Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 10.

This bill requires, by the 2021-2022 school year, a local board of education or public charter school governing body to develop and adopt an academic acceleration policy for the enrollment of students in grades 7-12 into any available advanced English language arts, mathematics, or science courses. The objective criteria in an academic acceleration policy developed and adopted pursuant to this bill must include: (1) A student's performance on the most recent Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) assessment; and (2) A student's grades in the student's English language arts, mathematics, or science courses. This bill authorizes the local board or governing body to incorporate additional criteria, which may include: a student's results on local assessments; a student's high school plan of study; and a student self-nomination. This bill requires LEAs and public charter schools to notify the parent of a student eligible to enroll in an advanced course, of the student's eligibility to enroll in the advanced course. This bill sets out in detail the requirements for such notice. This bill prohibits LEAs and public charter schools from removing a student who is enrolled in an advanced course, pursuant to the LEA's or public charter school's academic acceleration policy, unless the student's parent timely submits a request in writing to the LEA or public charter school requesting that the parent's student be removed from the course. This bill requires the department of education to submit, by October 1, 2022, and each October 1 thereafter, a report to the education committees of the senate and the house of representatives containing: (1) Data collected by the department on the number and demographics of students qualified under this bill to enroll in advanced English language arts, mathematics, or science courses in grades 7-12 compared with the numbers and demographics of students not enrolled in advanced English language arts, mathematics, or science courses; and (2) Information on the type and format of the advanced courses offered by each LEA and public charter school and any feedback received from LEAs and public charter schools on the implementation of this bill. ON MARCH 25, 2021, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 414, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 specifies that the objective criteria in an academic acceleration policy are not limited to a student's most recent TCAP performance and grades in English language arts, mathematics, or science courses. This amendment deletes the requirement that the notice of advanced course eligibility provided to a student's parent must provide a date by which the student's parent must submit a written request to the LEA or public charter school to enroll the parent's student in the advanced course. This amendment adds a second means by which an LEA or public charter school may remove a student from an advanced course based on the student's teacher determining that, based on the student's performance in the course, the student should be removed from the course and placed in an alternate course. The teacher's determination will be subject to review by the principal.