Committee approves renaming, creates TCAP assessment review board after 65% miss-threshold

Chairlady White told the Senate Government Operations Committee on Feb. 25 that Senate Bill 2403 would require each public school to submit annually to the Department of Education a list of standardized assessments and would create a statewide board to review TCAP questions that 65% of students miss.

The bill, she said, also would require use of the Tennessee universal reader screener and state-adopted benchmark assessments; those changes, White said, are intended to make test lists publicly available on the Department of Education website so parents are aware of the assessments administered in schools.

The most debated element was a newly established review panel. Under the proposal, a nine-member assessment review board composed of nonpublic-school teachers would be given access to questions that a statewide majority of students miss. Chairlady White said the board would review whether the curriculum is aligned to the standard, whether the wording of the question is confusing, or whether other issues explain a high miss rate.

Senator Mike Oliver pressed whether a similar review process already existed and who would appoint the board’s teacher members. White responded that confidentiality rules limit prior reviewability of TCAP questions, and she said appointments would be made by: three teachers appointed by the governor, three by the lieutenant governor and three by the speaker of the house.

Senator Rose proposed a verbal amendment to rename the body the "Assessment Review Board for the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program." Legal counsel Doug Garrett testified that the proposed name appears in two places in the bill — section 11 (section 49-6-6018) and the sunset provision in section 12 — and that both references would be clarified in drafting. The committee adopted the verbal amendment by voice vote.

On the final roll call, the committee recorded six ayes, two noes and one absent. The committee gave the bill a positive recommendation and forwarded it to the Senate Education Committee.

What happens next: The bill, as amended, will be considered by the Senate Education Committee. The committee action on Feb. 25 adopted the verbal renaming and advanced the structural changes described above.