Tennessee children, parents have options pending their TCAP scores

CHATTANOOOGA, Tenn. — This week is a critical time for Tennessee parents of third-grade students who are expected to start getting results from the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, or TCAP, test.

Under the new controversial Third Grade Retention Law in Tennessee, the results of that test could determine whether a student gets held back, gets tutoring and goes to summer school or is promoted to fourth grade.

J.C. Bowman with Professional Educators of Tennessee said the number of students who did reach proficiency ranges between 30 and 70-percent depending on the district.

He said over 1,800 students could be retained.

“I do think that we’ve got to continue to refine this law, look at it, and work on it,” Bowman said. “I do think we’re failing kids that we just pass them on through the system. I understand the logic for it. But I also know that the implementation of this has been just horrendous.”

If the student scores “approaching grade level” on the TCAP test there are several options.

The first is parents are allowed to file an appeal within two weeks of the test.

Students can either retake the test and if they score better, they can move on to the fourth grade.

They can also enroll in a month-long summer camp and proceed to the fourth grade. The requirement is the students must attend 90-percent or more of the classes to qualify.

For students in Chattanooga the summer camp is called the Hamilton County Schools’ Summer Reach program.

A spokesperson for the district said the third grade retention law has been kept in mind during the summer program planning.

The Hamilton County School District says they have enough staff to accommodate more children, but Bowman said that’s not the case for many other school districts.

“We expect schools and districts to implement plans by the state that are poorly executed. And then the teachers are on the frontlines of this,” Bowman said. “We still have a vacancy issue in the state, and teachers are still leaving, there’s about 5%, to 6% classrooms across the state of Tennessee that did not have a teacher in this year.”

If your student scores “below grade level” on the TCAP, they can also retest and potentially move on to fourth grade if their new score is high enough. Otherwise, they’ll have to attend the summer camp and receive fourth grade tutoring.

Hamilton County schools tells us once TCAP scores are in, they will reach out to parents to talk about these programs as well as how they can potentially appeal the retention law.

If students score below or approaching grade level on the TCAP English Language Arts portion of the test, it doesn’t mean they automatically repeat the grade.

The student could qualify for an exemption. Under the new law, if the student is an English learner with less than two years of ELA classes, they’ve previously been retained in grades K-3 or they have a diagnosed or suspected disability that impacts reading — they move on to fourth grade.

The Tennessee Department of Education provides a FAQ on third grade promotion to help parents here.