First Place, Middle Division, K-8/Middle Schools
Ronnie Scudder, Principal
134 SCMS Lane
Carthage, TN 37030
Smith County Schools
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Recipe For Success:
Smith County Middle School has been recognized for three consecutive years by ECF as one of the eighteen most effective schools out of Tennessee’s thirteen hundred plus public elementary and middle schools. It is an absolute joy to be chosen for this prestigious honor, and to be considered the “best of the best” when it comes to advancing students academically, as measured by Tennessee’s Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS).
My recipe for success is very simple. Put you trust in God. Seek God’s wisdom when you make a decision. Use his council first. Pray for your students, faculty and staff. When things look bad or troubled, move forward on your knees with prayer and trust God’s plan.
Our recipe for achievement at Smith County Middle School is also quite simple. Connie Smith told us several years ago to “get your arms around the test data and embrace this to increase test scores”. For the past few years a core group of good teachers has worked together, uninterrupted, on student achievement. We use our school improvement plan and Report Card data to identify and address the needs of all of our students at Smith County Middle School. We do not focus all of our attention on the lowest achievers. We spend an equal amount of time on the middle quartiles to make sure we are addressing their needs. We identify and challenge the highest achievers to ensure they are making gains and not slipping because of apathy or complacency.
We feel that protecting teaching time and keeping students on-task has been a major contributor to our success. There are few interruptions in our daily schedule and we teach bell to bell in our classrooms. Our staff firmly believes that: “It is not what you send home, but rather what you do with them in class that makes a difference”.