I recently spent a week in Orlando, but I didn’t hobnob with cartoon animals or traverse any kingdoms, magical or otherwise. In fact, the only mouse ears I saw were in the airport gift shop. Instead, I spent five days with educators from across the country — including fellow Tennesseans — reviewing test items for…
Just a few years ago, Tennessee embarked on an ambitious plan to better prepare students for the future. Tennesseans took a hard look at student proficiency and concluded that continuing to accept mediocre academic performance was a disservice to our students. When SCORE was launched in 2009, we identified a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for unprecedented growth…
At 9:00 a.m. on a Monday morning, I find myself walking into a South Memphis classroom taught by a second-year middle school English teacher who is determined to “make a difference in the lives of children.” My initial thought was that within the fourth week of a new school year, I would hardly see any…
Tennessee set an ambitious goal in 2009 for our education system to be the fastest-improving among all states. The results are in: Tennessee students in fourth and eighth grade surpassed their peers across the country in overall gains on national math and reading tests, making Tennessee the fastest-improving state in the nation. Not only did…
November 7 was maybe the best day of my professional life, and I started not to write about it. I was going to play it cool, I wasn’t going to “geek out”, and I certainly wasn’t going to expend my own “personal social media capital” to talk about it. So much for that.
The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) released the following statement from Jamie Woodson, President and CEO, on today’s release of the 2013 results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Also known as The Nation’s Report Card, NAEP provides one of the few ways to measure how Tennessee students are progressing in comparison…
ABCs, 123s, red, blue, green, and yellow! These are the least of skills one kindergarten teacher believes all children should know upon entering her class. “I would expect a student to know his name, how to spell and recognize it, know the alphabet, letter names, numbers one to ten, colors, and shapes,” stated D’ Angela…
The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) released the following statement today from Jamie Woodson, president and CEO, on the 2013 Report Card on the Effectiveness of Teacher Training Programs from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
Teacher compensation is changing in Tennessee. Gone are the days of pay raises based on years of service alone. School districts in Tennessee, including Memphis, where I teach, will now be charged with establishing various parameters that will determine teacher pay raises. Years of service and advanced degrees can be included in the criteria, but…
Trousdale County Wins $25,000 District Award Norman Smith, Frank P. Brown, Covington High Take Schools Honors, Awards of $10,000 Students from Covington, Nashville Win $500 Scholarships (Nashville) – The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) announced the four winners of the 3rd annual SCORE Prize on Monday night. The winners – three schools and…
Educators, students, parents, and stakeholders in education from across the state will gather Monday, October 28, to celebrate Tennessee’s progress in student achievement at the 2013 SCORE Prize. The event will announce the Tennessee district, elementary school, middle school, and high school that have most dramatically improved student achievement. The winning schools will receive $10,000…
Every year, the SCORE Prize honors schools and districts that have most dramatically improved student achievement. As a SCORE Graduate Fellow, I learned that it is so much more than that. The SCORE Prize recognizes all of the members in a school, working day and night to give their students the power of an education.
After more than 2,000 votes in a Facebook poll, we have our finalists in the Students Rise to the Challenge video competition. Congratulations to Alexis Bradby, Maryville High (Maryville City Schools), Sarah Martin, Hillwood High (Metro Nashville Schools), and Jo-Nyla Walker, Germanshire Elementary (Shelby County Schools). Come to the SCORE Prize event on October 28 to…
As communities watch their children board big yellow school buses each morning, it is easy to assume that they are “going to school” where they are “going to learn.” Unfortunately, for many students across the nation, this assumption does not hold true, as these two phrases—“going to school” and “going to learn”—are far from synonymous.
Common Core hearings took place before the Tennessee Senate Education Committee with testimony from across the political spectrum. Teachers and supporters testified to the impact they have already seen in classrooms across the state. While I hope that the committee members choose to continue our current path to implement common core, I can’t help but…
Ten semi-finalists are competing in SCORE’s 2013 Students Rise to the Challenge scholarship competition. They have produced videos to tell their stories about innovative things happening in their classrooms and schools that make them excited about learning and better prepared for their futures. Their videos make it clear there are some pretty interesting things going…
In February 2013, Tennessee eighth-graders taking the TCAP Writing Assessment online read two articles about exploration and responded to the following prompt: “Write an expository essay comparing and contrasting how reasons for colonization have changed from settling America to attempting to settle space. […] Draw evidence from the passages to support your analysis.” This assignment…
Country music artist, Jo Dee Messina, believes it is important that “all students are prepared for whatever they want to do after high school.” As a mom and Tennessean, she supports setting the bar high for Tennessee public schools and students. Hear her sing in support of the hard work done in Tennessee classrooms on…
I have struggled to find the right words to convey how Common Core State Standards are both amazing and important. What lens do I view them through – as a Tennessean, a teacher, a Department of Education intern, or a graduate student?
Knoxville News Sentinel, September 7, 2013. Reprinted by permission. I am passionate about education, particularly breaking the cycle of poverty and low education rates of at-risk students and their families. I believe in and have invested a significant amount of my life’s work in the full-service community school model, which encourages collaboration and coordination of…