Gov. Bill Haslam congratulated Tennessee schools for improves TCSAP test scores during a news conference in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (AP Photo)MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Gov. Bill Haslam on Thursday applauded the state’s improved standardized test scores but acknowledged more work has to be done to meet federal regulations.
Preliminary results from the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program showed math scores in third through eighth grades improved by 7 percent this year over last year and reading scores improved by 3.7 percent.
In 18 school systems, student scores improved by 20 percent or more.
Despite the improvement, the state is only 41 percent proficient in math for those grades, and 48.5 percent in reading. Under guidelines of No Child Left Behind, the nation’s governing education law, the state is required to be 60 percent proficient in math and 66 percent in reading next year, and 100 percent in both subjects by 2014.
“We’re not at all satisfied with where we are,” Haslam told reporters following his speech at Northfield Elementary School. “But it is a significant step forward.”