when I walk through the classrooms and see what they’re doing, it gives me a sense of peace,” LaChance said.

The state learned in February that it’s free to assess districts and schools under its own system instead of under the decade-old federal No Child Left Behind system.

Instead of giving every school a pass-fail mark based on a certain number of students hitting a certain scoring benchmark — a measurement some called unfair and parents had difficulty understanding — the majority of schools will stay off the state’s radar if their students post appropriate learning gains. That also means closing the achievement gap between white students and their poor or minority counterparts by at least 6 percent per year.

The lowest 5 percent of schools, based on pure scoring, will be considered high priority and subject to state intervention. Ten percent of schools with the least success closing achievement gaps also will draw state attention.

But the top 10 percent — “reward schools” recognized for highest scoring, highest learning gains or both — receive financialincentives.

“Schools have an equal chance to end up on the focus list and the reward list,” said Erin O’Hara, the Tennessee Department of Education’s assistant commissioner for data and communications. O’Hara added: “This helps give parents a more full picture of the different schools.”

Standards higher

Metro Nashville struggled for years under No Child Left Behind, even facing a state takeover of the district at one point, as the scoring benchmarks rose to levels out of reach by students struggling with the language or performing so low it would be impossible to catch them up in the required 20 percent leaps.

The new system gives those schools a chance to be recognized for what they’re accomplishing instead of what they can’t do, but even schools that did well under the old measure will be challenged by the new one, Metro Director of Schools Jesse Register recognized in his annual State of the Schools address this month.

“With the waiver, our academic standards and expectations remain high,” he said.

“In fact, they’re higher now than they ever have been. We will be held accountable for showing student academic growth and closing the achievement gap in every school.”

For example, district data showed students at Wright Middle School in South Nashville posted higher-than-expected learning gains over three years. Still, Wright landed a spot on the district’s intervention list last year.

Wright Principal Jud Haynie was disheartened because he knew his students were posting significant gains, but that still wasn’t enough to satisfy No Child Left Behind standards. About 30 percent of his students speak a native language other than English, he said, which means they struggle to understand colloquialisms and idioms on the TCAP test. Ninety-two percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

“My hope for this year is that we show our growth, that we’re not about hitting some cutoff score, that they show they’re moving on their journey from here to here,” Haynie said, demonstrating a steep upward grade with his forearm.

Training specialized

To do that, Wright and other schools are focused on individual learning. They’re administering more benchmark tests to see where students struggle, then breaking them out for special instruction.

Williamson County this year rolled out Schoolnet, quarterly tests that help teachers drill down where they need to, said Tim Gaddis, teaching, learning and assessment director. If a classroom is struggling, the district deploys special materials or gives teachers additional coaching. They reteach subjects students didn’t get.

In Jennifer Kibbey’s fourth-grade class at Clovercroft, individual teaching means in a lesson about the American Revolution, for instance, students divide into three levels for a reading on the Boston Tea Party, each with different vocabulary. At the end, Kibbey makes sure every student understood what he or she read.

“It’s definitely more test-driven in the last few years than ever before, but the data shows what we’re doing is working for kids,” Kibbey said. “It’s challenging, of course, but that’s part of our job. We’re going to get every kid in the room.”

Students and parents understand what’s at stake, said Clovercroft parent Jennifer Story, whose daughters are in kindergarten and third grade.

The older one is taking note now that third-graders can be retained if they don’t score at a basic level in reading.

“She actually came to me one morning a couple months ago and said, ‘I am a little nervous about this TCAP that is coming up,’ ” Story said. “We’re doing the work we need, but not overstudying. We’re not stressing.”