Tennessee Department of Education Misleads Parents with Testing “Guidance”

It’s not clear that the Department of Education previewed or even actually read the words in a document intended to dissuade parents from opting their children out of state standardized tests.

While activists in Tennessee and around the country are encouraging the Biden Administration to grant testing waivers, parents are not waiting and are taking matters into their own hands.

In fact, when one parent recently indicated to a school principal that their child would be “opting out” of state testing in 2021, they were provided with a one page document from the Tennessee Department of Education explaining that opting-out is not an option.

Here’s that letter:

Opting Out of Annual Assessments What is the Purpose of Annual Assessments?

Annual assessments are critical to ensure that all students are making strong academic progress. In Tennessee, one measure of student, school, and district academics is through the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP), which are tests aligned with our state’s academic standards, outlining what students are expected to know, guiding educators as they design their lessons and curriculum. As Tennessee’s teachers work to equip all students with the knowledge and skills they need, we have to ensure that we can identify any major gaps in students’ learning and find variations in growth among different schools — both so we can strengthen support in…