Present law requires the department of education to develop a school grading system that annually assigns A, B, C, D, and F letter grades to schools based on (i) student performance on the Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) tests or end-of-course exams; (ii) student growth as indicated by Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) data or data from other measures of student growth; and (iii) other outcome indicators of student achievement that the department finds to be reliable measures of school performance. The department of education must include each school's A, B, C, D, or F grade on the state report card. EXPIRED PROVISIONS Present law required the implementation of the school grading system to begin in the 2017-2018 school year and the department to provide notice of the adopted grading scale to each LEA prior to the start of the 2017-2018 school year. However, student performance and student growth data from the TNReady assessments administered in the 2017-2018 school year was not to be used to assign such a letter grade to a school. Additionally, student performance and student growth data from the TCAP tests administered in the 2019-2020 school year was not to be used to assign such a letter grade to a school, unless the use results in a higher letter grade for the school. Present law provided that, if 80% or more of an LEA's or public charter school's students enrolled in grades 3-12 participated in the TCAP tests administered in the 2020-2021 school year, then student performance and student growth data generated from the TCAP tests administered in the 2020-2021 school year was not to be used to assign such a letter grade to a school. However, the commissioner of education was authorized, at the commissioner's discretion, to grant an LEA or public charter school a waiver from the 80-percent-participation requirement. Further, the department was prohibited from issuing letter grades or any other summative ratings for schools eligible for the accountability or schools that receive a waiver from the commissioner in the state report card for the 2020-2021 school year as long as the department provided student performance and student growth data to LEAs, and as required by federal law. This bill removes all of the expired provisions described above.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 49-1-228