49-6-6001 - Graduation requirements. - Tennessee Statutes

49-6-6001. Graduation requirements.

(a)  (1)  To receive a full diploma upon graduation from high school, a student must meet requirements as set forth by the state board of education.

     (2)  [Deleted by 2009 amendment.]

(b)  As a strategy for assessing student readiness to enter and succeed in postsecondary training, every public school student shall take a series of three (3) examinations, one (1) administered at grade eight (8), one (1) administered at grade ten (10), and one (1) at grade eleven (11). These assessments shall be approved by the commissioner of education and provide educators with diagnostic information to assist in developing interventions for the purpose of increasing high school graduation rates and improving student preparation for postsecondary achievement. Each year, the results of the examinations shall be analyzed and reported by the commissioner of education to the select oversight committee on education.

(c)  All tests developed or used to implement this section, all banks of questions, all field testing documents used as background for the development of the tests and all answers shall be kept confidential when and for as long as necessary to protect the integrity of the tests, and accordingly, are exempt from the requirements of § 10-7-503.

(d)  The board shall require each LEA to provide remediation services to any student who fails a portion of any examination required under this section for the portion of the examination that the student failed.

(e)  Each LEA shall, by September 30 of each year, submit a report to the commissioner of education that details interventions as required by subsection (d) and the Official Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Tennessee rule 0520-1-3-.06, 1(d)2(ii). The report shall include the types of interventions made available, the number of students participating in the interventions, the success rate of participating students and strategies used to make parents and students aware of the interventions available.

(f)  Each LEA shall include the information contained in the report from subsection (e) as part of the school improvement planning process as required by the board of education.

(g)  The commissioner of education is directed to establish dates for the administration of assessments required for graduation that provide the maximum instructional days possible prior to testing while maintaining compliance with all relevant federal law.

[Acts 1981, ch. 164, §§ 1, 2; T.C.A., § 49-117; Acts 1988, ch. 494, §§ 1, 2; 1988, ch. 893, § 2; 1992, ch. 535, § 32; 1998, ch. 833, § 2; 2002, ch. 738, § 1; 2005, ch. 446, § 1; 2007, ch. 273, § 1; 2008, ch. 931, § 1; 2009, ch. 262, §§ 1, 2; 2009, ch. 448, § 2.]