NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Tennessee Commissioner of Education Candice McQueen announced the 2018 TNReady student assessment results this week.

The statewide results show strong growth in English language arts for elementary grades and improvement in high school math.

Students in historically disadvantaged student groups also showed notable progress. Gaps between student groups narrowed in multiple areas.

The results also show areas for needed focus, especially in middle school, where all subject areas showed a decline in overall performance. Additionally, students across the board saw declines in science, which reinforces the need to support teachers as they transition to new science standards and a new science test in 2018-19.

At the district level, all but three districts increased proficiency areas in at least one content area or grade band, but only 20% of districts improved in a majority of subjects and grades – highlighting the varied nature of the results.

The department has released state- and district-level results for TNReady math, English language arts (ELA), science, and U.S. history. School-level results will be released in the coming weeks. Social studies results for grades 3-8 will be available this fall after an extended scoring process led by Tennessee educators is complete, as this test is in its first year.

Students score in one of four performance categories: below grade-level, approaching grade-level, on track, and mastered. Students scoring in the top two performance categories – on track and mastered – are considered to be proficient for that content area.

In 2018, for elementary school (grades 3-5) TNReady exams:
• 35.7% of students were on track or mastered in ELA, up from 33.9% in 2017
• 40% of students were on track or mastered in math, same as 2017
• 56% of students were on track or mastered in science, down from 58.6% in 2017

For middle school (grades 6-8) TNReady exams:
• 32.1% of students were on track or mastered in ELA, down from 33.5% in 2017
• 34.6% of students were on track or mastered in math, down from 35.7% in 2017
• 60.2% of students were on track or mastered in science, down from 62.2% in 2017

For high school end-of-course exams:
• 29.4% of students were on track or mastered in ELA, down from 34.6% in 2017
• 22.5% of students were on track or mastered in math, up from 21.5% in 2017
• 45.3% of students were on track or mastered in science, down from 51% in 2017
• 27.8% of students were on track or mastered in U.S. history, down from 30.8% in 2017

The full results can be viewed here.