A student’s third grade reading level is linked to critical long-term health and life outcomes, including high school graduation and college attendance. A child who is not reading proficiently by third grade is four times more likely to not graduate high school on time than their peers who are proficient readers. Yet, Tennessee’s third grade reading proficiency decreased by an estimated 50% during the COVID-19 pandemic, and last year only 35.7% of students scored proficient on the annual TCAP test.
In January 2021, Governor Bill Lee called a special legislative session on education to address learning loss and proactively establish solutions for academic recovery for the state’s elementary-aged students. The Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act - also known as the Third Grade Promotion and Retention Law or Third Grade Reading Law, was passed.
What Does the THird grade promotion and retention law do?
Beginning in the 2022-23 school year, a third grade student determined not proficient in English language arts (ELA) on the state’s annual TCAP test may not be promoted to the fourth grade without meeting certain conditions, including tutoring or other intervention measures.
how are third graders performing in tennessee?
how can a third grader avoid being held back?
There are exemptions to the third grade reading proficiency requirement. Exemptions include a student who is an English language learner with less than two years of ELA instruction or a student who was previously retained in any of the grades K-3. There are also steps a student and family can take to avoid repeating the grade.
If a student achieves “approaching” proficiency on the ELA portion of the TCAP test
The student can be retested before the beginning of the next school year and score “proficient” to advance to the next grade level, OR
The student can attend a learning loss bridge camp before the beginning of the next school year, maintain a 90% attendance rate at camp, and demonstrate adequate growth on the post-test administered at the end of the learning loss camp, OR
The student can be assigned a tutor through the Tennessee Accelerating Literacy and Learning Corps (TN ALL Corps) for the upcoming school year.
If a student achieves “below” proficiency on the ELA portion of the TCAP test
The student can be retested before the beginning of the next school year and score “proficient” to advance to the next grade level, OR
The student can attend a learning loss bridge camp before the beginning of the next school year, maintain a 90% attendance rate at camp, and be assigned a tutor through the TN ALL Corps for the upcoming school year.
If a student is promoted to 4th grade through a tutoring pathway
The student must receive ELA tutoring for the entirety of the 4th grade and show adequate growth on the 4th grade ELA portion of the TCAP in order to be promoted to the 5th grade.
Read this Third Grade Promotion FAQ from the Tennessee Department of Education to learn more.
Read more about Learning Acceleration from the Tennessee Department of Education.
Other resources
Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation Family Reading Time at Home Guide