KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A Tennessee Department of Education report on Wednesday shows nearly 43% of Knox County Schools third graders who took TCAPs for a second time scored proficient on the English Language Arts section.

That number is higher than last year, when 38.6% scored proficient on their test retake. In 2021, that number was 35.3%.

Knox County Schools said 1,349 third-grade students will need to participate in an intervention. This requires them to participate in a summer learning camp and/or tutoring to progress to the next grade.

Of the 1,587 Knox County students who initially scored below the proficiency cut, 83% elected to participate in the retake option. Just more than 200 who scored above the proficiency cut on the second attempt will be promoted to fourth grade.

“This brings the total number of third grade students who met the criteria to proceed to fourth grade without an intervention – either because of their score or due to an exemption – to 3,142 or 70%,” according to the news release.

On May 26, families of students who did not reach proficiency will be notified of whether their student’s score was “approaching” or “below” proficient.

“We’ve known that this moment was coming, and our schools have spent the year focused on excellence in foundational skills, specifically early literacy instruction,” said Superintendent Dr. Jon Rysewyk. “We are encouraged to see our students’ and teachers’ hard work pay off with a nearly 4% increase on the third-grade ELA TCAP. We recognize that there is still work to be done, and we look forward to supporting every student on their path to promotion. We’re working hard to prepare summer learning camps and fall tutoring opportunities to build proficiency in every student who has qualified for an intervention.”

Knox County Schools had a total proficiency of 42.9% with 23.98% being “below,” 33.12% being “approaching,” 27.74% being “meets” and 15.16% being “exceeds.”

Parents can go to knoxschools.org/thirdgraderetention for more information on steps and deadlines before the fall academic semester.

Knox County Schools is following a third-grade retention law that passed in 2021 and has gone into full effect for the 2022-2023 school year.