Third-grade students who did not perform well on the English Language Arts (ELA) section of the TCAP assessment could get free learning support from their school to be ready for promotion to the 4th grade.

But parents/guardians can appeal that decision and agree to opt out of that support and advance the child to the next grade level.

If a student’s family wishes to opt out of the free support, the student will be retained to the 3rd grade the following school year and won’t be promoted to 4th grade.

Learning support includes priority access to summer programming and/or tutoring supports in the upcoming year.

A student’s school will notify parents/guardians if the student has been identified as at-risk for retention.

They will provide more information about all the available pathways to allow the student to be eligible to move to 4th grade, including free summer school and/or tutoring supports provided by your school district.

The appeal is only eligible for students whose received an “approaching” score on the TCAP ELA test or on the 3rd grade TCAP Retake opportunity.

The appeal window is open from May 30, 2023 and ends June 30, 2023.

The form can be found on the State of Tennessee’s website.