Retests whittle down number of MSCS 3rd graders facing retention over reading scores

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.About 1 in 5 Memphis Shelby-County Schools third graders who took a state retest in reading last month succeeded in earning an easier path to fourth grade — some 1,200 students in all.Roughly 500 students in the district did well enough on the retest to be able to go straight to fourth grade, without summer school or tutoring, according to results released Wednesday by the Tennessee Department of Education. The other 700 improved enough that they can choose either summer school or tutoring to advance, rather than having to attend both.That still leaves large numbers of MSCS third graders — along with thousands more across the state — who may have to participate in both interventions to avoid being held back under the state’s new retention law for struggling readers.The retest results give districts and the state a fuller picture of the impact of the 2021 law, which took effect with this year’s third graders.The results released Wednesday still don’t account for students who successfully appeal their scores, and the ones who are exempt from the law because they have limited English proficiency or reading disabilities, or have been retained before. And the education department — which is currently undergoing changes in leadership — has released only district-level results, without providing statewide figures or analysis.But in MSCS, the state’s largest district, the retest made a difference for hundreds of students who were initially identified as being at risk for retention, based on their English language arts scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program. About three-quarters of MSCS third graders didn’t score proficient on the initial test administered in the spring, one of the worst rates in the state.Critics of the test have said it does not specifically measure reading skills, making it a poor criterion for determining whether third graders can be promoted.Statewide, some 74,000 students, or 60% of third graders, did not demonstrate proficiency on the initial TCAP English language arts test.But unlike most other Tennessee districts, MSCS got almost all the students who didn’t pass the first test to take a similar retest during the final weeks of school.“We are proud of students who participated in the retake for exploring this pathway,” interim state Education Commissioner Sam Pearcy said in a statement about the scores.Clay County Schools, a small district in north central Tennessee, reaped significant benefits from the retest. While only half the third graders eligible for a retest participated, three-fifths of them did well enough to score proficient and move automatically to fourth grade.For most school districts, though, improvements from the retest were more modest.Thomas Wilburn and Nadia Bey contributed data analysis.Laura Testino covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Laura at LTestino@chalkbeat.org.Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.