A Hamilton County teacher has launched a petition calling on Tennessee legislators to reconsider the state’s new third grade retention law — and it’s already gaining momentum, with just over 1,000 signatures as of Thursday.
The law, passed in January 2021, requires school districts to hold back third graders who do not score proficiently on the English language arts portion of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program test.
Based on Hamilton County’s most recent test results, 64% of third graders may be retained next year if their scores do not improve when they test again in the spring.
Cortney Fugate, an eighth grade English language arts teacher at Loftis Middle School, said she started the petition because of her third grade son, who has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.