COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. — Summer break is underway for students and families across the state but with the new third-grade retention law in place, many third graders are spending their summer learning.
In Cocke County, one school is making sure to keep children engaged through interactive STEM learning and teachers say summer school looks different than ever before. School officials said apart from third graders, all kids participating in summer school are there by choice.
The new retention law has transformed summer school, not just for third graders, but for all students participating.
At Northwest Elementary in Cocke County, school officials said 26 third graders are enrolled in summer school as a state requirement following the TCAP test. Of those, 20 have attended and school leaders said at least six will repeat the third grade.
Summer school teacher Mary Scruggs said that's a lot to hang on a test.
"Some kids aren't good test takers, some people are, so it's not really fair to be a complete representation as just one test to be for that student,” Scruggs said. “They weren't able to do fun Fridays like they used to be able to do because of having to have the third grade the way they did.”
Despite adjusting to several changes, Scruggs said summer learning has been fun. That's partly thanks to her own creativity.
Thursday morning younger kids made a balloon car while older kids studied forensics. It's one of many ways Scruggs has been able to combine fun and ELA-required material.
"Like today we finally finished out third and fourth, we got to make a balloon car. So, they're doing fun stuff on top of that, but they're still getting ELA like crazy,” Scruggs said. “We will make a volcano next.”
But students aren't the only ones being scored on the TCAP Scruggs said.
"That's just life now for some reason but we've definitely been getting scored on it with our observations, but TCAP is a part of that score overall,” Scruggs said.
When it comes to making summer school fun, Scruggs’ biggest motivation is the children she gets to teach and spent time mentoring throughout the season.
“They're amazing. They really are,” she said.
According to state law, the kids in summer school right now will have to show a certain amount of progress to go on to the fourth grade.
If your child is not in summer school and you would like to appeal their test score, parents or guardians have until June 30.