Image Credit: TN General Assembly
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
Legislation that revamps standardized testing for Tennessee Homeschool students passed in the Senate Education Committee in a 7 to 1 vote on Wednesday with Senator Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun-District 1) the only committee member to vote 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 “draconian,” and expands the choice of college entrance examinations in schools to include the Classic Learning Test (CLT) alongside the ACT and SAT.
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.
According to Roberts, 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.” Roberts stated that the Department of Education maintains a list of approved tests.
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 code that has never been used having to do with remediation and consequences for low scores following the required testing.
The final part of the bill includes the Classic Learning Test (CLT) as one of the options for college entrance examinations for all students in schools alongside the ACT and SAT.
Roberts stated that the CLT is accepted by 300 institutions of higher education across the country, including 14 Tennessee colleges and universities and expects the number of institutions accepting the test to increase over time.
The bill is now one step closer to a full vote on the Senate floor.
Contact information for your State Senator may be found HERE.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
