Education, Dept. of - As introduced, requires the department to submit a request to the United States department of education to amend this state's Every Student Succeeds Act plan to remove all end-of-course assessment requirements for students in grades nine through 12 and to allow the ACT, SAT, or another postsecondary readiness assessment approved by the commissioner to be annually administered to students in such grades and for student performance on such assessments to be used for student, school, and district accountability purposes. - Amends TCA Title 49.

SB 636 requires Tennessee's education department to request a federal change to its education plan by January 2026. It would remove mandatory end-of-course exams for high school students (grades 9-12) and replace them with annual administration of the ACT, SAT, or another approved college-readiness test. Student performance on these new assessments would then be used for school and district accountability, replacing current end-of-course test results. This bill directly affects Tennessee public high school students and schools by changing how academic performance is measured.