Image Credit: TN General Assembly
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
Legislation that revamps standardized testing for Tennessee homeschool students while adding a third option for college entrance exams passed in the Senate in a 24 to 8 vote on Monday with Republican Senators Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville-District 7) and Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun-District 1) joining all six Democrat Senators in voting no.
Sponsored by Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield-District 23), Senate Bill 2636 gives Independent Homeschool families other options for mandated testing in grades 5, 7, and 9 besides the TCAP, does away with a part of Tennessee code that Roberts called “antiquated,” and expands the choice of college entrance examinations in schools to include the Classic Learning Test (CLT) alongside the ACT and SAT.
Present law mandates that Independent homeschool students take the TCAP test through their local LEA, SB2636 will allow these students to either take the TCAP or a standardized test selected by the parent-teacher that provides nationally normed analytics.
The test would need to be proctored by an individual not related to the student and recorded by the developer of the nationally normed examination at the expense of the parent-teacher.
The legislation also does away with part of Tennessee homeschool law that has been in place since 1985 having to do with remediation and consequences for low scores following required testing which has never been used.
In responding to concern that the CLT is a much newer test, and not as robust as the ACT or SAT, Roberts stated that it is accepted by 300 institutions of higher education across the country, including some Tennessee colleges and universities.
Now that the bill has passed in both House and Senate, it will soon make its way to Governor Bill Lee’s desk to be signed into law.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
