98% of MNPS third graders will advance to fourth. Now the district is seeking volunteers to tutor many of them.

A new Tennessee law had put thousands of students at risk of being held back based on their performance on the state’s standardized English language arts test. But numbers presented Tuesday night to the Metro Nashville Public Schools board show the vast majority of third graders will not have to repeat the grade. 

More than 98% of the district’s third graders are advancing to fourth grade — but not without some strings attached. Overall, one in five rising fourth graders will be required to get tutoring for the full academic year.  

Other students advancing to fourth grade may have already participated in Metro’s summer school program. They also may have filed successful appeals with the state or qualified for an exception to the rule. 

At least 77 Metro students will be repeating third grade. The numbers presented Tuesday include only figures from district-run schools. MNPS is still awaiting complete sets of data from charter schools in the district.

A need for more volunteer tutors

More than 1,000 rising fourth graders will require tutoring. And that doesn’t include many other students across different grade levels who may choose to seek extra help.

School board member Christiane Buggs highlighted the need for additional volunteer tutors.

“I don’t think we really understand how many thousands of students that ends up being, and how many at least hundreds of tutors we need,” Buggs said.

She encouraged folks in attendance to share the volunteer opportunity with retired teachers, those studying to become educators, or any interested community member.

The tutoring program, known as Accelerating Scholars, offers training to volunteers. Tutors then provide one-on-one lessons for students multiple times a week, either virtually or in-person. Tutors can meet with students twice per week for 45-minute sessions. Or they can study together three times per week for 30 minutes at a time.

Learn more about Accelerating Scholars here.

“I just want to make sure that we’re putting as much information into the community — and rallying the community — as best as possible to support all of our students,” Buggs said.

WPLN News recently dove deep into the history of the exam that’s used to determine whether third graders automatically advance to the next grade. Read more about it here.