{"id":11287,"date":"2012-05-02T11:16:34","date_gmt":"2012-05-02T16:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.wnpt.org\/mediaupdate\/?p=11287"},"modified":"2018-11-06T13:19:57","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T19:19:57","slug":"npt-reports-time-for-tcaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.wnpt.org\/mediaupdate\/2012\/05\/02\/npt-reports-time-for-tcaps\/","title":{"rendered":"NPT Reports: Time for TCAPS!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"580\" height=\"327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/meEocieWZEc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The hallways of John Coleman Elementary in Smyrna, Tennessee, look like a pep rally before a big game. But in this case, the banners, balloons, spirit signs, and daily pep talks were preparation for the Super Bowl of school testing in Tennessee: TCAP, Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey work all year long for this one opportunity\u2014these 4 days,\u201d says Dr. Joe Phillip, principal of Coleman, and he plans to reward that effort\u2014for those who excel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI went to Wal-mart and spent about $11-hundred to get prizes to motivate the kids. And I told them for 3 subjects: reading\/language arts, math, or science. If you\u2019re proficient in a subject, you get a ticket. If you\u2019re advanced in a subject, you get 2 tickets.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The prizes include boy\u2019s and girl\u2019s bicycles, games, dolls, and much more, all lining the entrance hallway of Coleman along with reminder signs of how many tickets students need to nab one of the toys.\u00a0 And what\u2019s happening here is not unusual.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Another Rutherford County school<\/a>, Eagleville Elementary, has produced a series of videos featuring TCAP Ninja\u2014a character costumed in a colorful ninja leotard who gives testing tips and leads catchy sing-alongs to popular songs that are re-written for TCAP testing. One of the most popular is a music video spoof called \u201cI\u2019m Ready for the Test.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If teachers and school officials are willing to dress in costume, give away prizes, and plan testing pep rallies&#8211;it\u2019s because TCAP testing has bigger stakes than ever before.\u00a0And students get the message.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe importance of the test is\u2026 it\u2019s supposed to count as 20% of your whole grade,\u201d says Gabriella Hatcher, a 5th grade student at Coleman. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of tough.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Each year from late April to early May, the department of education requires school districts to administer the TCAP&#8211; a multiple choice assessment that measures skills in reading, language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. This year, for the first time, TCAP scores must count in a student\u2019s final grade for the school year\u2014a new mandate from the state.\u00a0 Also new\u2014TCAP scores will be a factor in one-third of a teacher\u2019s evaluation score under the state\u2019s new teacher evaluation system<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>How much weight TCAPS receive in student grades varies among school districts, ranging from 10 to 25%.\u00a0 In Middle Tennessee, Rutherford County&#8211; where Coleman Elementary is located\u2014will place the most weight on TCAP scores. James Evans, spokesperson for Rutherford County Schools, explains how the process in that school district.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cTCAP scores will count 20-percent of a students second-semester average. Another way of looking at it is it\u2019s 10-percent overall of their yearly grade. For grades middle school and high school \u2013 it\u2019s 25-percent.\u00a0 And the reason there\u2019s a difference there is the state set the high school percentage of 25% and we have a number of middle school courses that are offered that are also offered in high school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to educate parents\u2014sending out lots of notes home, things like that to let them know this is coming this is best way to help your child prepare that kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evenso, the change has generated more calls and questions from parents and concern from some students about how much emphasis the test is receiving.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPersonally, I don\u2019t think it should be that way,\u201d says Hatcher. \u201cBecause if you\u2019re getting straight A\u2019s and then you just get completely nervous about like taking that test, then you could like mess the whole thing up and blow your grades right out the water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Principal Phillips knows that might happen in some cases, but in the long-run he believes incorporating TCAP scores will bring consistency and accuracy to student assessment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m all for it. It is a tool that we can use to help motivate kids and also to help teachers understand that the grades and TCAPS need to go hand in hand,\u201d says Phillips. \u201cYou know, you shouldn\u2019t have a kid that makes honor roll and below basic, or you shouldn\u2019t have a child that\u2019s proficient or advanced and have bad grades. That just doesn\u2019t match up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Whether these tactics work will be evident by the end of May. That\u2019s when the state will release preliminary TCAP scores so schools can finalize year-end grades for students.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The hallways of John Coleman Elementary in Smyrna, Tennessee, look like a pep rally before a big game. But in this case, the banners, balloons, spirit signs, and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[2327,3926,3927,2319,3928],"class_list":["post-11287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-npt-reports","tag-education","tag-elementary-school","tag-public-schools","tag-tennessee","tag-testing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>NPT Reports: Time for TCAPS! - Nashville PBS Media Update<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.wnpt.org\/mediaupdate\/2012\/05\/02\/npt-reports-time-for-tcaps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NPT Reports: Time for TCAPS! - Nashville PBS Media Update\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The hallways of John Coleman Elementary in Smyrna, Tennessee, look like a pep rally before a big game. 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