Over the past two decades, Tennessee has been building one of the most remarkable education improvement stories in the country.
This progress has not happened all at once, and it has not happened by accident. It has been the result of sustained commitment across administrations, schools, and classrooms to a simple, yet powerful, idea: When we set high expectations for students and educators, stay focused on outcomes, and commit to policies and practices that drive improved results, meaningful statewide progress is possible.
Today’s release of the Education Scorecard offers the latest evidence that Tennessee’s approach is working. The national report from researchers at Stanford, Harvard, and Dartmouth recognizes Tennessee as a model for learning recovery, ranking the state second in student growth in math and fourth in reading growth between 2022 and 2025.
These results are not just a recovery story. They are part of a much longer trajectory of improvement. Nearly two decades ago, Tennessee ranked near the bottom nationally in overall student achievement. Today, the state is #1 in the South and 17th in the nation across fourth- and eighth-grade math and reading. The takeaways below highlight what makes this moment so significant. And they create an opportunity and a responsibility to turn this momentum into even greater progress for every student in our state.
#1: Tennessee is one of the fastest-improving states in the nation in both math and reading.
The Education Scorecard shows that from 2022 to 2025, Tennessee ranked second in the nation in math growth and fourth in reading growth. In math, the average Tennessee student improved by nearly half a grade level, making Tennessee the highest-growth state (not including the District of Columbia). In reading, the average Tennessee student improved by nearly 20% of a grade level over the same period.
Establishing strong foundations in math and reading is critical. They shape whether students are prepared for advanced coursework, postsecondary education, high-demand careers, and long-term economic independence. At a time when many states are still working to regain lost ground, Tennessee is not just catching up. We are accelerating.
#2: Tennessee’s recent gains fit a longer upward trajectory in national rankings, including its new position as #1 state in the South for overall student achievement.
Analysis of the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) data show Tennessee is now the top-performing state in the South across fourth- and eighth-grade math and reading. This new analysis from the Oklahoma Center for Education Policy standardizes NAEP scale scores to put a state’s performance into the context of the national average. By taking the “distance” from the national average on each test and combining them, we get a new view of overall academic performance across states and across years. In 2009, Tennessee ranked 11th out of 14 Southern states and 41st nationally using the same methodology. By 2024, it ranked first in the South and 17th in the nation.
The progress is also visible across individual NAEP subjects and grades, with Tennessee reaching the top 25 states nationally across all four tested NAEP areas for the first time in 2024.
#3: The progress is showing up across Tennessee — not just in one region or one type of district.
Another encouraging finding from the Education Scorecard is that Tennessee’s gains are statewide.
The report identifies several Tennessee school districts as “Districts on the Rise,” meaning they are outperforming similar districts nationally in both math and reading. Those districts include Johnson City, Putnam County, White County, and Maury County. Additional districts are outperforming peers in one subject, including Sullivan County, Germantown, and Anderson County in math, and Arlington, Grainger County, and Greeneville in reading. These exemplary districts represent both small and large, suburban and rural districts. But the story is clear: Learning growth is accelerating for students across the state.
#4: Student-focused policy matters — and strong implementation matters just as much (or more).
Nationally, the Education Scorecard notes that all states that improved in reading between 2022 and 2025 — including Tennessee — were implementing evidence-based early literacy reforms. The report also shows that policy adoption alone is not enough. Some states that have passed similar policies grounded in the science of reading have not yet seen the same level of recovery. That is an important reminder: Bold, student-focused policy can make a real difference, but the promise of the policy can only be fully realized when it is backed by strong and sustained implementation, clear accountability, and consistent focus on what students need to succeed.
Tennessee did not simply embrace the science of reading on paper. The state put real expectations and resources behind it. State policymakers required districts to adopt aligned high-quality instructional materials. They supported teachers to participate in rigorous, sustained training on evidence-based reading instruction. They required students to be screened for progress and parents to be notified when their child was struggling. And they paired those expectations with access to high-dosage tutoring, summer learning opportunities, and stronger interventions for students who needed more support. State leaders have also resisted efforts to water down school accountability, reduce critical assessments of student progress, and lower expectations for educators.
Strong implementation matters, and Tennessee is leading the charge.
#5: The gains are real, but the work is far from finished.
Tennessee has made real, meaningful progress, and we still have a lot more work to do. Even with strong growth, statewide proficiency remains below where it needs to be. Persistent and concerning gaps remain for historically underserved students. While the gap between Black students and their White peers has narrowed in all areas except eighth-grade reading, the overall average proficiency rate gap between Black and White students still hovers around 20 points. That gap is still much too large, and we must continue to work to close it.
Additionally, a substantial share of statewide growth is being driven by students who are already high performers. The proficiency gap between high-performing students and low-performing students has grown from 85 scale score points in 2009 to over 100 scale score points in 2024 — underscoring the need to focus support on Tennessee’s students who are furthest behind.
Those realities should keep us from becoming complacent. Tennessee’s gains are worth celebrating, but we aren’t where we need to be. Too many students can’t read by third grade or do math on grade level in middle school. And too many are still graduating from high school without a clear path to and through postsecondary experiences that lead to good jobs and economic independence.
What Comes Next
So, what should Tennessee do with this moment?
First, we should recognize what the data are telling us. Tennessee has built a durable foundation for improvement, and that progress is now being validated by multiple national measures. That should give leaders confidence that sustained focus on outcomes, accountability, and evidence-based decision-making is worth continuing.
But the next phase of the work cannot simply be about preserving what we already have. It must be about extending the impact of what is working to more students, more schools, and more communities. It also means being willing to innovate and pursue the next set of bold, student-focused reforms that are grounded in outcomes and connected to the opportunities students will need in a rapidly changing world.
The latest Education Scorecard results signal more than learning recovery. They point to a broader education transformation in our state — one that should make Tennesseans proud and one that should challenge us to keep going. The opportunity now is not simply to celebrate momentum. It is to capitalize on it, close remaining gaps, and improve outcomes for every student.
We can make Tennessee not only a national model for improvement, but the best state in the nation to learn.