Several areas around Tennessee, including Nashville and Knoxville, have had to tell parents to expect long delays in getting the final report cards for their students.
For some counties, like Knox, report cards were supposed to go home on Wednesday. However, teachers were told through email at 1:30am that Knox County Schools would apply for a waiver to the TCAP (the end of the year standardized testing) for all 3-8th Graders. The waiver was accepted, and now final grades may not go home until August.
State officials decided to complete a process called post-equating before releasing test results this year.
The reason for the delay? "Post-equating"
From the Joey Garrison, writer for the Nashville Tennessean:
"Commonly used in large-scale testing, post-equating involves comparing student performance on certain test items that are repeated each year to make sure results are statistically valid.
Normally this happens after early scores are released, but because of changes to the test this year, officials say they decided to do it before releasing scores.
The test was narrowed to remove portions that don't align with new Common Core standards. Classrooms across the state have been phasing in the standards for three years, but the state has not switched to a test designed to match those new standards."
The Tennessean continues:
"It has put every school district in the state of Tennessee in an untenable position," [Williamson County Superintendent William] Looney said.
He pointed to the inability to decide who needs to attend summer school, but said he would not seek a waiver: "Our students and teachers have worked very, very hard this year knowing that the TCAP was part of the grading mechanism in Williamson County."
Other critics expressed bewilderment on the timing.
"The state cites a change in assessments this school year as the reason for the delay," said Tennessee Education Association President Gera Summerford. "Why are districts just now being informed about something that the department has known about for months?"