Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen is warning there could be serious repercussions for school districts unwilling to administer standardized tests.
This comes after a few board members of Murfreesboro City Schools suggested that Part 2 of TNReady, scheduled to begin later this month, might not be worth the trouble.
The push to refuse TNReady in Murfreesboro was prompted by frustrations felt statewide. Issues with the test’s computer-based format stressed out students and caused missed deadlines.
Commissioner Candice McQueen says there’s one big reason such a refusal would be a mistake: “[This] would be a major violation of state law and the school system could be subject to sanctions, including loss of state funding.”
McQueen says she’s working things out with Murfreesboro City Schools and does not expect further pushback. In an effort to smooth things over, she promised that next year’s test will be shorter and take up a lot less instruction time.
As far as computer versus paper, she said the state is “committed to moving to online assessment, but at a pace that’s right for Tennessee.”
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM