TCAP Results
Published September 16, 2010
Parents of Williamson County students who took the Tennessee Comprehensive Achievement Test (TCAP) last year can expect to get their child's results next week. Individual results will be given to parents during parent teacher conferences on Tuesday, September 21. TCAP is administered to students in third through eighth grade.
If a parent is not participating in a conference on that day, at the elementary level, the results will be sent home with the students on Wednesday. At the middle and high levels, parents may pick up the results at the school front office. Those not picked up will be mailed home in the first report card. Current ninth grade student reports will be available at the student's high school.
State and district officials have been informing parents for more than a year that parents will most likely see dramatic drops in proficiency levels because the State adopted revised academic standards through the Tennessee Diploma Project in 2008. During the 2009-2010 school year, students completed their first year of learning and testing on those standards. The tests given in 2009-10 reflect not only revised norms and academic standards, but a much higher bar for the "proficient" and "advanced" levels of performance.
"The drop in test scores simply reflects the needed changes in the standards and adjustments made to the tests," said Superintendent Dr. Mike Looney. "This is a good thing even though it will be painful for a few years."
The performance report this year will include new levels of performance - "basic" and "below basic" - that are used to help identify how much students need to progress to be proficient. A new definition of proficiency now indicates a mastery of knowledge (70th percentile) in a subject rather than minimal understanding (30th percentile). The combination of higher standards and proficiency means, ultimately, more students will be college and career ready. It also means students are expected to learn new material at an earlier age and have a higher level of understanding of these new standards, so there's a potential dip in the immediate future with lower test scores and performance at the school level.
"Teachers are still teaching and students are still learning, but the expectations are higher across the State," said Looney. "These changes will help us continue to better prepare our students to compete successfully in a global economy."
School and District results are expected to be released in November when the annual Report Card is released.
For more information about TCAP, please visit http://tn.gov/education/assessment/achievement.shtml.
In addition, select the following LINK to view a letter from Commissioner of Education Dr. Timothy Webb and to VIEW a brochure prepared by the State Department of Education.