Amends TCA Title 49.

This bill changes the law regarding the promotion of students from the third grade as described below.<br /> <br /> Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, present law generally prohibits a student in the third grade from being promoted to the next grade level if the student is determined not to be proficient in English language arts (ELA) based on the student's achieving a performance level rating of "on track" or "mastered" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) test.<br /> <br /> However, present law offers a number of options for a student who is not proficient in ELA, as determined by the student's achieving a performance level rating of "approaching" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test, to still be promoted. Two such options, amongst others, include the following:<br /> <br /> (1) The student attends a learning loss bridge camp before the beginning of the upcoming school year; maintains a 90 percent attendance rate at the camp; and demonstrates adequate growth, as determined by the department, on the post-test administered to the student at the end of the learning loss bridge camp; or<br /> <br /> (2) The student is assigned a tutor through the Tennessee accelerating literacy and learning corps (TALLC) to provide the student with tutoring services for the entirety of the upcoming school year based on tutoring requirements established by the department.<br /> <br /> For a student who is not proficient in ELA, as determined by the student's achieving a performance level rating of "below" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test, such student may still be promoted if, among other options, the student attends a learning loss bridge camp before the beginning of the upcoming school year and maintains a 90 percent attendance rate at the camp, and is assigned a tutor through the TALLC to provide the student with tutoring services for the entirety of the upcoming school year based on tutoring requirements established by the department.<br /> <br /> This bill alters the options described above by providing that:<br /> <br /> (1) The student's LEA, not the department, must determine if the student's performance on the post-test at the end of the learning loss bridge camp demonstrates adequate growth; and<br /> <br /> (2) The student's LEA, not the department, must establish the tutoring requirements.<br /> <br /> This bill applies to the 2022-2023 school year and each school year thereafter.<br />