MEMPHIS, Tenn. — he State Department of Education’s Assistant Commissioner for Data and Research went before a group of Shelby County teachers Monday, concerned about a TCAP “Quick Score” tabulation change.
“You’re sitting in a room with a bunch of educators telling you there is a problem,” one teacher said.
The focus of Monday’s discussion was the score many parents see on their third through eighth graders’ report cards.
The state changed the way it calculates a Quick Score, which is the TCAP result that goes into a students’ school grade.
However, the state knew about the change last fall and did not tell the districts until late May.
“I agree. There’s no denying that. We should have communicated in advance,” said Dr. Nakia Towns with the State Department of Education.
The state decided to make the score change to streamline the way it already scores ninth through twelfth-grade results.
“They’re using numbers that mean absolutely nothing to us. We don’t know where they came from. They have determined the level of difficulty for questions, and we just don’t know where that came from,” said Memphis-Shelby County Education Association President Keith Williams.
“The Quick Score doesn’t lead anywhere else,” Dr. Towns said.
The state was adamant Monday that teachers’ grades, or TVAAS scores, have nothing to do with that Quick Score number.
The same goes for student proficiency. Those numbers come from a different tabulation.
Teachers said this is complicated, and test culture in Tennessee needs to change, especially as the state braces to trade in the TCAP for TNReady.
One parent said if the people administering the tests continually need to curve test results, she believes they need to reexamine the test they are giving in the first place.
Teachers were also concerned that the state weighs questions on the TCAP differently, based upon difficulty.
There is more information about the scoring available here.
