Amy Bearman
Commissioner's Office
710 James Robertson Pkwy., 6th Floor
Nashville, TN 37243
Dear Ms. Bearman:
I apologize for the delay in getting this information to you. As you may know, we have been working with the Tennessee Board of Regents and with THEC and the UT Board of Trustees on a matter similar to the one which I discussed with you. As you also may know, the TBR is in the process of revising their policy in regard to admissions requirements for TBR institutions as they apply to graduates of 'non-approved' schools in Tennessee.
I am enclosing some materials which we have shared with Dr. Abernathy, Dr. Consacro, Dr. Smith and others. As you can see, we contend that there is absolutely no statistical evidence to indicate that prospective transfer students from so-called 'non-approved' schools should be subjected to specialized requirements when applying for transfer to public schools. On the contrary, based on purely statistical evidence, it would make more sense to test transfer students from public schools instead of from private ones (whether approved or 'non-approved') since they are more likely to be in need of remedial work.
In regard to the matter of excessive testing for some prospective transfer students, when we moved here from Arizona, my own daughter was told by our local public school system that she should would be required to take (and pass) 23 separate exams before she would be allowed to attend our local 'public' high school. Transfer and prospective transfer students from other private schools (including some listed by the Tennessee Department of Education as 'approved') have been treated similarly.
I realize that such policies vary widely within the state and our research has shown that most school districts are not so extreme in their treatment of such prospective transfer students. However, our goal is to seek an end to any type of discrimination against such transfer students. We would like to see a consistent, standardized policy implemented at the state level so that transfer students could not be treated at the whim of local school superintendents, boards, or principals. As we have done with the TBR, we intend to seek such a policy implementation at the legislative and judicial levels and we would appreciate the opinion of your office regarding this matter.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Yours,
Walter J. Clark