Student Retention Policies: Tennessee and Other States
April 2023
Author: Erin Brown
In 2021, the General Assembly passed legislation updating 4th grade promotion requirements for 3rd graders. Under the new law, 3rd graders who do not achieve grade-level proficiency on the English Language Arts (ELA) portion of the spring TCAP assessment are identified for possible retention. This legislative brief examines recent retention legislation in Tennessee, considers the experiences of other states that have also passed retention requirements, and identifies the variables that will influence how many 3rd graders are likely to be retained in 2023.