ON APRIL 16, 2024, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 2326, AS AMENDED.
AMENDMENT #2 rewrites the bill to, instead, make the changes described below to the law regarding education and applies to the 2023-2024 school year and each school year thereafter.
PROMOTION OF STUDENTS
Present law authorizes (i) 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 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; and (ii) 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 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.
Present law requires a student who is promoted to the fourth grade pursuant to (i) or (ii) above, to show adequate growth on the fourth grade ELA portion of the TCAP test, as determined by the department, before the student may be promoted to the fifth grade. However, a student must not be retained in the fourth grade more than once. This amendment revises the present law by, instead, authorizing a student who is promoted to the fourth grade pursuant to (i) or (ii) above to be promoted to fifth grade if the student shows:
(1) Adequate growth, as determined by the department, on the fourth grade ELA portion of the TCAP test; or
(2) Adequate growth, as determined by the student's LEA or public charter school, on a locally adopted fourth grade benchmark assessment in ELA that was administered to the student in a test environment, as determined by the department, even if the student does not show adequate growth, as determined by the department, on the fourth grade ELA portion of the TCAP test.
If a student was promoted to the fourth grade pursuant to (i) or (ii) above and does not show adequate growth on the fourth grade ELA portion of the TCAP test, and does not show adequate growth on a locally adopted fourth grade benchmark assessment in ELA administered to the student in a test environment, then this amendment requires the student's LEA or public charter school to convene a conference that must be attended by the student's parent or guardian, ELA teacher, and school principal, to determine whether the student must be:
(A) Promoted to the fifth grade and receive the interventions and academic supports identified in the foundational literacy skills plan adopted by the student's LEA or public charter school for the entirety of the student's fifth grade year; or
(B) Retained in the fourth grade. However, a student must not be retained in the fourth grade more than once.
This amendment requires each student who is promoted to the fifth grade pursuant to (2) or (A) above to receive the interventions and academic supports identified in the foundational literacy skills plan adopted by the student's LEA or public charter school for the entirety of the student's fifth grade year. The interventions and academic supports a student must receive are those identified in the foundational literacy skills plan adopted by the student's LEA or public charter school that are targeted to the ELA skills and standards in which the student is determined to be deficient based on the student's performance on the fourth grade ELA portion of the TCAP test.
This amendment requires each LEA and public charter school to develop and implement, for each student promoted to the fifth grade pursuant to (2) or (A) who must receive certain interventions and academic supports in the fifth grade, an individual support plan that outlines the interventions and academic supports the student will receive in the fifth grade. Each individual support plan must be developed by the LEA or public charter school in consultation with the student's parent or guardian.
FINANCIAL SKILLS LITERACY PLAN
This amendment requires each LEA and public charter school to include in its foundational literacy skills plan, a description of the interventions and academic supports the LEA or public charter school, as applicable, will provide to a student who:
(1) Was promoted to the fourth grade pursuant to (i) or (ii) above;
(2) Did not show adequate growth, as determined by the department, on the fourth grade ELA portion of the TCAP test; and
(3) Was promoted to the fifth grade.
This amendment requires the interventions and academic supports identified by an LEA or public charter school in the LEA's or public charter school's foundational literacy skills plan to include, at a minimum: (i) the provision of tutoring services by the LEA or public charter school to the student for the entirety of the student's fifth-grade year based on tutoring requirements established by the department; or (ii) the student attending a learning loss bridge camp before the beginning of the upcoming school year.
This amendment requires each LEA and public charter school to incorporate such requirements into its revised foundational literacy skills plan submitted to the department for approval no later than July 1, 2024. The department must monitor the academic performance of LEAs and public charter schools to determine whether students who were promoted to the fifth grade and who received certain interventions and academic supports in the fifth grade are developing the skills and meeting the standards required for proficiency in ELA. If the department determines that an LEA's or public charter school's fifth grade students are not developing the skills and meeting the standards required for proficiency in ELA, then the department must require the LEA or public charter school to revise the interventions and academic supports identified for such students in the LEA's or public charter school's foundational literacy skills plan. However, the department must not require an LEA or public charter school to remove the interventions and academic supports identified in this amendment.
ON APRIL 17, 2024, THE SENATE SUBSTITUTED HOUSE BILL 2326 FOR SENATE BILL 2183, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2, AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 2326, AS AMENDED.
AMENDMENT #2 rewrites the bill as amended by House Amendment 2 to make the changes below to the present law regarding promotion of students from the third grade.
Present law provides the following:
(1) 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 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 of education ("department"); and
(2) 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 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.
For the 2023-2024 school year and the 2024-2025 school year, this amendment does the following:
(A) Authorizes a student who is promoted to the fourth grade pursuant to (1) or (2) above to be promoted to the fifth grade if the student shows adequate growth, as determined by the department, on the fourth grade ELA portion of the TCAP test;
(B) If a student is promoted to the fourth grade pursuant to (1) or (2) above and does not show adequate growth on the fourth grade ELA portion of the TCAP test, then requires the student's LEA or public charter school to convene a conference that must be attended by the student's parent or guardian, ELA teacher, and school principal, to determine whether the student must be: (i) promoted to the fifth grade and be assigned a tutor through the TALLC to provide the student with tutoring services for the entirety of the student's fifth grade year; or (ii) retained in the fourth grade. However, a student must not be retained in the fourth grade more than once; and
(C) Requires each student who is promoted to the fifth grade pursuant to (B) to be assigned a tutor through the TALLC to provide the student with tutoring services for the entirety of the student's fifth grade year based on tutoring requirements established by the department.
This amendment repeals the bill on July 1, 2025.
ON APRIL 18, 2024, THE HOUSE NON-CONCURRED IN SENATE AMENDMENT #2.
ON APRIL 22, 2024, THE SENATE REFUSED TO RECEDE FROM ITS ADOPTION OF SENATE AMENDMENT #2.
ON APRIL 23, 2024, THE HOUSE REFUSED TO RECEDE FROM ITS NON-CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENT #2 AND APPOINTED A CONFERENCE COMMITTEE.
ON APRIL 25, 2024, THE SENATE APPOINTED A CONFERENCE COMMITTEE.
ON APRIL 25, 2024, THE HOUSE ADOPTED THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT.
ON APRIL 25, 2024, THE SENATE ADOPTED THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 49-1-201(c)(4), 49-1-201