TCAP Achievement Test Results to Comprise a Percentage of Students Final Grades

Beginning with the spring semester, TCAP Achievement test scores in the third through eighth grade will comprise 20% of a student’s final grades in the subjects of Math, Reading/Laguage Arts, Science, and Social Studies. The percentage will increase to 25% next school year.
Meanwhile, the End of Course test grades for high school students will count for 25% of their final grades beginning next school year, 2011-12. The percentage is currently 20%.
The DeKalb County Board of Education Thursday night adopted this new policy based on a recommendation by Jonathan Fontanez, Supervisor of Instruction for Grades 7-12.
Fontanez explained that beginning with the 2011 spring semester, the state is requiring that each local board of education develop a policy by which scores on the TCAP achievement tests administered to third through eighth grade students comprise a percentage of the students final grade for the spring semester in the subjects of Mathematics, Reading/Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. According to Fontanez, the percentage shall be determined by the local board of education within a range of 15%-25%. The policy must be developed and implemented by the spring semester of 2011.
According to state policy, High School End of Course test grades count for 20% of the final course grades in End of Course assessed subjects. Beginning with the 2011-2012 school year and the subsequent years following, the End of Course test grades for those assessed courses will count 25% toward a student’s final grade.
Fontanez recommended that the board make the percentage for grades 3-8 coincide with the high school requirement already in place so as to help establish a measure of continuity across grades within the district.
Under the new policy as recommended by Fontanez, for the initial semester of this policy implementation (Spring 2011), the percentage will be 20% for grades 3-8 which is the same percentage currently used for the high school End of Course grade calculations . The percentage will be adjusted for the 2011-2012 and subsequent years to increase to 25% of a students final grade in class.