Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 1 and Title 49, Chapter 6.

Present law 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, 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 any of 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 the next school year and scores proficient in ELA;<br /> <br /> (4) 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 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 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 to the present law by providing 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 also be promoted if the student has demonstrated growth: <br /> <br /> (1) Above the national norm as evidenced by the student's composite score on the Tennessee universal reading screener or on the universal reading screener approved by the state board of education administered to the student by the student's LEA or public charter school; and <br /> <br /> (2) In standards mastery based on the student's scores on a state-adopted benchmark assessment administered to the student by the student's LEA or public charter school.<br /> <br /> This bill requires the state board of education to provide each LEA and public charter school the national norm for universal reading screeners and the measure constituting standards mastery on a state-adopted benchmark assessment.<br />