District and School Accountability

Tennessee’s accountability systems are foundational to driving student growth and school improvements over the last decade. As part of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the department implements the federal accountability system to recognize the high performing schools (i.e., Reward Schools) and districts (i.e., Exemplary Districts) to celebrate student success. The department also identifies low performing schools (i.e., Priority/Comprehensive Support and Improvement [CSI]; Target Support and Improvement [TSI]; Additional Target Support and Improvement [ATSI]) and districts (i.e., In Need of Improvement) and leverages federal funding to support school improvement. The federal accountability system includes various performance indicators and student groups (i.e., student achievement, growth, attendance rate, graduation rate, postsecondary readiness).

In 2023, in addition to implementing federal accountability, the department implemented School Letter Grades for the first time in pursuant of T.C.A. § 49-1-228.  School Letter Grades  provide an easy-to-understand rating for Tennessee families and communities on how our public schools are performing. Every eligible public school in Tennessee received an A-F letter grade reflecting school performance on student achievement, growth, and student postsecondary readiness (for high schools only).

This webpage publishes current protocols, technical documents, resources and webinars on school and district accountability. The department publishes school designations, district designations, and letter grades annually on the State Report Card. All accountability data files are published on Data Downloads.