
2025 State of Education in Tennessee: Casting a Vision for Student Success
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Teachers & Leaders | High-Quality Public Charter Schools | Data Insights | Education Finance | Postsecondary Success | Innovative Models | Education-to-Career Pathways | K-12 Success
2024 State of Education in Tennessee: Building A Brighter Future
December 5, 2023
Tennessee is a leader in piloting and scaling efforts to strengthen student success. Foundational strategies have been grounded in high expectations for educators, schools, and students – from the time students enter the classroom to the time they receive a degree or credential. This work is yielding demonstrated results for students. However, while progress has been made, it is clear more needs to be done. Tennessee’s next challenge is to expand its vision for education so that each student not only has the opportunity to succeed in school but also has the opportunity to be prepared for a career that enables economic independence.
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Data Insights | Education-to-Career Pathways
Using Data And Driving Innovation For The Future Of Work
November 7, 2023
All Tennessee students should earn degrees and credentials that prepare them for careers that enable economic independence. From K-12 to postsecondary to workforce development, more can be done to better prepare students for this goal, and this can only be done by looking at data across systems and using that information to drive innovation.
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Teachers & Leaders | K-12 Success
Early Literacy Success For All Students: A Coherent Path Forward Webinar
September 28, 2023
This webinar covers key findings from our recent report and highlights how two Tennessee districts are working to increase instructionally coherent academic support in early grades literacy.
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Data Insights | K-12 Success
Early Literacy Success for All Students: A Coherent Path Forward
September 26, 2023
Over the last several years, Tennessee has passed legislation and guidance around adoption, purchase, training, and use of high-quality instructional materials in early grades literacy. These efforts have been grounded in research on how students best learn to read — through a focus on systematic, explicit phonics instruction and regular opportunities to build knowledge through reading and responding to complex texts. These policies and practices are beginning to transform and strengthen instruction, with the latest statewide results from the 2022-23 school year showing that 40 percent of third graders are now reading on grade level — the highest percentage since the state raised academic standards nearly a decade ago.
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Teachers & Leaders | K-12 Success
Early Literacy Success For All Students: A Coherent Path Forward Case Studies
September 25, 2023
During the 2022-23 school year, a group of four Tennessee districts sought support to work toward the shared goal of sustainably scaling their high-dosage tutoring (HDT) programs in first- through third-grade literacy. They oriented their work around a theory of change that focused on integrating their HDT programs into their system’s long-term academic, staffing, and funding strategies.
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Instructionally Coherent Literacy Support Toolkit
August 30, 2023
Delivering effective instruction and strategic support to students is a top priority for Tennessee educators. SCORE has prepared these resources for teachers, school and district leaders, and education advocates to guide planning, implementation, and funding for initiatives designed to accelerate student learning.
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Teachers & Leaders | K-12 Success
K-3 Early Literacy Instructional Coherence Literacy Support Toolkit
August 30, 2023
Tennessee’s commitment to research-based early literacy policy and practice has created a foundation for districts and schools to implement instructionally coherent academic support for K-3 literacy.
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Teachers & Leaders | K-12 Success
Report Summary: Early Literacy Success For All Students
August 24, 2023
Since 2021, Tennessee has transformed literacy instruction by codifying the research on effective early literacy instruction into policy. This approach focuses on systematic, explicit phonics instruction and regular opportunities to build knowledge through reading and responding to complex texts. The legislation, investment, and resulting practice in schools is working.
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High-Quality Public Charter Schools | Data Insights | Innovative Models | K-12 Success
National Study Highlights Student Growth In Tennessee Public Charter Schools
August 1, 2023
In 2023, there were 114 charter schools in Tennessee, serving approximately 44,000 students — 5 percent of the state’s total student population. The resources below provide key data regarding the enrollment, demographics, and performance of public charter schools in Tennessee.
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Data Insights | Postsecondary Success | Education-to-Career Pathways
Building A Vision For Early Postsecondary Opportunities
May 22, 2023
Early postsecondary opportunities (EPSOs) are an important part of Tennessee’s strategy to ensure high school students are prepared to enroll, persist, and find success in postsecondary education, career, and life. Research consistently shows that earning a degree or credential is an important step toward achieving high-wage employment and economic independence. Tennesseans who complete postsecondary education earn, on average, one and a half times more than individuals with only a high school diploma.
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Teachers & Leaders | Education Finance
Supporting District Leaders To Leverage TISA For Student Success
May 18, 2023
Tennessee modernized its education finance system to allocate funding for students’ unique learning needs through passage of the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) Act during the 2022 legislative session. This legislative reform reflects Tennessee’s longstanding commitment to improving education outcomes. Building upon the prior decade’s implementation of high academic standards, rigorous annual assessments, and a multiple-measure accountability system, TISA advances our collective belief that all students should have equitable opportunity to succeed in school, postsecondary education, and life.
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Teachers & Leaders | K-12 Success
2023 Summer Learning Refinement Guide
May 18, 2023
Over the last two years, districts across the state have implemented summer learning camps for rising first through eighth graders. While leaders and teachers did not have much time to prepare for summer 2021 camps, they were able to use the lessons learned from the first year of implementation to improve their programming for the subsequent summer.
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