Parents may be notified about TCAP scores later than expected

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Parents in Tennessee are still not sure if their third-grade student passed or did not pass the English Language Arts (ELA) portion of the TCAP.

Those scores came later Friday afternoon to local school districts. Now, districts say they won’t be able to notify parents if their child passed the reading portion until Monday at the earliest.

Parents told WSMV4 they need to know as soon as possible if their child passed the ELA portion or not. Next week, students have the option to retake it. Some schools are offering the retest as early as Tuesday.

“I do have anxiety about it,” said McNairy County mom Elizabeth Kelly. “I am worried about all the students; I’m worried about my own son.”

She’s the mom of Chase Kelly. He’s a McNairy County third grader who has straight A’s and is on the principal’s list. He cares about school so much, his mom said he worked himself up the night before the TCAP.

“He got to sleep about midnight and so that is really late for him,” said Elizabeth Kelly. “And the next morning he was groggy, and I woke him up. He said, ‘I don’t want to go to school,’ and I was like ‘everything is going to be fine you’re going to do great.’”

Hours later she said the principal at Chase’s school called saying he had a problem with the TCAP and was crying.

“My son, who today - I just got his report card, straight A’s, principal’s list – froze up on the writing portion, which is 25%,” said Kelly. “And in order to pass this test he was going to have to write something, and he didn’t.”

Marissa Cook’s daughter, Emslee Cook, is a Sumner County third grader. She loves softball, the lake, and reading. She took the TCAP last month.

“That’s when we saw she was actually starting to have anxiety was during the timed tests,” said Cook.

Her mom said she’s a good student, but now she’s the one who is anxious.

“I’m extremely nervous,” said Cook. “Just because I feel like one test should – sorry if I get emotional – define them as a kid.”

Kelly said at this point she expects to see if Chase passed the reading portion Monday. That’s one day before his school plans to have students retest. She felt there’s still so much uncertainty one week before school finishes.

“Now I’m sitting here wondering, are we going to have to do summer school?” Kelly questioned. “Are we going to have to do tutoring? And I don’t think it should all be based on one section. I think it should be overall.”

Once parents get their child’s score, they may be able to appeal it.

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