After hours of debate, both houses of the state legislature agreed to protect teachers from TN Ready test results, while not throwing out the data altogether.
Following a full day of lawmaking on what was intended to be the last day of the session, legislators came together on a last minute bill Wednesday night.
It would hold teachers harmless from impacts of TNReady testing which struggled in multiple districts across the state. The problems kicked off legislative hearings and demands for call to action.
The House's version of the bill would've omitted data from this year's testing. However, the state Senate at first, did not act on the amendment. After a recess and some discussion between members from both chambers, they were able to come to a consensus.
"In some cases the department said as much as 80 percent of the data could be good data," said state representative Ryan Williams. "We don't want to completely throw the baby out with the bath water as it relates to the data because we have to have the data in order to meet the federal standards as it relates... because it could jeopardize funding."
The revised bill allows for the data to be recorded, but teachers still would not be held to harmful effects of what it told.
"The data has to be good it has to be effective and it has to be consistent and reliable. And so, there were some concerns about the reliability and so you saw the house kind of lock down a little bit until we had further discussion," said Williams.
