Education Commissioner Candice McQueen announced Tennessee’s 2017 Reward schools today (Friday, October 20, 2017), which include the top 5 percent of schools for academic achievement and the top 5 percent for student growth. These 169 schools span 60 districts across Tennessee. “These schools represent what is possible for students in Tennessee as they exemplify excellence in performance or progress and in some cases, both,” Commissioner McQueen said. “We want to replicate this success across the state and continue to celebrate the hard work of our educators and students happening in classrooms every day.” Of the 2017 Reward schools, 59 are being recognized for performance, 85 are recognized for progress, and 25 schools are Reward schools both for performance and progress. In addition to recognizing Reward schools, Commissioner McQueen also named schools that have improved and earned their way off of the Priority or Focus school lists. The Priority school list captures the schools that are in the bottom 5 percent in academic achievement, and the Focus school list includes the 10 percent of schools in the state with the largest achievement gaps between groups of students. While new Priority and Focus schools will be published in 2018, schools have the opportunity to come off the lists every year if they make significant improvements. In the listening area in the category of reward performance, Highland Park Elementary in Loudon County was named. For reward progress, Pikeville Elementary in Bledsoe County, Frank P. Brown Elementary, Pine View Elementary and South Cumberland Elementary in Cumberland County, Allardt Elementary and Pine Haven Elementary in Fentress County, Englewood Elementary in McMinn County, Rhea County High School in Rhea County and Doyle Elementary in White County were named. In focus improving, Rockwood Middle School in Roane County and Petros Joyner Elementary in Morgan County were named.