3 days ago
Thousands of MSCS students may be in summer school after TCAP
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Thousands of Memphis-Shelby County School students who did not pass the English portion of the TCAP could be enrolled in the district's summer learning program.
According to the state's third grade retention law in effect since 2022, students can choose to enroll or be held back, unless they retake the test and score proficiently, enroll in tutoring for the following year, or attend summer school.
Under the law, third graders who don't achieve a proficient score on the English Language Arts portion of the TCAP will be held back.
WREG reached out to MSCS to find out how many students are enrolled in the summer learning program this year, and how many of those students did not pass the English TCAP, but we have not heard back yet.
Last year, nearly 7,000 students participated in the program, and they showed improvements in English-Language Arts.
English TCAP scores increase slightly for Memphis 3rd and 4th graders
In the 2023 – 2024 school year, 26.6% of Memphis-Shelby County School students met or exceeded proficiency on the test.
Although it was a slight increase from the previous year, State Representative Mark White says he wants to see more progress.
'Well, they continue to do well in growth, but that is not proficient,' White said. 'A proficiency is when you get above a certain level in reading proficiency. The latest scores that are MSCS is 23% reading proficiency for our third graders. That's not acceptable.'
To improve literacy and proficiency rates, Representative White says it's important to make improvements within the school system before students enter the third grade.
'No one wants to hold back an eight-year-old, so now we're looking back at, 'What are we not doing in first and second grade and kindergarten that we don't have a child prepared by the time they're in third grade or eight-years-old?'' White said.
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White tells WREG that he's been working with MSCS to make adjustments that will improve literacy rates for students and better prepare them for the English-TCAP.
'The summer school is a good program, we're going to continue look at more, maybe more better ways,' he said. 'First of all, let's move back to first and second grade, so we're not talking about holding back a third grader. If you're not reading proficiently by third grade, we've already missed the mark in our education system.'
This year's TCAP results are expected to be released sometime this summer. When we receive those results and a response from MSCS, we will let you know.
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