One day, one test: Keeping score isn’t as easy as 1, 2, 3
Even as Tennessee moves forward with a law that could hold back tens of thousands of third graders, there is widespread misunderstanding about what it even means to read at “grade level.”
There are 22 article(s) tagged TNReady:
Even as Tennessee moves forward with a law that could hold back tens of thousands of third graders, there is widespread misunderstanding about what it even means to read at “grade level.”
Critics worry Tennessee’s new retention policy fails to address most of the reasons children struggle to read, leaving tens of thousands of third graders at risk of being held back this year.
Tennessee joins 36 states with laws that can result in underperforming elementary students being held back, but the results in other states have been mixed.
A new state law is raising the pressure on local public and charter schools. Third graders who “flunk” next spring’s TNReady reading test — and generally two-thirds of them in Tennessee do — are eligible to be retained in third grade next year.
SCS’ standardized testing data revealed the district’s weaknesses and gaps, widened by COVID-induced learning disruptions.
The governor and education commissioner have touted districts won’t be penalized based on test results. However, that’s only if 80% of students take the exam. Superintendents are concerned as so much uncertainty surrounds the requirements.
About 69% of those polled support continuing to use TNReady in Tennessee schools, a jump of 10 percentage points over this time last year.
It’s a reprieve for low-performing schools that are academically in the state’s bottom 5%, known as priority schools. Most are in Memphis and Nashville and were expected to receive some of the lowest letter grades.
TNReady tests are designed to assess every student’s true understanding of the material they’ve studied, not just memorized. The goal is to know how to help students advance their knowledge and skills, teachers raise their level of instruction, and districts improve their schools.
A three-part series from The Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis explores the challenges and possible solutions to improving third-grade reading proficiency locally.
Next fall, thousands of Memphis children will qualify to participate in the new Education Savings Accounts (ESA) Program. They can receive about $7,300 in the account, which can be used for tuition at private schools, tutoring, textbooks, school uniforms and computers.
TNReady scores showed Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville Germantown and Lakeland are among the top-performing districts in the state. Lakeland was designated as an Exemplary district by the Tennessee Department of Education.
The district’s students did not make as much progress as other students across the state, earning Shelby County Schools the lowest score on the state’s 5-point growth scale.
More than 40% of elementary and middle school students met the state’s proficiency standards in math, compared to 36.5% in 2018.
Special Report: Memphis' Reading Test PART 1: Meeting goals for third-grade reading proficiency in Tennessee is a daunting task unless dramatic improvements occur in Shelby County, where the hurdles are high and the challenges complex. And in Memphis, a city where nearly four in five children in public schools aren't reading on grade level, the undertaking is monumental.
About 24% of third-graders in Shelby County Schools scored proficient in reading on the state’s standardized assessment TNReady, down from about 27% last year. Statewide, 36% of elementary students tested proficient.
Tennessee’s school districts are nearly halfway through online testing, and for the first time in three years, no major issues have been reported.
Tennessee already has walked back its transition to online testing two times since 2016 when a wholesale switch failed miserably, prompting then-Education Commissioner Candice McQueen to cancel most of that year’s tests and fire Measurement Inc.
Tennessee education leaders can now track glitches with the revamped TNReady testing system in real time. But the state education commissioner says she still must decide whether to throw the switch or wait another year to resume online achievement tests.
The state set an April 11 deadline for vendors' bids to administer the TNReady program. The final contract is to be signed by June 13.
With just months to go before a company is supposed to take over Tennessee’s troubled assessment program, the state has yet to release its request for proposals.
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