The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) has released this statement from Executive Chairman and CEO Jamie Woodson about the Every Student Succeeds Act plan that the Tennessee Department of Education has submitted for federal review: As Tennessee has climbed in national rankings of academic performance, many people from elsewhere have asked why the state…
Dear Friends, Tennessee’s famous nickname the “Volunteer State” comes from our citizens’ history of volunteering for military service. To this day, Tennessee ranks 12th in the nation in the number of military families, with more than 2,189 active duty military servicemen and women and nearly 19,000 members of the military reserves, and half a million…
What does it mean to advocate for students? For me, three years ago it meant creating lessons that would engage students in my science class. Today, it means advancing policies that make schools better. Advocacy takes many forms, and this is my story. Each day, 3.1 million teachers go to school to advocate for their…
Beginning April 17, approximately 600,000 students in Tennessee will sharpen their No. 2 pencils and take TNReady, Tennessee’s new state assessment. There’s a lot of information out there about what TNReady is, why Tennessee kids are taking it, and how you can help them prepare. If you’re a parent and you’re already juggling a half…
My first year in a middle school, I was the only teacher in my grade level and subject area. Because I didn’t have a teaching partner, I readily sought opportunities to collaborate with other educators to better support my students and classroom instruction. While looking for ways to connect with teachers in my content-area, I…