About the ECF School Performance Charts

What are the ECF School Performance Charts?
The Foundation’s School Performance Charts are simple and intuitive tools designed to help education's consumers easily see how their local schools and systems perform relative to one another and to the state's standards. In 2006, the Foundation made its analysis of the TVAAS data available in spreadsheet form. In 2007, the data from both 2006 and 2007 are being presented in both a spreadsheet and an interactive graphic application.

How are school scores and ranks determined?
The Foundation used Tennessee's published TVAAS data to create a composite index of school performance. A step-by-step guide to the analysis is available at www.education-consumers.com/achievement_chart/intro.cfm.

Why are schools presented in different colors?
The colors seen on the interactive School Performance Chart are based on a grading scale that tracks subject-by-subject grades assigned by the Tennessee Department of Education. The legend at the lower right hand corner of the chart shows which colors are associated with which letter grades.

Why do some of the bars deflect upward and others down?
The bars seen on the interactive School Performance Chart deflect up or down from a line that represents the State average student achievement gain in 1998--called the Growth Standard. The Growth Standard is now the minimum expected achievement gain for all schools. Bars that deflect up represent schools that are exceeding that standard. Bars that deflect down are failing to meet that standard.

What is the horizontal line that appears above the Growth Standard?
The Growth Standard is the State average achievement gain in 1998. The line above the Growth Standard is the Current State Average. The gap between the two shows the amount of increase in average school effectiveness since 1998.

How were schools graded?
The Tennessee Department of Education assigns letter grades for school performance in reading, math, science, and social studies. The composite grades assigned by the Education Consumers Foundation are based on the Department of Education grade scale and they result in the same overall percentage of each grade assigned by the Department in the two subjects.

How are the award winners determined?
By extracting and analyzing the TVAAS data available via the Tennessee Department of Education's website, the Education Consumers Foundation identified the first, second, and third highest performing elementary and middle school principals in Tennessee's East, Middle, and West Grand Divisions. Only principals who have served in their present position for five or more years were eligible. For more information on the selection process, visit www.education-consumers.com/achievement_chart/intro.cfm.

What can I do with this chart?
You can see where your child’s school stands relative to others in your area and throughout the state. You can compare your school to the state standards and to the highest performing schools in the state. Simply click on the Select Schools button to find your school system and school. Then click the name of your system and your school. Roll your mouse across the icons to learn more about other schools and click on other systems to see how they compare with your own. Finally, click the award winners to see the best in the state.

I’m having a problem: the chart doesn’t work for me.
You need to have Adobe’s Flash Player installed on your computer to use the chart. Go here to download the latest version for free.

I’m having a problem printing the chart.
If the chart is printing out small and not using the entire page, you need to manually set your printer to “landscape” mode before printing.