NASHVILLE, Tenn (WTVF) — In three months, third graders across the state will be taking the TCAP test.
The standardized test has always been important, but now the stakes are even higher. If students don't do well enough on the English Language Arts portion, they could be forced to repeat the third grade.
Nikki Walker is the executive director of the nonprofit — East Nashville Hope Exchange. It offers after-school tutoring and summer programs solely around teaching kids to read.
"We go over things such as phonics, phonemic awareness, word recognition, all the key elements to becoming a strong reader."
Walker anticipates her enrollment will increase because of a new law.
"We do have some students who are just not prepared to move to the next grade. But I also feel like, you know, that should be a decision with the parents, and the school and the leaders within the district rather than the state telling you that, 'Hey, if your child does not pass this, they're going to have to be retained.'"
Right now, less than 40% of Tennessee's third graders are reading on grade level — that means thousands of kids are at risk of being held back.
If a student doesn't score proficient in the English Language Arts portion of the test there are options to help advance to the next grade.
The student can be retested before the beginning of the next school year and score proficient.
There is also the option of a summer program.
According to the Tennessee Department of Education, the student must attend a learning loss bridge camp before the beginning of the upcoming school year, and maintain a 90% attendance rate at the camp. The student's performance on the post-test administered at the end of the learning loss bridge camp demonstrates adequate growth, as determined by the department.
The other option is 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 based on tutoring requirements established by TDOE.
School districts are scrambling to offer programs to help and nonprofits are stepping up to get certified as well.
"We are working to try to get to be an approved program. We've been doing this for over 15 years. We have a proven track record of reading gains with the students that we have served," Walker said.
Metro Schools is asking families, especially those with current third graders, to enroll them in the Promising Scholars summer learning program.
