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Contributed commentary by David Bilan on the third-grade retention test results.
A third-grader gets all A’s on their report card but fails the TCAP test. There are three factors here: the teacher, the student and the TCAP test. The only blameless one here is the student.
The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) is proud to say scores have gone up since last year. This year, ONLY 60% “fell below the threshold” (failed) the English portion of the TCAP. Last year, it was 65%. If the rate of “improvement” stays on track, a kid starting first grade this year will graduate from high school before the TDOE totally fixes the problem.
MORE: 40% of third-graders in Clarksville-Montgomery County need new testing or tutoring
Teachers have to share the blame. If you are giving a child A’s all year and they fail the TCAP, you either aren’t grading accurately or you aren’t teaching what the child needs to learn.
Parents feel betrayed. They attend the parent-teacher conferences, help with homework, enroll the child in STEM special programs and see the report card as a reflection of their child’s success. Now, many are told their child will be required to attend summer school and/or go to a tutor or have their child repeat third grade.
Special mention goes out to the Tennessee Legislature; there was serious discussion about rejecting $1.8 billion in annual federal funding (about 20% of the state education budget). Why? state Rep. Cameron Sexton said in a news release, “rejecting federal money for overbearing policies like Common Core will ultimately lead to a total demise of their bureaucratic big brother approach.” By the way, TCAP is based on Common Core.
Using this disappointing data to say Tennessee public schools are failing and to champion charter schools is not only misleading, but it encourages people – who can afford it – to send their children to private school, reducing funding for public schools. Abandoning public schools is sabotage to Tennessee’s future workforce.
If the TCAP is an accurate yardstick and realistically measures our students’ ability against the rest of the nation, the TDOE has the responsibility to develop and implement a solution. Test results are similar statewide. Translating the percentage to a letter grade, Tennessee gets an F in reading skills for third-graders. Meanwhile, a third-grader puts their all-A report card on the refrigerator, right next to the notice that states they have to repeat third grade.
David Bilan