Williamson County school board discusses reading proficiency requirements, Title IX changes
Williamson County parents will soon learn whether their kids will have to attend summer school to advance under state reading proficiency requirements, Williamson County Superintendent Jason Golden said during Monday’s Board of Education meeting.
Under the state’s Third-Grade Retention Law, third-grade students who fail to show proficiency in reading on state assessments will have to attend summer school and or tutoring during fourth grade to advance further. Fourth-grade students impacted by the law last year must also show “adequate growth” on state testing this year to be promoted to fifth grade. In addition, fourth graders who fail to show “adequate growth” on Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) tests can qualify to advance to the fifth grade if there’s agreement from all parties in a conference with parents, teachers and administrators, under legislation that passed in April.
Golden said district officials received students’ “raw” test scores Monday, as officials wait for students’ growth scores.
“All our third-grade parents will get a letter [about scores] tonight. It's scheduled to go out tonight to let them know where their child is on that third-grade promotion and retention law. It will vary a good bit because the avenues for that have changed a little bit over the last year or so,” he said. “As part of that, our elementary team and instructional team are working together to prepare for [summer school] to give students who need that option the ability to prepare for that.”
Golden noted that nearly 40 fourth-grade students are awaiting their growth scores ahead of summer school. He said the district will soon know how many of those students will be able to advance, with more information pending.
“Last year's third grade class - this year's fourth grade class - had 134 students who you may recall at the time were at risk of retention in fourth grade. As we sit today based on our first review of those quick scores, we have 38 of those students who now will be waiting for the growth scores, which are scheduled to come in early July. In other words, of the 134, we’re down to 38 students who might be subject to [being retained],” he said.
In addition to discussing state reading requirements, the board discussed the Biden Administration’s proposed changes to Title IX, which aims to reinstate protections for students who have experienced sexual assault and harassment, as well as LGBTQ students. The revisions are designed to provide educators with guidelines for addressing any form of sex-based discrimination in educational settings. The rules also allow students to access facilities such as bathrooms which correspond with their gender identity and mandate the use of a transgender individual's chosen name and pronouns. Tennessee is one of several GOP-led states that are currently suing the Biden Administration to stop the Title IX changes at the federal level.
During public comments, parents and community members weighed in on the proposed changes, with some saying they support the changes and believe they will help protect children and save lives by stopping anti-LGBTQ bullying and discrimination in schools. The proposal, however, has been met with a wave of backlash from conservative activist groups.
“There’s a whole group of kids that are going to feel intimidated if they use the wrong pronouns,” Carolyn Brown from Moms for Liberty said during public comments.
The board did not take any formal action on the proposed changes at Monday’s meeting as the new regulations are set to take effect in August.
“We're at the study stages of those regulations and we are aware that the state of Tennessee has joined a number of states to file a petition to the federal courts related to that,” Golden said. “So we'll be monitoring that over the course of the summer to determine from a procedural perspective where we are with those regulations that were put down.”
