Parents are questioning the fairness of a new state rule that next year will count standardized test scores as 15 percent of their children’s letter grades in core subjects.
The news comes as parents around Hamilton County are reviewing last year’s test scores, many of which are lower than previous years, thanks to the state’s new, more rigorous academic standards.
“I don’t like it. If you’ve got a kid who’s not a good test-taker, you put them in a position where 15 percent of their grade is whether the teacher covered all the information or not,” said Danette Auger, whose children attend Westview Elementary School and East Hamilton School. “I don’t think that’s a fair evaluation of their performance.”
Parent Amy Meller also wondered whether having TCAP – Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program – scores affect grades was a good idea. Her daughter, Hannah, who is in eighth grade at Signal Mountain Middle-High, still received advanced marks on her TCAP profile, but the percentages were lower, she said.
“[The ‘proficient’ category] was a little bit closer than it has been in the past. It is definitely tougher,” she said.
But state Rep. Mark Maddox, D-Dresden, who was the lead sponsor on the TCAP legislation, said since teachers now are evaluated partly on the standardized test performance of their students, the mandate was necessary.
“We felt that the high stakes for teachers had been multiplied, and yet, there was no equal stake for the student. In a couple of districts, there were reports of certain students saying, ‘If we don’t do well on the TCAP, this teacher loses their job,'” he said.
TCAP scores will account for 15 percent to 25 percent of final semester grades in math, English, science and social studies.
As for test score turnaround time, Maddox said the new law won’t go into effect until next school year – after the state department of education has been able to renegotiate its contract with test provider Pearson.
Most years, TCAP scores are given back to parents at least six months after the test. State education officials say that “raw scores” from the test – initial numbers that haven’t been analyzed to make sure each student is counted only once and in the right category – always have been available within “a day or two.”
“Raw scores have just never been used for anything,” said Amanda Maynord Anderson, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Education.
Officials say they don’t anticipate problems getting TCAP scores back in time to include in end-of-the-year report cards the following month.
Hamilton County Board of Education member Rhonda Thurman said she’s already gotten e-mails from parents upset over the new policy. She said she doesn’t agree with the mandate, but suggests that people contact their state legislators.
“Kids only know what they’re taught,” she said. “We spend too much time teaching to the test.”
Parent Jane Whited said she doesn’t think the new requirement will do much to help students take the tests more seriously. The ones who don’t care about their test scores now will continue not caring, and those who do care will get stressed.
Whited’s daughter, Anissa, is in third grade at Lakeside Academy. She was worried even over the pre-test she took in second grade, Whited said.
“My child gets so stressed over [standardized tests]; she’s a straight-A student and she’s stressing. She’ll panic,” she said.
Whited also worries that she won’t be able to assess what went right or wrong on the TCAP like she can with letter grades.
“They don’t give back the [TCAP] to see where they went wrong. [Anissa’s] teacher grades her papers and sends them home so if she misses something, I can look back and see where she went wrong,” she said. “I don’t put much emphasis on TCAP.”
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Article: TCAP scores to count toward students’ letter grades