The fallout from Tennessee’s third grade standardized testing rules enters a new phase Tuesday, as families can begin appealing to the state to ask that students be advanced to fourth grade.
State law over reading proficiency on the TCAP has placed as many as 60% of third graders — or some 40,000 students — at risk of being held back. Many can take special steps, like re-testing or enrolling in summer school, to try to boost their scores.
As for appeals, that path is open to several types of students: those whose scores were “approaching proficiency,” those who did well enough on an earlier reading assessment (anyone in the 40th percentile or higher), or families who faced hardships during TCAP testing.
At a recent virtual community meeting, parent Brandy Jenkins said she’d be appealing on behalf of her daughter, and noted the toll that testing has had on the class of students who also happen to be the group who saw their kindergarten year interrupted by the pandemic.
“The stress that we’re putting on these children is insane. This will 100% affect our COVID babies, and I don’t understand how the lawmakers thought this was a good decision,” Jenkins said.
Because of what’s at stake this summer, the state’s Department of Education has said it will try to process appeals within 5 business days. The appeals window is open May 30 through June 30.
Re-testing has been underway and will continue until June 5. The state said Friday that more than 25,000 third graders — about a third of all third graders in Tennessee — had opted to test again to try to boost their scores and advance to the fourth grade.
State officials have described the test results as representing “historic gains.”
Yet families remain concerned, as evidenced in the meeting hosted by Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, or SOCM. The group is urging families to write to state lawmakers and has been organizing local groups in seven counties, thus far, around education advocacy.
In Memphis, Damon Curry Morris, a former educator and grandfather of a third grader, said there’s been “a lot of confusion” about the next steps that families should take.
“The deck was stacked against everybody going into this day,” he said of testing.
