District TCAP Scores Show Pandemic's Negative Impact on Student Learning

On Wednesday, more than a week after the Tennessee Department of Education released the statewide Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program scores, the district-level scores were released. The results show an expected decline in student achievement across all subject and grade levels following last year’s mostly virtual instruction throughout the state and in Metro Nashville Public Schools. Recent Measure of Academic Progress data, gathered from grades K-9, helped the district know what to expect in anticipation of Wednesday’s TCAP scores. Students of color, English learners and economically disadvantaged students were most negatively impacted.

MNPS director of schools Dr. Adrienne Battle gave a presentation about the district results (which you can watch here). Nashville had the lowest participation rate in the state at 85.5 percent, but it still surpassed the required 80 percent participation rate set by the department of education. Though many students attended school virtually last year, they had to meet in person to take the tests.

Neither students nor schools will be penalized for this year’s scores, which won’t appear on teacher evaluations or student report cards, and students were not penalized if they didn’t take the test. Instead, this year’s testing was used to track student academics and gauge learning loss.

“Keep it in mind the context here around what’s happened over the last 16 months,” Battle told viewers on Wednesday. “We will use this information as one data point to help inform us as we move forward. It does not by any means tell the full story or … lay out the full picture of the work that’s happened in our schools.”  

The state saw a 5 percent decline in grades 3-8 in overall proficiency, while MNPS saw an 8.3 percent decline. Battle reminded viewers that the district's lower scores come in part from its higher concentration of economically disadvantaged students, who were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.  

Literacy scores were among the least affected by the pandemic, though they weren’t necessarily strong in Tennessee beforehand. For several years now, fewer than half of students have been on track for English and language arts. The state saw a 6 percent decrease in literacy achievement, and MNPS saw a 6.3 percent decrease. The district’s numeracy scores dropped 14.1 percent compared to a 12 percent statewide decline. 

Science was the one area in which the district experienced a smaller decline than the statewide average, though the decrease in science scores was still more significant than any others — a 16.7 percent drop compared to the statewide drop of 19 percent. The district’s social studies proficiency saw a 5.3 percent decrease while the state’s dropped 3 percent. 

To address academic setbacks, Battle spoke about the district’s multi-tiered system of support, which offers various degrees of assistance to students scoring within different percentiles. All students receive tier-one core instruction, with students at or below the 50th percentile receiving tier-one reinforcement. Kids at or below the 25th percentile will additionally receive tier-two intervention through tutoring and other strategies. Students at or below the fifth percentile will also receive tier-three intervention, which includes more intensive tutoring in smaller groups. Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds will help provide this additional support to students as they work to get back on track in the coming years, but the district will also rely on community support through tutoring services.

Those wanting to seek more information or sign up to tutor MNPS students can do so through PENCIL, a local nonprofit that supports Nashville schools. 

“We are moving into a period of recovery,” said Battle. “We expected a lot of the data that we are talking about today. We have the right people, the right processes and the right strategies in play here at MNPS to get this right for all of our students.”