Third Grade Retention Law in Action | The deadlines, details, and discussions about what's next
Everything your family needs to know about the TCAP test scores, and how they could affect your child's future.
This is the first year the controversial third-grade retention law will be in action. The rollout of the law has sparked heated conversations between lawmakers, education activists, parents and school districts across the state.
There's still quite a bit of uncertainty about what this rollout will look like. However, the Tennessee Department of Education, alongside local school districts, has painted a picture of the plan.
Students across Tennessee spent time from April 18 to May 5 participating in the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP). Students can "exceed," "meet," "approach" or be "below expectations" on the test.
According to last year's test scores, only the state found just 36.4% of Tennessee students are meeting grade-level expectations in ELA.
The new third-grade retention law seeks to retain students who are not meeting grade-level expectations. That means those students would have to retake the third grade.
There's a lot on the line for third-graders, who took the TCAP this year.
Post TCAP Options
Based on a student's TCAP scores, they could be held back for the third grade. However, there are a number of options available to at-risk students:
- Students can retake the test.
- Students can enroll in summer school.
- Students can advance to the fourth grade with a tutor assigned to them.
Parents can also apply for an appeal process. The Tennessee Department of Education said the Parent Appeal Portal would open on the TDOE website from May 30 until June 30. Parents can choose to appeal before or after the student retakes the TCAP. Parents will have 14 days to complete the appeal.
TDOE said the TCAP retake assessment would be multiple choice/multiple choice select to allow for immediate scoring of the test. The retake would be administered on a computer and pre-equated, to allow for a scale score to be produced by the school within two business days.
Timeline and Deadlines
The Tennessee Department of Education provided a timeline for how the TCAp results can be mitigated by families. You can also read the third-grade promotion timeline here.
- April 17 - May 2: Third graders take the ELA TCAP test statewide.
- May 19: The state will provide the third grader's ELA TCAP raw test score data to individual school districts.
- Districts can use this data to identify which students are likely to be "Below Expectations" or in the bottom half of "Approaching Expectations." Some parent notifications may begin on this date as well.
- May 26:A statewide "scale- to scale" assessment comparing districts will be released to local districts on this date.
- May 22 - June 5:Third graders will have an ELA TCAP retake option.
- The scores of this retake will be available for viewing within 48 hours.
- May 30- June 14: The state will open an appeal portal for parents.
- Parents can appeal before or after TCAP retake.
- Parents have 14 days to complete an appeal.
- June 7: All third-grade ELA TCAP retake scores will be reported to the public.
- June 24: Final retention notification for some families.
- Families that did not participate in intervention options such as summer school, tutor sign-ups, or test retakes.
- This date applies to schools starting July 24.
- If school starts later, notifications to families must be sent out at least 30 days before the first day of school.
- June 26: All students enrolled in summer school will complete a post-summer school test to determine their improvement.
- June 30: The appeal portal for parents will close.
- July 14: Final retention notification for families whose child participated in summer school.
- This date applies to schools starting July 24.
- If school starts later, notifications to families must be sent out at least 10 days before the first day of school.
TDOE vs. Local Districts
According to TDOE, the department's specific role in implementing the law is limited to reviewing appeals in accordance with the State Board of Education rule and providing a report to the general assembly. TDOE will also be responsible for posting the appeals window and process.
TDOE said it will focus on providing technical assistance to local school districts and public charter schools on the interventions that improve a student's reading proficiency.
School districts would be responsible for mailing TCAP scores to families and notifying them if their student is at-risk for retention. Districts would also be required to host their own intervention programs, including summer programs and providing tutors.
Districts would also offer TCAP retake tests for parents who opt for it.
Score Exceptions
Does your child qualify for an exception on the third-grade retention law?
According to TDOE, if a student scores "below" or "approaching" on the ELA portion of the TCAP test they risk retention. However, the state is willing to make certain exceptions on a case-by-case basis based on documentation in a student's file.
Students who have an intellectual or developmental disability that impacts their reading, or literacy development will be exempt from retention. The local school district will be responsible for determining which students have a disability or 'suspected disability.' An example of such a disability would be Dyslexia; although, the state says students with Dyslexia will still be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Students who are English-Second-Language, and have received less than two years of English instruction will be exempt from retention.
Students who have been retained previously will be exempt from retention.
Students who score proficient during the test re-take period from May 30 - June 5th will be exempt from retention.
Students who scored "approaching expectations," on the original TCAP test, then enrolled in summer school with 90% attendance (missing only 3 days) and exemplified adequate growth in the post-summer school test will be exempt from retention.
Students who scored "approaching expectations," on the original TCAP test, and agree to be tutored for the duration of their 4th grade year will be exempt from retention.
Students who scored "below expectations," on the original TCAP test, who successfully complete the summer school program and agree to be tutored for the duration of their 4th-grade year will be exempt from retention.
A full list of exemptions can be found on the TDOE website.
How Did East TN Score?
On Monday, May 22, the department released the statewide average for the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program's ELA scores.
Around 40% of third-grade students scored proficient across the state, which means around 60% did not. So, more than half the third-graders in Tennessee are at risk of retention.
According to the report, 13 East Tennessee districts scored below the statewide average proficiency of 40%, while 14 East Tennessee districts scored above. The following counties and city schools are listed below:
- Alcoa City - 40.28%
- Anderson County - 44.32%
- Blount County - 37.04%
- Campbell County - 31.27%
- Claiborne County - 31.16%
- Clinton City - 55.03%
- Cocke County - 27.51%
- Cumberland County - 34.42%
- Fentress County - 30.98%
- Grainger County - 46.23%
- Hamblen County - 40.92%
- Hancock County - 32.35%
- Jefferson County - 38.57%
- Knox County - 42.9%
- Lenoir City - 31.79%
- Loudon County - 46.94%
- Maryville City - 74.68%
- Monroe County - 26.67%
- Morgan County - 41.02%
- Newport City - 54.69%
- Oak Ridge - 58.74%
- Oneida Special School - 32.76%
- Roane County - 40.96%
- Scott County - 40.55%
- Sevier County - 35.27%
- Sweetwater City - 42.42%
The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission was at 27.76% proficiency.
