
2025 State of Education in Tennessee: Casting a Vision for Student Success
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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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Teachers & Leaders | K-12 Success
2023 Third Grade Tennessee Summer School Guidance
April 27, 2023
The TN 3rd grade retention law could mean that thousands of additional 3rd grade students across the state will need to attend summer school this year to avoid being retained for the 2023-24 school year. To advance these students toward grade-level readiness we must seek to provide them accelerated instruction during summer school that provides coherent instruction aligned to grade-level ELA requirements while also addressing students’ key learning gaps in reading foundational skills.
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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
2023 State of Education in Tennessee
December 6, 2022
When it comes to taking big steps to improve outcomes for students, Tennessee leads. For more than a decade, the state has taken bold actions and demonstrated great success in improving education. This has led to students having more opportunities for their future, businesses having a more skilled workforce, and, ultimately, more Tennesseans experiencing economic independence statewide.
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Teachers & Leaders | Innovative Models
Innovative School Models Planning Guide
August 16, 2022
This planning guide is aligned to the Tennessee Department of Education’s Innovative School Models (ISM) guidance document and addresses each of the application components. It also contains links to national examples and resources to further support your thinking around how you will innovate in your middle and high schools. By reflecting on the questions and considerations in this document, your team should be better prepared to submit a strong application.
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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
Tennessee Education Primer
June 9, 2022
Tennesseans began taking bold steps to transform public education to better prepare students for success in 2007. Tennessee must maintain that commitment to innovation and continue to put student needs first in order to prepare every student for success from the day they start school to the day they start a career.
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Teachers & Leaders | K-12 Success
2023 3rd Grade TN Summer School Guidance
April 27, 2022
The TN 3rd grade retention law could mean that thousands of additional 3rd grade students across the state will need to attend summer school this year to avoid being retained for the 2023-24 school year. To advance these students toward grade-level readiness we must seek to provide them accelerated instruction during summer school that provides coherent instruction aligned to grade-level ELA requirements while also addressing students’ key learning gaps in reading foundational skills.
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Teachers & Leaders | K-12 Success
Maximizing Summer Learning
April 7, 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruption to all levels of education that could impact student outcomes for months and possibly years ahead. The SCORE series of COVID-19 Impact Memos analyzes challenges, examines emerging innovations and research-supported practices, and highlights student-centered approaches for educators to consider.
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Teachers & Leaders | K-12 Success
Summer School Planning Guide
April 1, 2022
The Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act requires districts to provide specific summer learning opportunities to address learning loss. To maximize the effectiveness of these summer learning opportunities, it is vital to invest time in planning and to align key decisions to research-based recommendations. EdResearch for Recovery’s recent report, Advancing Student Learning and Opportunity Through Voluntary Academic Summer Learning Programs, found that program duration, attendance, use of time, and quality of instruction appear to be key factors in programs that show stronger academic benefits.
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Data Insights | Education Finance | K-12 Success
Trends In Tennessee ESSER Plans: A Landscape Analysis
March 22, 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruption to all levels of education that could impact student outcomes for months and possibly years ahead. The SCORE series of COVID-19 Impact Memos analyzes challenges, examines emerging innovations and research-supported practices, and highlights student-centered approaches for educators to consider.
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Teachers & Leaders | Education Finance | K-12 Success
Modernizing Education Funding To Support Every Tennessee Student
January 20, 2022
Over the last decade, Tennessee leaders have implemented strategies grounded in the conviction that setting high expectations for all students, measuring progress, and holding adults accountable can improve student success. Indeed, Tennessee has made great strides in student achievement, rising from one of the lowest-performing states on the National Assessment of Educational Progress to reach the national average in less than a decade, with high standards, assessment, and accountability.
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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
2022 State of Education in Tennessee
December 6, 2021
Through 2020 and 2021, Tennessee students, families, and educators have faced a public health crisis that has impacted our education system from top to bottom. Educators have provided instruction to students in person, in a hybrid format, and virtually – with limited resources and training at their disposal when the pandemic began. Administrators have faced staffing and scheduling challenges as the coronavirus pandemic spread statewide, requiring many students and educators to quarantine to recover from or to reduce transmission of the disease and miss valuable classroom time as a result. Whether they are in K-12 or postsecondary settings, students have experienced a dramatic shift in their daily lives.
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