Tennessee Lawmakers Discuss Tweaks to a Testing System Experts Say is Already Driving Student Improvement

Stock image of multiple choice test (Photo by Upsplash)

Eight years ago, Tennessee students started taking state assessments under a new system that education leaders purposely designed to be more challenging.

Wednesday afternoon, Libertas School of Memphis Executive Director Bob Nardo explained to state lawmakers just how high the bar has been set.

“You have to be anywhere from the 70th to the 90th percentile in the country to be proficient on our state test,” said Nardo. “So just let that sink in. You have to be ahead of three-quarters of the kids in your grade to be proficient.”

Nardo was among multiple education leaders who made presentations at the Advisory Committee on Innovations in K-12 Education’s meeting on accountability and testing. The committee will make recommendations for the General Assembly to consider next year on testing and other education issues.

Tougher Tests Lead to Better Scores

Under the current assessment system, elementary and middle school students in grades third through eighth take the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) tests in English language arts (ELA), math, and science assessments annually. Middle school students in grades 6-8 additionally take TCAP social studies assessments. High school students take end-of-course (EOC) assessments in English I and II; Algebra I, II, and Geometry or Integrated Math I, II, and III; along with U.S. History and Biology.

On Wednesday, multiple speakers defended the rigor of Tennessee’s assessment system by pointing out that students have seen improvements on national tests since its implementation.

“In the year before this version of TCAP tests, Tennessee was looking up at 25 other states whose performance on the fourth grade reading on the NAEP (National Assessment of Education Progress) scores was statistically significantly better than ours,” said Tennessee Department of Education Assistant Commissioner Dr. David Laird. “Last year, in 2024, we are only looking up at six other states. A significant run,”

Despite its role in those improvements, some lawmakers and the Tennessee Education Association, have questioned whether students might be spending too much time preparing and taking tests.

That question played a key role in the decision to create the advisory committee earlier this year, but education organization Tennessee SCORE presented lawmakers on the advisory committee with research showing TCAP tests are only taking up .5 percent of students’ time.

Reductions in Local Benchmark Tests Proposed

Instead of reducing TCAP testing, SCORE encouraged lawmakers to consider looking for ways to streamline testing time by studying the benchmark exams local districts require during the school year. These tests track student progress.

SCORE Vice President of Policy and Governmental Relations Aleah Guthrie told lawmakers that local benchmark exam requirements vary wildly by district, but the state doesn’t adequately track those differences.

“There’s not one right way to do local assessments, but this variation underscores the need to better understand the assessments that our students are taking,” said Guthrie.

Mark Cochran (Photo by the Tennessee General Assembly)

Representative Mark Cochran, R-Englewood, questioned whether the state might be able to reduce the impact of those local benchmarks by reconfiguring the TCAP exam. Cochran also suggested moving the TCAP from April to earlier in the year when local benchmarks are provided to students.

“Would it be possible to structure these state tests in a similar fashion where then that eliminates the need for the local benchmarks?” asked Cochran.

Representatives from the Department of Education told lawmakers that the idea has been considered by other states but usually rejected because it takes away local control of testing calendars.

“Essentially enforces, for most implementations, a statewide version of a pacing calendar, which is generally a wildly unpopular idea in a lot of places,” said Laird.

End-of-Course Exams Questioned

Earlier this year, Representative Cochran proposed legislation that would have exchanged the EOC assessments high school students take with the ACT, which is also required. Cochran brought that proposal up again at Wednesday’s meeting.

“If we all agree the ACT is an accurate measure of college readiness, why are we not using that more specifically than our EOCs?” asked Cochran. “Why are we making people prepare for numerous tests rather than using ACT?”

Aleah Guthrie (Photo by SCORE)

Guthrie responded by saying the EOCs are needed to measure whether students have mastered the required subject, and the ACT measures something different. She made an analogy to running to explain why the current system shouldn’t be changed.

“I have to fuel myself in order to go on long runs, and it’s important that I have protein and that I have carbs, but if I replaced one for the other and didn’t do both, I would not be able to go on a very long run. And so, I think ACT and end-of-course exams, they’re both really valuable, but I don’t think we can substitute one for the other,” said Guthrie.

Changes to School Letter Grades Proposed

The EOC and TCAP assessments also make up half of the score schools receive on the state’s annual School Letter Grades.

Leaders from Perry County Schools urged lawmakers on the advisory committee to propose changing that to give school districts the ability to replace the EOCs high school students take with skill and career assessments like the ACT WorkKeys.

Only one of Perry County’s four schools received a passing grade on last year’s School Letter Grades.  District Assistant Director Ashley Carroll told advisory committee members that rural school districts like hers are unfairly penalized because the EOC scores that the School Letter Grades system uses doesn’t adequately measure the performance of students on a career and technical education (CTE) path.

“Primarily, those courses are overwhelmingly freshman and sophomore year, so that leaves out a lot of that growth that our students are showing, reflecting in their ACT and college and career readiness scores from their junior and senior year,” said Carroll.

Advisory committee and State Board of Education member Krissi McInturff opposed the district’s proposed change, arguing that it would hurt CTE students in the long run.

“We would have different tests for different students, and my fear would be that we would not hold the bar high enough for even those CTE (career and technical education) students because they still need to have that higher education. They need to have that bar set,” said McInturff.

The advisory committee is planning to hold one more meeting next month to discuss its recommendations on testing and accountability, along with teacher licensure and evaluation requirements, and possible changes to the 180-day school calendar.