EducationNews

75 Percent of Hardeman County’s Third Graders at Risk of Being Held Back

Third Graders who scored “approaching” or “below” have several pathways which may help them get promoted to fourth grade.

During the 2021 legislative session, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act. This act revised the state’s law regarding the promotion of students from third grade. Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, if a student does not score proficient in English Language Arts (ELA) on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program test (TCAP), the student could be retained, unless certain conditions are met.

See also: Tennessee’s Lee Signs Amendment to Third-Grade Retention Law

Hardeman County Schools has reported that 223 students took the third grade English Language Arts TCAP. Based on the raw score files the district received on May 19, 2023, 169 students (75.8 percent of third graders) were determined not to be proficient on the ELA portion of the TCAP assessment. The third grade ELA assessment had a possible score of 52 points. Students needed a raw score of at least 34 points to meet expectations. The district’s raw score average was 26.3, while the raw score average across the state was 29.5. All Tennessee school districts third grade students are being impacted by this new legislation.

Hardeman County’s elementary schools began contacting families by phone on Monday, May 22, 2023, to inform them of their child’s performance level and next steps available to ensure that students are provided all opportunities to be promoted to the fourth grade. Schools are currently in the process of giving the Third Grade Re-take assessment, which is scheduled for May 22 – May 26, 2023. Schools will be notified of the students score within 48 hours of the test date. If a student does not meet the expectations of the third grade ELA TCAP assessment, parents will be notified by the school to discuss and determine a pathway for their child to take to be promoted to the fourth grade. Parents with concerns or questions are encouraged to contact their child’s school for more information.



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