RETENTION 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.LEVEL RATING OF "APPROACHING" 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: (1) The student is an English language learner and has received less than two years of ELA instruction; (2) The student was previously retained in any of the grades K-3; (3) The student is retested before the beginning of the following school year and the scores are proficient in ELA; (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 (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.LEVEL RATING OF "BELOW" 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: (A) The student is an English language learner and has received less than two years of ELA instruction; (B) The student was previously retained in any of the grades K-3; (C) The student retested before the beginning the next school year and scores proficient in ELA; or (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.TUTORING Present law provides that a student who is promoted to the fourth grade pursuant to receiving tutoring as described in (5) or (D) above must 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.REVISED RETENTION This bill deletes the provisions above and provides, instead, the following: (1) Each board of education and public charter school governing body must adopt and implement a retention policy for third grade students who are not proficient in the English language arts. All retention decisions must be made by the student's LEA or public charter school according to its adopted retention policy. An LEA or public charter school may recommend a third grade student for retention if the student achieved a performance level rating of "approaching" or "below" on the ELA portion on the student's most recent TCAP test. This, however, does not prohibit an LEA or public charter school from recommending a third grade student for retention based on the student's grades or other indicator of academic performance, other than standardized test results; (2) If a student is recommended for retention, then the student's principal must notify the student's parent or legal guardian in writing of the recommendation for retention, the reason retention is recommended, and any alternatives to retention that are available to the student no later than 15 days after the receiving of the TCAP results; (3) Alternatives to retention include voluntary participation in, amongst other possibilities, the following: (A) Attending one or more of the camps offered by the LEA or public charter school as part of the learning loss remediation and student acceleration program, or participating in another remedial or intervention program approved by the LEA or public charter school, before the beginning of the upcoming school year; and (B) Being 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; (4) An LEA or public charter school may consider a parent's or legal guardian's failure or refusal to enroll or otherwise allow their child to participate in an alternative to retention when making the final retention decision for the student as long as the failure or refusal to enroll or otherwise allow their child to participate in an alternative to retention is not the sole factor considered; and (5) An LEA or public charter school may consider various factors when making a final retention decision, including whether the student is an English language learner and has received less than two years of ELA instruction; whether the student was previously retained in any of the grades K-3; and whether the student was retested before the beginning of the upcoming school year and scored proficient in the ELA.FUNDING Present law provides that subject to available funding and authorized by federal law, LEAs and public charter schools may use temporary assistance for needy families program funds to cover no more than 50 percent of the costs associated with providing tutoring services for students pursuant to the student attending 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. This bill rewrites this provision by stating that subject to available funding and authorized by federal law, LEAs and public charter schools may use temporary assistance for needy families program funds to cover no more than 50 percent of the costs associated with providing tutoring services for students pursuant to the student being 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. APPEAL PROCESS Present law requires the state board of education to promulgate rules to establish an appeal process, to be administered by the department, for a student who is identified for retention in third grade based on the student's achieving a performance level rating of "approaching" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test. The rules must provide that if an appeal is filed, the filing must be made by the student's parent or guardian. This bill removes the authority of the state board of education to establish such an appellate process.MATERIALS FOR PARENTS Present law requires the LEA or public charter school to 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 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. This bill expands the notification to parents of students in grade three who are not proficient in ELA.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 4-3-2204(a)(1)(A), 4-3-2204, 4-3-2204(a)(1)(B), 4-3-2204(b), 4-3-2209