Over 1,300 Knox County third-graders need help to get to fourth grade after TCAP retest

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Thousands of third-graders retook the English Language Arts TCAP assessment in Knox County, but there are still many students who will need some kind of intervention to advance to the next grade level, according to Knox County Schools spokesperson Carly Harrington.

The Tennessee Department of Education released the most recent TCAP assessment results on Wednesday. Now, 42% of third-graders in Knox County scored above the “proficiency” cut, which is seven percent higher than the initial results released on May 19.

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KCS students also scored three percent higher than the initial average of third-graders ready for the fourth grade.

Of the initial 1,587 students who initially scored below the proficiency benchmark, 83% chose to retake the test. 213 students who retook the test will now move on to the fourth grade, according to Harrington.

Now, 3,142 third-grade students will move on to the next grade without an intervention, Harrington said.

According to Harrington, a total of 1,349 third-graders will need an intervention before they can move on to the next grade. Those students have two options: summer learning camp or tutoring.

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Harrington said students with an “approaching” score will be required to select one of the two options, but students who scored “below” proficiency will have to do both summer school and tutoring.

Families of the students who did not reach proficiency will be notified on May 26, Harrington said.

The Tennessee Department of Education made practice tests for the English Language Arts part of the TCAP. Anyone interested can view the test below.

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