Welcome to The SCORE Sheet. A blog designed for all those passionate about education reform, The SCORE Sheet will become a central forum to discuss the work that is being done to improve public education in Tennessee and across the nation.
It is clear that there is a lot of work to do. In 2010, only 16 percent of eleventh graders in Tennessee met all four ACT benchmarks. Additionally, only 19 out of every 100 ninth graders completed post- secondary education within six years of graduating high school. While the statistics are sobering, the ramifications for economic development and job creation are even more significant. Seven of the 10 fastest growing jobs in Tennessee require post-secondary education. For Tennesseans with a Bachelor’s degree, unemployment is only 5.2 percent, compared to 14.6 percent for those without a high school diploma.
To produce an educated workforce ready to meet the challenges of a 21st century economy, SCORE, our partners, and the entire state of Tennessee can and should take the lead in designing and implementing the best in state education reform strategies. In fact, much of this work is already underway. I hope The SCORE Sheet can be a place to share, discuss, and highlight the successes, struggles, and lessons learned as we move forward.
I believe that collaboration will be critical to our success in ensuring every Tennessee student graduates from high school prepared for college or the workforce. Much of the work will be guided by listening to parents, educators, school leaders, policymakers, business leaders, and students, and bringing together all voices in education to find the most effective and sustainable solutions.
To that end, The SCORE Sheet will be a place for these voices, and will feature writers from all facets of education. We are always looking for guest contributors, and if you have something to say about the state of education in Tennessee or a personal story to tell about education in your life, please email us at scoresheet@tennesseescore.org.
I look forward to the conversation that will begin here, and am counting on you—the passionate parents, teachers, education reformers, and policymakers of Tennessee—to help us make The SCORE Sheet home to one of the nation’s leading educational dialogues.