MORRISTOWN, Tenn. — Nolan and Henry both took the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program exam this year. One passed the proficiency threshold and was able to continue onto the fourth grade without issue. However, the other did not and faced either summer school, tutoring or having to repeat the third grade.
However, their mother intervened and appealed the decision to the Tennessee Department of Education. It was successful, and now both twins can enjoy the summer while also continuing on to the fourth grade.
"I was very nervous about the thought of having to try to send one child to summer school or one child to after-school tutoring, and the divide that would create between them," said Beth Ann Smith, mother of the boys. "I didn't want one of them to feel superior to the other."
She had filed a TCAP appeal after one of the brothers scored a percentile below his brother. With that one percentile, his brother had passed and he had not. She said both boys are straight-A students who received awards in science, mathematics and reading.
However, she said that their test scores do not reflect their education and growth.
The state's appeals process is only open to students who received a score at or above the 40th percentile on their spring universal reading screener, or if a "catastrophic situation" occurred during the days leading up to the TCAP exam that impacted the student's ability to perform well.
"Our standards were based on recall of information, and now it is shifting to putting a complex test at the center of what we do," said Dr. Phillips, the Executive Director of Learning and Literacy with Knox County Schools.
In Knox County, students who did not meet the proficiency threshold on the TCAP exam had the option to attend a summer learning or go through tutoring during the fourth grade. Knox County Schools said 5,104 students are enrolled in their elementary summer camps.
They also said 1,563 students in those summer camps are rising fourth graders — around a third of all students enrolled in the program. A spokesperson said that is more than double the typical rate.