New data released by the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) shows not many third-graders passed the summer school option to advance to the fourth-grade under the state’s new Third-Grade Retention Law.The Tennessee General Assembly passed the Third-Grade Retention Law in 2021 to ensure students who failed to meet reading proficiency on the annual Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) would receive additional support through tutoring and/or summer school before being promoted to fourth-grade. Under the law, students who scored in the “approaching proficiency” category had the option of advancing by attending summer school and showing “adequate growth” on an assessment at the end of it.According to the TDOE, just 34 percent (8,592) of the nearly 25 thousand students eligible for the summer school pathway completed that test at the end of it and of those, only 23 percent (2,055) showed adequate growth to advance.Third-graders who failed to complete this requirement could still advance to the fourth-grade through an appeal, exemption, or by taking tutoring this school year.“Thousands of third grade students across the state participated in summer learning camps to catch up, accelerate their learning, and benefit from additional academic support over the summer,” said new Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds. “As our students have begun a new school year, we will continue focusing on the proven interventions that are working to set all our students on a path to success.”More than half of Tennessee’s third-graders failed to meet testing standards to advance to the fourth-grade on the initial TCAP last spring. Some students advanced by showing improvement on a TCAP retake, filing a successful appeal, or by meeting one of several categories that are exempt from retention.Students who scored “below proficient” on the TCAP or TCAP retake had to attend summer school and fall tutoring to advance under the new law.This year’s third-graders will have the option of advancing to the fourth-grade by showing proficiency on an additional test through legislation members of the Tennessee General Assembly passed in April.¶
