Amends TCA Title 49.

Present law generally prohibits a student in the third grade from being promoted to the next grade level unless the student is determined 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. However, a student may be promoted in certain circumstances.<br /> <br /> LEVEL RATING OF "APPROACHING"<br /> <br /> Present law provides that 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 may be promoted if the following applies:<br /> <br /> (1) The student is an English language learner and has received less than two years of ELA instruction; <br /> <br /> (2) The student was previously retained in any of the grades K-3;<br /> <br /> (3) The student is retested before the beginning of the following school year and the scores are proficient in ELA;<br /> <br /> (4) 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 the student's performance on the post-test administered to the student at the end of the learning loss bridge camp, demonstrates adequate growth, as determined by the department; or<br /> <br /> (5) 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 /> This bill adds the following additional situations in which a student who is not proficient in ELA, as determined by the student achieving a performance level rating of "approaching" on the ELA portion of the TCAP can be promoted: <br /> <br /> (6) The student is determined to be proficient in at least two subjects based on the student's achieving a performance level rating of "on track" or "mastered" on at least two portions of the student's most recent TCAP test and is assigned a tutor through the TALLC to provide the student with tutoring services for ELA for the entirety of the upcoming school year; <br /> <br /> (7) The student scores in the 40th percentile or better on the student's most recent Tennessee universal reading screener or state-board-approved universal reading screener; or <br /> <br /> (8) The student scores in the 40th percentile or better on the ELA portion of a standardized reading assessment administered to the student by the LEA; and the student's principal, classroom teacher, and parent or guardian agree that other evaluations of the student's skill in reading demonstrate that the student is academically prepared for the next grade level. <br /> <br /> LEVEL RATING OF "BELOW"<br /> <br /> Present law provides that 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 may be promoted if: <br /> <br /> (A) The student is an English language learner and has received less than two years of ELA instruction;<br /> <br /> (B) The student was previously retained in any of the grades K-3;<br /> <br /> (C) The student retested before the beginning the next school year and the scores proficient in ELA; or <br /> <br /> (D) 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 adds the following additional situations in which a student who is not proficient in ELA, as determined by the student achieving a performance level rating "below" on the ELA portion of the TCAP can be promoted: <br /> <br /> (5) The student scores in the 40th percentile or better on the student's most recent Tennessee universal reading screener or state-board-approved universal reading screener; or <br /> <br /> (6) The student scores in the 40th percentile or better on the ELA portion of a standardized reading assessment administered to the student by the LEA; and the student's principal, classroom teacher, and parent or guardian agree that other evaluations of the student's skill in reading demonstrate that the student is academically prepared for the next grade level. <br /> <br /> GENERAL RETENTION FOR K-2<br /> <br /> This bill authorizes an LEA or public charter school to retain a student in any of the grades of K-2 if the student has not shown basic understanding of the curriculum and ability to perform the skills required in the subject of reading as demonstrated by the student's grades and results on each universal reading screener administered to the student in the school year. <br /> <br /> TCAP TESTS<br /> <br /> Under present law, the commissioner of education must establish a schedule for the administration of the TCAP assessment. This bill requires the department to provide LEAs with the individual performance ratings from the TCAP tests administered to the LEAs students no later than May 19 of each year. <br /> <br /> MATERIALS FOR PARENTS<br /> <br /> Under present law, immediately upon determining that a student in K-3 has a significant reading deficiency, based on the results of the universal reading screener most recently administered to the student, the LEA or public charter school must notify the student's parent in writing that the student has been identified to have a significant reading deficiency, and must provide the student's parent with the following:<br /> <br /> (1) Information about the importance of a student being able to read proficiently at the end of the third-grade level;<br /> <br /> (2) Reading intervention activities that the parent may use with the parent's student at home to improve reading proficiency; <br /> <br /> (3) Information about the specific reading interventions and supports that the LEA or public charter school recommends for the student, which may include the interventions provided by the LEA or public charter school pursuant to Tennessee's RTI2 framework manual; and<br /> <br /> (4) Information about mandatory retention for students in grade three with an achievement level of approaching or below on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test. <br /> <br /> This bill adds that in addition to what is already provided under (3), interventions provided by the LEA or public school charter include additional reading instruction per day, small group instruction, frequent progress monitoring, reduced teacher-student ratios, tutoring services, and participation in the learning loss remediation and student acceleration program.<br />