The Tennessee Department of Education released data on Wednesday for third-grade students who participated in state-sponsored summer learning camps and completed the required post-test.
Beginning this summer, third-grade students scoring “approaching” or “below” on the ELA portion of the spring TCAP assessment faced prevention unless they participated in the state-provided pathways to fourth-grade promotion. These include the TCAP retake opportunity, free summer camp, and tutoring in the upcoming school year. Third-grade students who choose to participate in summer school must show adequate growth – defined by the State Board of Education(SBE) as 4 percent – to be eligible for promotion. Participants must also meet a 90 percent attendance measure.
A total of 24,907 third graders were eligible for the summer camp attendance and adequate growth option for promotion to fourth grade. Eight thousand five hundred ninety-two students took the post-test administered at the end of the summer learning programs. Of those students, 2,055 demonstrated adequate growth. That equates to roughly 24 percent, less than 1 out of 4.
Even though those students are now eligible for promotion to fourth grade, they still face possible retention at the end of their fourth-grade year.
State law requires that a student who uses the offered interventions to avoid third-grade retention, show adequate growth in fourth grade or risk being retained. Unlike those students in third grade deemed at risk, there are no exemptions or alternative pathways to fifth-grade promotion for those students who fail to show adequate growth.
The SBE has yet to define “adequate” growth. They are not expected to take up the subject until their November meeting. That makes some people uncomfortable.
“It does bother me,” State House Representative Kevin Raper (R-Cleveland) told The Tennessee Star. “We’ll be a quarter of the way into the school year and schools won’t know the target they are aiming for.”
Raper is a former professional educator and now serves as vice-chair of the House Education Instruction Committee.
The TDOE does not yet know the number of students potentially impacted by the law. Local districts are currently compiling data. The deadline for that reporting is Friday.
The number of third-graders retained this year is less than initially projected.
One local superintendent told The Star, off the record, “I’ve always said this wasn’t a third-grade retention law. It’s a third-grade promotion law and a fourth-grade retention law.”
Lawmakers said they will take up similar legislation for math when the State General Assembly reconvenes in January.
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TC Weber is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. He writes the blog Dad Gone Wild. Follow TC on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]. He’s the proud parent of two public school children and the spouse of a public school teacher.
