New statewide testing data show Tennessee elementary and middle school students making gains in the subjects of math and science. The results come from the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program.
Tennessee students in grades three through eight made a gain of six percentage points on math tests and an improvement of five points on science tests.
Speaking at a Nashville middle school, Governor Bill Haslam and Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman said 47% of all Tennessee students in grades three through eight were rated either proficient or advanced in math, up from 41% in the 2010-11 school year.
Sixty percent of those same students were proficient or advanced in science, up from 55% in 2010-11.
Nearly half of Tennessee elementary school students were highly rated in the areas of reading and language arts, up slightly from the 48% who were proficient or advanced last year.
For the first time, Tennessee teachers will be graded based on their students’ performance on the TCAP test.
About 35% of a teacher’s evaluation depends on those TCAP scores.
