As promised, the Tennessee Department of Education released results from this year’s TCAP test for third-graders to districts on Friday. However, it wasn’t until after 3:30pm that the data was delivered.
Districts still have to sort through the data and identify exclusions – students who are English Learners or have a disability that affects their ability to read – before they can notify families of student status. Students failing to score “proficient” are eligible for a retake, and that exam window is scheduled to be open for the ten school days from May 22 to June 5.
“Third-grade parents have been anxiously awaiting results,” Tara Bergfeld, a parent of a third grader attending a Nashville school said. She added, “The delay means that school leaders have to scramble this week to administer a retake days before school lets out.”
At Friday’s SBE meeting, the TDOE told SBE members that students have been taking benchmark tests, as required by law, all year. They feel that TCAP results shouldn’t be a surprise to parents.
Bergfeld doesn’t feel that is sufficient. She says, “My child’s benchmark tests indicate a huge level of growth this year. But I still don’t trust that his TN Ready results will reflect the proficiency and growth his teacher has quantified through classroom work and the benchmark assessments. Using the results from a snapshot in time as opposed to a holistic review of a student’s progress is not a good policy, and threatening retention impacts a child on a deeply personal level.
She added, “I, however, have the knowledge and ability to appeal this decision if necessary; many other families may not understand the process, and their child could be unnecessarily held back. While the intent behind the law is commendable, this is a blunt and short-sighted process to address a systemic issue in our schools statewide. If we want to increase reading proficiency, we need to properly resource our teachers and provide the supports they need, like co-teaching models and more planning time.”
J.C. Bowman, Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, shares her concerns but goes further.
Bowman told The Tennessee Star, “Whether you were in support of, or opposed to, the 3rd Grade Retention part of the new literacy law —- there is almost universal agreement that the implementation and timeline were poorly planned. The Tennessee State Board didn’t finish with the rules on what constitutes “adequate growth” until Friday, May 19th, 2023. The raw scores did not get back from Pearson and the State Department of Education until Friday afternoon, May 19th, 2023. This leaves students, parents, schools, and districts scrambling now and rushing to meet new deadlines. It is a classic example of good intentions meeting ineffective bureaucracy.”
Some Tennessee families received notices from their local district informing them of their student’s status late Friday or Saturday. Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) informed parents that it would be Monday before they could expect notification.
According to a TDOE spokesperson, the state education department did not publicly release the raw scores since they contain protected, student-level data. Rather, it sent them directly to the districts. It is up to districts to communicate results.
The release of the TCAP results comes as TDOE leadership is in flux. Commissioner Schwinn has resigned effective June 1. Her replacement, Lizzette Gonzalez Reynolds does not start until July 1, but sources told The Star that Reynolds plans to meet with legislators and department officials starting June 15. Current Deputy Superintendent Sam Pearcy will serve as acting director in the interim between the two.
Students who don’t score “proficient” on the initial TCAP are eligible to retest. Those students who don’t score “proficient” on either exam must repeat fourth grade unless certain criteria are met.
Those who score “approaching” can move to fourth grade if they either attend a state-sponsored summer camp or enroll in a high dosage tutoring program for the upcoming year. If they choose to attend camp, they must maintain a 90% attendance and achieve adequate growth as measured by a post-camp assessment.
That post-test will not be the TCAP, but state officials have said that vendor Pearson is developing a “TCAP-style” test. Its questions will align with state academic standards, and not include a writing portion.
On Friday, the Tennessee State Board of Education (SBE) codified the rules for the definition of adequate growth. A student must grow by 5 percentage points between the Spring TCAP and the post-camp exam. Students can avoid concerns over adequate growth by simply enrolling in a tutoring program.
Students in the “below” category must do both summer camp and a tutoring program. They are not subject to the adequate growth requirement.
MNPS currently has a total of 16,418 students enrolled in Promising Scholars, the summer program offered by MNPS. Roughly 23 percent of those are third-graders, who make up 3,707 of the enrollments.
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TC Weber is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. He also 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.
Photo “Students” by Tima Miroshnichenko.
William. the test is not the problem. It may very well be a symptom but it does little to address the overall failure of our Public Education System. Unless and until the addicts recognize they have a problem there is little hope that it will get fixed.
Randy, do you think that the supporters and instigators of this test could pass it? Could I pass it at age 71? Could you pass it? I ask this as many of those who graded these tests were even less proficient than the third grade students whom they flunked.
Check test scores , not called TCAP In 1991, and now. Not much difference. What, $3+Billion plus spent? AND look at the difference between Minority, Asian and Caucasian?
Not just teachers but involvement of Parents with Monthly Meetings with teachers. Anything that doesn’t contribute to proficient reading/comprehension and basic math by the end of the 3rd is useless for the kids.
“Perhaps the parent of a third grader that is anxious should support charter schools”…. and THAT’S what Lundberg’s Train Wreck is all about, now isn’t it? Steering more money to business rather than educating children….
Much emphasis put on a one-time-per-year, high-stakes test. Much money going to Pearson – don’t forget that part. (In fact…dwell on that for a minute. Could it be that NONE of this is about student excellence? Follow the money.) Much along the way of state leadership conversating with one another on cloud level, then mandating their craziness – causing things to become worse down here where the rest of us live. Much emphasis put on striking fear in our children. (I’ve never seen good results from doing that, AND, We can have excellence without having to do that.) Much to think about, and much to discuss.
Randy pretty much covers it all in his post.
Reading is essential. In the 5th grade we took turns reading Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn out loud to our class, 20 minutes a day. Student participants were not bullied, or embarassed, if some were faltering or illiterate. Most students in the class had borrowed, or bought their own copies and finished before the class exercise reached the end. No, we did not have the compressed, hand-held garbage dump in our hands for entertainment at the time. Samuel Clemens (who?) once said “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.”
Why should “English Learners” be excluded? All the more reason to have that group retained until they can comprehend English.
Like I said in my last post on this topic. The law is meaningless. All a third graders has to demonstrate is the ability to walk and chew gum at the same time to be advanced to the 4th grade. This is all a sham to hoodwink the paying public to believe that the state government is doing something to improve the sickeningly poor education our kids are receiving. At a premium cost, I might add.
“Scrambling” seriously? are they making eggs? “sort through data to identify exclusions” Someone has to push a button to spit out another data set that is already known. Should we increase funding so the academics will do the job they are already paid to do. Perhaps the parent of a third grader that is anxious should support charter schools or simply more closely monitor the third graders reading ability. Children have been learning to read for a very long time, more money does not fix a problem being created by a system designed to make more money rather than teach children to read. “Expert” Academic professionals cannot solve a problem they created. The federal and state Department of Education need to be eliminated. Teachers Unions should serve no legitimate purpose in the education of children. The undue influence and bullying of the public and elected officials for the purpose of shoving more money into peoples pockets needs to stop.