The Daily News-Journal from Murfreesboro, Tennessee • Page A2

2A DAILY NEWS NorthfieldBlvdChurchofChrist 2091PittsLane www.godsredeemed.org TimesofServices: ByDavidBunting thisquestionthroughtheages.GideonaskedtheangeloftheLord,“Omylord,iftheLORD ThisattackthatstrikesattheveryexistenceandheartofGodcontinuestobe anobstacletofaithinGodformany.Therealityofevilsupposedlyisinconsistentwith presenceofevilinfersthatthereissomethingorsomeonegood.Evildoesnotprovethat thereisnoGod. recognizedasgood.Toarguethatcertainconduct,treatmentorcircumstancesareevil admitsthatthereisaguideforcallingonethingevilandanotherthinggood.Evilis actuallydependentupontherealityofgoodness.Itistheabsenceoforperversionof whatisgood.Questionsthatmustbeansweredare:whatstandarddoesapersonuse justiceinfaceofevil? amoralcompass.Helivesbyandholdsothersaccountabletosomethingmorethan animalinstincts.Earthlymatterhasnoawarenessorknowledgeofgoodandevil.Human beingsareuniquecreatures.Theycare.Theystruggle.Theyjudge.Theyhope.Menare TN-TEN0014576-01 news New Tennessee TNReady scores released Friday show a third of all high school students are on track or have mastered their grade level in English and 21 percent are on track in math. The release of the standardized testing scores mirrors what has been reported on the ACT national college readiness assessment, an expected outcome of the state moving to tougher grading standards this year as it sets a new benchmark on student achievement. ACT scores released in August showed 34 percent of Tennessee public school students met college readiness benchmark in reading and 27 percent of Tennessee students met that mark in math. Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen has for weeks warned that the TNRea- dy scores will read lower than any other year because the state wanted to mirror national grading standards.

She also warned the numbers be compared with the test data from previous years. the first time, we are able to provide educators, families, and students with better information about where students truly are on their path to college and McQueen said in a news release. students are growing into problem solvers and critical thinkers, and they are rising to meet the higher standards that are based on what our colleges and employers Year-end high school test scores in history also read lower thantests in previous years, while science was graded under the previous benchmark. The state hopes to release district TNReady numbers within the next month, although no date has been set. The new TNReady test was administered for the first time last school year in high school.

Grades 3-8 tests were canceled in the spring after the test vendor deliver paper tests on time to districts, the final issue in a string of mishaps. The move to tougher grading standards is in part due to the standardized test not accurately matching what college readiness tests said about student progress, McQueen said. The state has been called out by national organizations for its accuracy in reporting scores. want the 11th-grade year, when the student takes the ACT, to be the first time the student knows whether they are on track toward McQueen said. need to know that way back in elementary and middle school and if not, what are we doing every single year to help them The scores highlight the efforts to not only be accurate in its reporting of student abilities, but also to improve education in the state as a whole, said Teresa Wasson, Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education spokeswoman.

The recent announcement that the fourth- and eighth-grade students outperformed students nationally on the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress science test was a result of the state being more accurate in reporting student scores, Wasson said. temptation is to say students Wasson said. not what this is saying the new scores paint a clearer picture of student Social studies scores also dipped this year with the TNReady test. Science scores, however, are measurable to previous data because the state transitioned to the TNReady test for that subject. When science transitions to TNReady, scores are expected to dip, McQueen said.

The presentation of scores caps a tumultuousyear for McQueen and the Tennessee Department of Education. On Feb. 8, the first day of testing, McQueen made the call to halt the online portion of the TNReadytest due to issues statewide. The testing company later said it meet the necessary demands of students taking the test. The Education Department opted to switch to paper tests.

However, the problems only snowballed as Measurement the vendor, missed repeated deadlines to provide millions of paper versions to the 146 school districts. In April the state canceled Measurement contract. Pearson Education was contracted to grade high school tests and Questar Assessment was announced in July as the new vendor, to the tune of a two-year $30 million contract. Substantial changes have been announced for the 2016-17 school TNReady test, including shorter testing times. Parents also will have a new report of student progress this year that lists how their student can improve in certain subjects.

Reach Jason Gonzales at 615-259-8047 and on Twitter TNReady scores set new benchmark JASON GONZALES TNReady high school scores TNReady measures student proficiency in third through 11th grades in math and language arts. Students take the high school exams in a class subject at the end of the year. Grades 3-8 tests administered last spring due to testing issues. Percentage of students who are on track or have mastered a subject: Math Algebra 14.1 percent Geometry: 24.1 percent Algebra II: 24 percent Integrated Math 17.5 percent Integrated Math II: 23.5 percent Integrated Math II: 17.5 percent English language arts English 27.5 percent English II: 35.8 percent English III: 27.4 percent Social studies U.S. history and geography: 29.9 percent Biology 56.5 percent Chemistry: 39.7 percent taken under the TNReady test.

University of Tennessee Chancellor Jimmy Cheek said in a campuswide email that he is by four incidents of reported harassment and violence against the LGBT community. The Bias Education and Response team received four reports of of incidents at Pride Center, including acts of violence and harassment, he said. Other incidents of intimidation and violence have been directed to members of the LGBT community both on campus in the local community, Cheek said in an email Wednesday afternoon. continued acts of aggression are unacceptable, and I am deeply troubled by the fact that any member of our community feels unsafe here. Our campus should be safe and welcoming for all of our students, faculty, staff, and Cheek told the campus.

UT police are still investigating two acts of vandalism against the Pride Center, including the most recent incident on Oct. 15 when someone tore a small rainbow flag draped over a fence outside the center at Melrose Hall. The incident was captured on video released by UT police. Cheek acknowledged the frustration by some students and staff that the cases remain unsolved, and said the school has improved surveillance around the center. improvements, however, will not solve hate and Cheek wrote.

must work together as a community to create an environment where acts of bias are not He invited everyone on campus to submit ideas for how to promote civility on campus through the university website. values and principles of civility are inclusive of everyone, regardless of family background, race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity and Cheek wrote. Cheek condemns LGBT harassment on UT campus MEGAN BOEHNKE USA TODAY NETWORK TENNESSEE Cheek Award-winning environmental portrait photographer Shelby Lee Adams will create a special archive of his works that explore rural Appalachian family life at Middle Tennessee State University. Adams, whose friendship with MTSU professor Tom Jimison led to the creation of the archive, will provide a significant portion of his photographic collection to the Baldwin Photographic Gallery in the College of Media and Entertainment. Adams will discuss the gift during his appearance on the MTSU campus at 7 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 17, for a lecture on his career and works. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Room 221 of the Ned McWherter Learning Resource Center, 1558 Military Memorial. The Eastern Kentucky native will allow MTSU to keep part of the proceeds from sales of prints of his compelling portfolio of powerful images created from more than four decades of visiting, photographing and collaborating with families in Appalachia. artist of the magnitude of Shelby Lee Adams will raise the stature of the Baldwin gallery and raise the consciousness of students and scholars looking to understand the conditions and quality of life in said MTSU President Sidney A.

McPhee. are honored that Mr. Adams has entrusted our university to ensure the legacy of his work and allow it to educate and inform our students and our McPhee said. Adams met Jimison in 1980, when Jimison asked the photographer to exhibit his work at the University of Dayton, where Jimison was teaching. was my first one-person Adams recalled.

became fast friends and we have continued our Also, it made sense for MTSU to house the archive, Adams said, because of the of MTSU to the people in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky I have photographed and the fact the people I have photographed will receive a portion of the print sales. will also be able to come to the archive and enjoy the photographs and receive digital photocopies of my Aselection of work can be found at a special exhibit in the Baldwin gallery that opened Oct. 24 and will run through Jan. 19. The gallery, located on the second floor of the Bragg Media and Entertainment Building, is free and open to the public.

Check baldwinphoto- gallery.com for hours. AKirkus review of a book of 1993 work, described his photographs as unsentimental but often His photographs, the review said, show the effects of poverty but also resilience and black-and-white photographs of families gathered on the porches or in the crowded rooms of their hardscrabble, venerable homes show a remarkable crispness of Adams, 66, graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1974 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, then earned degrees in photography from the University of Iowa in 1975 and a Master of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of the Arts in 1989. He was one of seven photographers selected by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1978 to collectively make images in Kentucky for a publication, A and he received an NEA fellowship in 1992. In 1989, he was selected for the Massachusetts Artist Fellowship Program and, from 1989 to 1992, earned artist support grants from Polaroid Corp. He received the Guggenheim Photography Fellowship in 2010.

Adams said his perspective was shaped by growing up in Appalachia during President Lyndon B. on program. of the media representations of the people of the mountains of Eastern Kentucky were disappointing or he said. decided then to dedicate my life to photographing the people of the mountains in away that was both honest and accepted by the Aspecial limited-edition print of the photograph Brothers (1993) will be offered to initiate the funding. The printing of 12 images will be offered for sale by MTSU.

The negative will be permanently retired after this printing. The Baldwin gallery, part of the Department of Electronic Media Communication, is named for Professor Emeritus Harold Baldwin, who established photography program in 1959 and established the gallery five years later to expose the university community to work by leading photographers. Jimison has curat- ed the gallery since 1991. The gallery, renamed in 1996 to honor Baldwin, grew from a hallway in the MTSU Ned McWherter Learning Resource Center to a facility in 2014 with museum-quality lighting in the Bragg building, thanks to a $100,000 gift from Baldwin to enhance the facility. For off-campus visitors interested in the Adams lecture visiting the gallery, a searchable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSU- ParkingMap.

Those visiting the Baldwin gallery during normal business hours should obtain a special one-day permit from Office of Parking and Transportation at http://www.mtsu.edu/parking/visit.php. Photographer Shelby Lee Adams to create MTSU archive of Appalachian images MTSU NEWS COURTESY OF SHELBY LEE ADAMS Cock is among Shelby Lee portfolio of powerful images created from more than four decades of visiting, photographing and collaborating with families in Appalachia. Adams artist of the magnitude of Shelby Lee Adams will raise the stature of the Baldwin gallery and raise the consciousness of students and scholars looking to understand the conditions and quality of life in Appalachia. We are honored that Mr. Adams has entrusted our university to ensure the legacy of his work and allow it to educate and inform our students and our SIDNEY A.

MCPHEE MTSU PRESIDENT.