Nashville Schools Refuse To Include TCAP Results In Final Grades

MNPS director Jesse Register (right) greets Gov. Bill Haslam this month at Nashville’s Overton High School. Credit: TN Photo Services

The largest school system in Middle Tennessee won’t include standardized test scores in final grades this year, even though the results are available now. Metro Schools officials say the so-called TCAP test doesn’t match up very well with what students are learning anyway.

Like most districts in Tennessee, Metro Schools asked for a waiver last week when a delay in grading the TCAP tests was announced at the state level. Turns out, the delay was only four days. And while surrounding school districts in Williamson and Rutherford counties are going to use the standardized test results on report cards, Metro is not.

A statement from schools director Jesse Register says since the TCAP is not aligned with new Common Core classroom standards “it does not make sense to use TCAP scores in calculating students’ final grades.”

In 2010, standardized testing was required to make up part of a final grade, partly in an effort to get students to try harder. Since that time, the state has transitioned to new classroom standards but has delayed moving to a corresponding test known as PARCC.