Search Results for: "common core"
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Common Thread At Educator Voice Meeting: It’s All About The Students
Representatives from organizations across the country convened in California recently for the PIE Network’s annual Educator Voice Meeting. SCORE’s advocacy manager, Shaundraya Hersey, was there and reflects on the common themes that emerged from the gathering.
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Building On Tennessee’s Foundations For Student Success
Tennessee’s foundational policies in academic standards, annual assessment, and educator evaluation provide the fundamental building blocks of a high-quality education system. As Tennessee considers future opportunities to accelerate student learning, our collective commitment to these essential policies enable the practices and innovations that will propel our students to the success we all know they can…
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Chattanooga 2.0: Helping To Shape The Future Of The Workforce
Chattanooga 2.0 is a coalition centered around ten cradle-through-career priority areas as voiced by our community members. Over 150 organizations continually come together to work on these priorities, which as a whole, assist in establishing local talent pipelines and bridging the gap between our classrooms and workforce needs of employers.
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Creating A Vision For Tennessee’s Perkins V Plan
The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) brings changes to the federal investment in CTE. It provides new opportunities to improve CTE programs and enables more flexibility for states to meet the unique needs of their learners, educators, and employers.
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Leading Beyond The Classroom: Where Educator Voice Meets Action
I’m proud to work in Tennessee education. Our state has done the challenging work of implementing policies that prioritize what is best for students, and that focus has led us to be one of the fastest improving states in the nation in education. Educators, policymakers, and leaders share a firm belief that our students are…
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Teach An Educator How To Use Their Voice, Prepare Them For A Lifetime
Over my first twelve years of schooling I managed to attend five separate schools in Raleigh, North Carolina. I had the unique opportunity to attend many different types of schools with many different educators, but one in particular made a significant impact on my life. Dr. Wesley Kirkpatrick (Dr. K)—the dean of studies, college-placement expert,…
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My Expanded Role As A School Counselor To Ensure Excellence For All
Within my small Title 1 elementary school in East Tennessee there are numerous professionals working daily to meet the multitude of needs of our students. Our team includes a principal, associate principal, classroom teachers, special education teachers, related arts teachers, interventionists, an English language learner specialist, a family liaison, a variety of therapists including speech,…
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Report Shows Urgent Need For Southern States To Improve K-12 Schools For Every Child
In a new report, seven nonpartisan organizations in the South — including the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) — call for their states to take swifter action to improve K-12 public education for every child with an emphasis on support for students with the greatest needs. Accelerating The Pace: The Future Of Education In…
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Focus On Celebration, Collaboration, And Empowerment Key For Teacher-Led Learning Event
From literacy and project-based learning to teacher leadership initiatives, 120 educators in Northeast Tennessee learned from one another at the Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers (ECET²) convening. Six different school districts were represented at the event organized by Sullivan County Schools held on September 29-30, 2017 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The active collaboration…
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Algebra I: A Tale of Advocacy And Expectations
I had just started the eighth grade at my new middle school in a new school district. I was excited to start Algebra I; however, my new counselor had different plans for me. She placed me in Pre-Algebra because my report card did not state that I had taken the prerequisite class to Algebra I….
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Get Caught In The “Web” Of Teacher Leadership
Imagine a spider spinning a web. It begins with individual fibers, then works to strengthen them, carefully finishing with their connection. Across the state of Tennessee there are many strands of teacher leadership being spun. Amazing initiatives and programs have been put in place to reinforce them. What does it look like when these pieces…
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Taking The Next Step In Our Improvement Journey – A Roadmap For Tennessee’s Success
Ten years ago, Tennessee received an “F” from the US Chamber of Commerce for truth in advertising about student achievement and college and career preparedness. Understanding the need for bold action, shortly after its founding in 2009, SCORE traveled across the state to hear directly from Tennesseans about how to make the state a…
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The Importance of Strong Literacy Instructional Materials
In districts across Tennessee, exciting things are happening in K-2 literacy: • In Lauderdale County, special education students in kindergarten are flourishing in conversations about fine art, discussing how human progress can change a landscape over time. • In Loudon County, second-graders are talking about the Trail of Tears in a unit about westward expansion,…
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Knowledge-Rich Texts Lay the Foundation for Early-Literacy Progress
When a first-grader in Trousdale County was recently asked to sit down on his behind, he replied with the correct anatomical term: “You mean on my gluteus maximus?” The adults nearby were amazed. A first grader? Using vocabulary like this? In Trousdale, Putnam, and Sullivan counties, parents, bus drivers, and community members keep asking: “What are…
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Letter from Jamie Woodson: Preparing Tennessee Students for the Opportunity Ahead
Dear Friends, Opportunity. That is the one word astronaut Butch Wilmore, a Tennessean who spent half a year on the International Space Station, wants Tennessee students to remember. “Education gives opportunity. And that’s the only thing that gives you opportunity to choose what field you want to go into,” Captain Wilmore told students during a…
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Woodson: Science Growth Outperforms Nation, Prepares Tennessee Students for Future
The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) has released this statement from Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Woodson about Tennessee fourth-grade and eighth-grade performance on the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment. Tennessee can take real pride in the state science grades on the Nation’s Report Card, which mark the…
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Seven Ways for Parents to Nudge Gen Z Students toward Workforce Readiness
A new academic year is upon us in our local school systems, and with it, it’s not uncommon for students routinely to ask parents and teachers, “Just why do I have to take this class?” or “How is this subject going to matter in my life?” The core question: “Does learning this stuff really matter?”…
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Formative Assessment Practices in the Classroom
A report on formative assessment practice in classrooms recently released by Education First focuses on three different urban districts—Austin Independent School District (AISD), Denver Public Schools (DPS), and Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS). Several important findings in the report have implications for Tennessee, particularly related to the 2015-16 State of Education in Tennessee recommendations to…
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Students Take Responsibility for Learning at Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School
When Reverend Jay Hartley visited his oldest son at college this past school year, he heard the kind of feedback just about any parent would want. At lunch with one of his son’s engineering professors, Rev. Hartley – parent of three past and present students of 2015 SCORE Prize finalist school Martin Luther King Jr….
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Exploring the Links between Health and Educational Outcomes
Earlier this month, the Office of Research and Education Accountability (OERA) released a set of infographics on physical education and physical activity in Tennessee public schools. State law currently requires 90 minutes of physical activity per week for students in seventh through twelfthgrade. For the 2013-14 school year, the latest year that data are available, 85…