New state law may hold 700 Nashville fourth-graders back

Even under a best-case scenario, hundreds of Metro-Nashville Public School (MNPS) students will have to repeat the fourth-grade next year under a new state law.That’s according to district Executive Director of the Department of Research, Assessment, and Evaluation Christine Stenson, who updated members of the MNPS Board of Education Tuesday night on the potential impact Tennessee’s new Third-Grade Retention Law will have on district fourth-graders.Under the new law that went into effect last year, Tennessee’s third-graders must show proficiency on state ELA (English language arts) testing to advance to the fourth-grade. Students who don’t show proficiency can advance by attending summer school and/or receiving tutoring in the fourth-grade.The district says 64 students are repeating the third-grade this year because of the law and a provision could impact the fourth-grade even more.MNPS has 1082 fourth-graders who are receiving tutoring this year through Third-Grade Retention Law requirements, and all must also show adequate growth on state testing to advance to fifth-grade.Stenson told the board that the adequate growth students must show is tailored to each student and there is no concrete way to know exactly what that will be at this point.“Those students who are scoring the lowest need to make the most growth in order to be promoted.  It could be one or two questions for a student, and it could be quite a bit more than that,” said Stenson. “And we won’t know until probably May, maybe even June, which of these students did and did not meet this adequate growth target.”The state estimates that under a best-case scenario between 400 to 500 MNPS fourth-graders will need to be retained under the adequate growth provision and a worst case scenario would be more than 700 students.Board Chair Rachael Anne Elrod was among those expressing frustration at the uncertainties of the adequate growth provision and its potential impact.“There are many parents that we understand are very upset and frankly confused because it is purposely confusing for them,” said Elrod. “A lot of times, understandably, those parents just want to be heard. Again, it’s really frustrating. And it was frustrating for me, not just here as a board member, but also as a parent. It was frankly embarrassing to stand up there and say ‘I don’t know either’ and I too am a parent of two third graders.”Director of Schools Dr. Adrienne Battle was also critical of the adequate growth provision and the Third-Grade Law itself.“We do not support or think this was or is a good idea or educationally appropriate. However, we must comply with the state law in Tennessee,” said Battle. “The promotion of those fourth-grade students to fifth-grade is conditioned on them achieving adequate growth on their ELA TCAP (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program) test and the adequate growth measurement growth hasn’t even been formally adopted yet by the Tennessee State Board of Education, once again showing that this law was not well thought out or executed.”Following concerns from parents, educators, and some lawmakers the Tennessee General Assembly passed changes to the Third-Grade Retention Law last year that are expected to increase the number of third-graders who automatically qualify for the fourth-grade this year.  Some lawmakers have expressed interest in addressing concerns about the law's impact on fourth-grades in this year's legislative session that began earlier this month.