2021 State of Education in Tennessee

In 2020, our nation navigated a disruptive public health crisis and a summer of protests that increased awareness of longstanding, systemic racial, economic, and justice inequities. These crises overlapped just as Tennessee educators and students were going back to school, virtually or in person. The opening months of the COVID-19 pandemic demanded ingenuity from educators as they stood up virtual learning practically overnight, responsiveness from leaders as they navigated an evolving public health crisis, and collaboration from communities as they worked to fill in resource gaps for students. The efforts by educators and schools were wide-ranging, nimble, and necessary. The scale of need revealed by the pandemic, however, raises questions and adds urgency to efforts to address the quality of education for all students both before and after the pandemic.