Fourth grade retention: Districts sound off on little information for Tennessee kids

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A bit lesser known than its larger counterpart, some fourth graders could face retention if they do not hit a certain benchmark on state testing for English and reading.

How fourth grade retention will work is still not clear, according to the Tennessee Department of Education. This comes from the actual Third Grade Retention law, which was put into effect in 2023. Thousands of kids across Middle Tennessee participated in reading camps and tutoring while in fourth grade with the hopes of showing enough improvement to move to fifth grade.

However, a formula that has yet to be finalized to determine just how much improvement students need to attain hasn't been approved by the Tennessee School Board of Education, which doesn't meet until mid-February. Without that, parents are left in the dark for what measurement their child needs to hit.

Districts said they are clamoring for information that doesn't exist, and they expressed to NewsChannel 5 that they are finding it frustrating given the timeline for state testing in April, particularly when the law was passed three years ago in 2021.

What we are trying to learn for fourth grade families

Around 44,000 third graders were affected by the results of their TCAP testing in the spring.

Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds told a group of senators in a committee that local school districts should already have the communication in place to tell families what they should be doing for fourth grade retention.

"You saying that is not accurate," Sen. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, told Commissioner Reynolds during that same meeting.

However, the formula to calculate how much growth students need to show hasn't been finalized, meaning districts cannot inform students or their families of that figure.

"The formula for measuring proficiency has not yet been fully approved by the State Board of Education," said Brian Blackley, spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Education. "So we have not provided it to districts at this time, though the department has engaged with districts in the development of the adequate growth calculation and the department's proposed approach for determining adequate growth has been publicly available since the department presented it to the State Board of Education in November."

Broadly, Tennessee Senators were frustrated with Reynolds and the Department of Education in general about communication, including this topic.

"Having basic information here, I have tried to get the retention rate grade-by-grade in Tennessee," Sen. Pody said. "It took me four months to even get information like that from years ago. I would think the Department of Education would know how many fifth graders are normally retained. Do we need to write a bill just so we are tracking that for basic information so it's readily available since the members of the committee are passing laws? This kind of information I would be expecting from the department. But my superintendents are actively asking me for this information."

The TCAP is administered this year between April 15 to April 30.

What you can do

NewsChannel 5 reached out to 10 districts in Middle Tennessee.

Their advice?

Keep communicating with the local district. State officials said all information will come on a localized level, and that it will not come directly from the Tennessee Department of Education.

We have also broken down the responses from districts, who said they are trying to get information out as quickly as they can about the fourth grade retention situation.

WTVF

Nashville schools

Only 71 students were retained in Metro Nashville Public Schools as a result of the law for third graders.

However, 1,082 kids were promoted or need tutoring, and these are the ones who could be affected.

Metro leaders told the school board the best-case scenario is the district retains only 400 to 500 students.

"We don't think this was or is a good idea," MNPS superintendent Adrianne Battle said. "But we must comply with the state laws in Tennessee. Last year — thanks to a lot of hard work from students and families — we were able to nearly ensure all third grade students were promoted to fourth grade. Some of them were required to receive tutoring, which we have been doing extremely well. However, those students going to fifth grade is conditioned on them receiving adequate growth."

The worst case scenario is 700 students are held back in the fourth grade, Metro leaders said.

Williamson and Franklin Schools

Franklin and Williamson County School parents are keeping an eye on what the state does with its improvement formula.

"Tennessee has still not finalized adequate growth as we sit here," Superintendent Jason Golden said. "When they shared two months ago what they intended, we shared that with those families. We've gotten emails about why didn't make decisions a year ago, and we are just now finding out. We've shared that concern and we have shared those concerns with legislators."

Students with Franklin Special School District went to summer learning camp if they had trouble with third grade English and reading.

No students were retained for FSSD and only a handful had to attend summer camps. At FSSD, they are working to send letters to the families affected and remind them of how the law might affect their children.

"However, we have not communicated any target score for these students given the lack of clarity we have about the proposed definition of adequate growth and whether that will be enacted by the state board," said Pax Wiemers, FSSD supervisor of Student Performance. "It’s certainly difficult for districts to communicate effectively with parents when, more than halfway through the school year, we still have so much uncertainty from the state about the specific formulas that will impact whether our fourth-grade students at risk of retention will be promoted or not."

Murfreesboro and Rutherford schools

The district will host a Zoom with parents next week who are affected.

They had an initial meeting with impacted families at the beginning of the year despite having no information from the state on what the benchmark for adequate growth was or how it would be determined.

"Our goal was to ensure families knew there was another — yet to be determined — benchmark they would have to meet and to ensure them of the supports we had put in place for their children," spokesperson MCC Lisa Trail said. "It was frustrating to not be able to provide our parents with this important information that has the potential to have a significant impact on their family, but we shared what we did know at the time."

Rutherford County Schools said they are waiting for direction from the state in mid-February.

"We have a variety of options ready based on the details of that plan," said James Evans, spokesperson for Rutherford County Schools. "Until then, our teachers are focusing on the needs of those students and will adjust accordingly once we know more."

Wilson schools

Wilson County Schools is already communicating to fourth grade families what they know.

They are letting them know that adequate growth will be individualized for students.

"We did inform our third grade parents last year that their student must make adequate growth in fourth grade," spokesperson Bart Barker said. "However, at that time we did not have a definition of adequate growth. Our goal is to keep parents informed and share reliable information as it is provided to us."

How you can share your story

We understand getting through this process might feel overbearing.

If you hit snags or want to share your journey through this retention, we are here to listen.

You can email us at newsroom@newschannel5.com.

If you have questions about fourth grade retention, email emily.west@newschannel5.com.