Image Credit: TN General Assembly
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
The Tennessee House voted to pass legislation that revamps standardized testing for homeschool students on Thursday in a 67 to 20 vote.
Sponsored by Representative William Slater (R-Gallatin-District 35), House Bill 1729 as amended expands testing options for Independent Homeschool students and includes the Classic Learning Test (CLT) alongside the ACT and SAT for all public school students.
Present law requires that Independent Homeschool students take the TCAP test through their local LEA, putting a burden on both the schools and teachers, and the homeschooled students who must take the test in an environment with which they are unfamiliar.
The legislation will allow those students to either take the TCAP or “a standardized test selected by the parent-teacher that provides nationally normed analytics” proctored by an individual who is not related to the student and recorded by the developer of the nationally normed examination at the expense of the parent-teacher.
The requirement for the test to be recorded was cause for concern as it relates to privacy for some lawmakers.
In speaking to the House Education Committee earlier this month, Slater said that the legislation also does away with remediation and consequences for low scores following required testing for Independent Homeschool students in grades 5, 7, and 9. Despite consequences for scoring poorly on standardized tests has been outlined in state law for decades, not a single student has ever been forced back to public school.
Homeschool students have been taking the CLT for a few years as an alternative college entrance exam for a few years.
While it is a new option for public school students, it is already accepted by 300 institutions of higher education across the country, including 14 Tennessee colleges and universities and the number of institutions accepting the test is expected to increase over time.
The legislation’s companion Senate Bill 2636, sponsored by Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield-District 23), was referred to the Senate Calendar Committee on March 18th.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
