In the efforts to improve student achievement, there are moments to stop, reflect, and celebrate the good work that is happening across Tennessee. The district-specific student achievement data released today by the state Department of Education provide us one of those moments. In the majority of our state’s school districts, we are better preparing students…
A student’s address should not determine the quality of his or her education. But often it does. As an undergraduate at Rhodes College in Memphis, I have become acutely aware of the unfortunate relationship between the economic situation of a community and the academic achievement of its schools. Only 20 minutes of driving time separates…
Gov. Bill Haslam has started a great conversation about higher education in Tennessee. A central theme is already clear: higher education must do more to give students skills that employers need. During the past year, Roane State Community College has worked on an Oak Ridge business/education partnership called the Rural Communities STEM Initiative (RCSI) with…
The transition from middle to high school can be difficult in many ways for students – academically, emotionally, and socially. To ease that passage, I spent the month of June working with Metro Nashville students through a pilot program to prepare incoming 9th grade students for high school. Along with preparation for high school, the…
Save the date! The second annual SCORE Prize is coming up October 8 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Each year, the SCORE Prize is awarded to one elementary, middle, and high school, and one district in Tennessee, that have most dramatically improved student achievement. In awarding the SCORE Prize, we aim to recognize those…
Everyone knows it’s important to invest in education. Education is the surefire way to also invest in our prosperity, productivity, health, and security – the whole shebang. That is why, across the country, education represents one of the largest percentages of every state’s budget – because from policymakers to parents, it is understood that providing…
Last month, the Rural Education Network held its first in-person meeting in Nashville. During the meeting, more than 70 participants learned more about Common Core implementation efforts in partner states and had the opportunity to identify challenges to implementation efforts as well as innovative approaches, regional collaborations, and possible resources to advance implementation in rural…
Jamie Woodson, President and CEO of the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), issued the following statement today on the release of the Tennessee Department of Education’s teacher evaluation report: “The teacher evaluation system that Tennessee is implementing is already improving the quality of teaching in the classroom and is supporting inspired, high-quality instruction in…
How have you seen schools and communities rising to the challenge of improving student outcomes in rural communities? Last year, SCORE held the Southeast Regional Rural Education Summit to bring together educators, administrators, policymakers, and other stakeholders for two days of engaging sessions to highlight best practices and influence regional and national policy. We want…
“When you grow up, you can be whatever you want to be.” These words have been spoken by countless friends, educators, and family members to students the world over. I was fortunate to grow up in an environment where high achievement was expected from me and I not only heard this adage, but also truly…
Over 30 years of research studies tell us that when parents are engaged in a child’s learning, the child does better in school and the schools get better. The Tennessee State Board of Education committed to ensuring that each school and school district implements a viable family engagement policy and plan by adopting the Six…
This post is a contribution to the SCORE Sheet from Mary Hall and Stephanie Kolitsch. Every school has them—those students who have the talent to succeed or even excel, but who, for one reason or another, do not realize their potential. Many times these students are overlooked by school programs, which often focus on the…
Several weeks ago, students and teachers said their good-byes for the summer. Far too many teachers also say good-bye each summer, however, to the teaching profession itself. I wrote a few months ago about the harmful effects on student achievement of high teacher turnover rates. Although these effects hold true across school types, a new…
This editorial originally appeared on 7/3/12 in The Week. The crucial need to hold students to a higher standard Over the last few months, hundreds of thousands of high school seniors have walked across a stage and received a diploma, an important moment that should be applauded. Unfortunately, for many of those students, that diploma…
The Broad Foundation is a national philanthropic organization that seeks to dramatically transform public education in America. Among their various approaches is the Broad Prize, which celebrates school districts that demonstrate significant movement toward a better school system. The prize attracts national attention. Previous winners include the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system, Gwinnet schools in Georgia and…
As early as the second grade, I can remember the teacher asking my classmates and me what we wanted to be when we grew up. We had been studying space, so one of my friends said he would be an astronaut. A fair share of us wanted to be professional athletes and doctors. I said…
Jamie Woodson, President and CEO of the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), released the following statement today on the release of Tennessee’s statewide results for the 2011-12 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP): “In the last few years, Tennessee has committed to implementing bold and transformative education reforms that are squarely focused on better preparing…
When you were younger – and maybe even still – your parents probably asked you “what do you want for your birthday?” They did this for a few reasons, but primarily to avoid the look of disappointment you would likely have (or the fit you might throw…) when they guessed what you wanted and got…
The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) would like to invite its higher education, teacher preparation, non-profit, education advocacy organization, and private school partners to attend training sessions on the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics for grades 3-8. Although the training is intended for math teachers, school administrators and school personnel, the TDOE would like…
It’s a bad habit: when we talk about preparing students for college and the workforce, we often forget about engaging the business community. While high school graduation rates in Tennessee have been improving in recent years, far too few of our graduates are prepared for the rigors of college, which is becoming increasingly important to…