Testing

If you are registered with a CRS you'll need to ask the your church-related school  about their testing requirements as they vary from school to school. Many don't require testing. Some use alternative tests and a few suggest submitting to the gateway tests mentioned below.

If you're registered with the LEA they'll test your children in the 5th and 7th grades using the TCAP tests (currently Terra Nova). These tests are generally held in the public school the child is zoned for and usually take several half days to administer. Parents are allowed in the room with the 5th graders. While 2nd graders used to be tested such is no longer the case.

Beginning in the 9th grade they'll want your child to take certain end of course tests (high school tests, also called Gateway  or secondary TCAP tests) depending on what courses they are taking in high school.  (Please don't confuse the use of the term 'gateway' with a church-related school named "Gateway".) 

There is an annual dance between these school districts and homeschoolers. In the spring some of the local education agencies (school districts) send out a letter telling homeschoolers that their high schoolers must submit to gateway testing and HSLDA sends out letters telling their members that they aren't subject to these tests. Here are links to letters from HSLDA to Tennessee members dated 3/17/2003 and and  2/8/2000 with their opinion on end of course tests. 

Also remember that you determine what grade your child is in and what courses they take in each grade. 

You need to read the  HS Law regarding independent homeschoolers (registered with the local education agency) specifically 49-6-3050 (b)(5)(A and B) as well as Section 49-50-801 (c) of the CRS Law that provides for the testing of students transferring from a CRS to a public school as well as the HSLDA letter in order make correct connections with the actual Tennessee Code below--which relates mostly to publicly schooled students.

Here's the code, below, or you can use this link to the actual code via The State of Tennessee to Lexis Law (in left column click on Legislation, then Tennessee Code). In the left margin click on Legislation and then Tennessee Code.

49-6-6001Graduation requirements.

(a)

(1) To receive a full diploma upon graduation from high school, a student shall pass the Tennessee comprehensive assessment program tests as adopted by the state board of education, with scores established by the board. Students may take each of the required tests at any administration and in any order upon completion of the required coursework. The state board of education may establish by regulation additional requirements for students who do not pass the required tests. Such requirements may include remedial work that may be counted only for elective credit toward graduation.

(2) The board shall adopt a certificate indicating attendance or less-than-satisfactory performance, which shall be presented to students who do not receive a passing score and are not eligible for a full diploma.

(b) Before graduation, every student shall take an exit examination adopted by the board to assess the student's readiness for the workplace or higher education. There shall be no passing standards for this examination. The implementation date for this examination shall be established by the board, but in no case shall it be later than the 1995-1996 school year. The results of these examinations shall be shared with the legislative oversight committee on education.

(c) All tests developed or used to implement this section, all banks of questions, all field testing documents used as background for the development of the tests, and all answers shall be kept confidential when and for so long as is necessary to protect the integrity of the tests, and accordingly, are exempt from the requirements of § 10-7-503.

[Acts 1981, ch. 164, §§ 1, 2; T.C.A., § 49-117; Acts 1988, ch. 494, §§ 1, 2; 1988, ch. 893, § 2; 1992, ch. 535, § 32; 1998, ch. 833, § 2.]

49-6-6002. Tests not to be conducted earlier than grade three (3).

No state-mandated test shall be conducted earlier than grade three (3), except that when the first and second grade tests provided for in Acts 1997, ch. 434, § 7 are available, these tests shall be conducted.

[Acts 1997, ch. 434, § 6.]

49-6-6003. Comprehensive writing assessment.

A comprehensive writing assessment shall be conducted in grades four (4), seven (7), and eleven (11).

[Acts 1997, ch. 434, § 6.]

TESTING: Nicky Hardenbergh's "Validity of high stakes standardized test requirements for homeschoolers: a psychometric analysis" is a must read for trying to understand tests and of what value they may be for measuring the success of homeschooling.