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Communicating Common Core

When policymakers and state leaders talk about implementing the Common Core State Standards, you often hear about the instructional shifts that will need to occur in classrooms to ensure that the standards have their intended impact: preparing all students for college and the workforce. The Common Core standards are drastically different from what we currently…

SCORE Releases Report Following Teacher Evaluation Feedback Process

Includes Successes, Concerns, and Recommendations Following the First Year of Implementation (Nashville) – The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) today released a report, Supporting Effective Instruction in Tennessee, regarding Tennessee’s teacher evaluation system. The report follows a five-month listening and feedback process SCORE led on the evaluation system to identify what is working well,…

Public-Private Partnerships Key to Improving Education

More than 3 million jobs are open in America today at a time of persistent unemployment because applicants lack necessary skill sets. Last Thursday, a panel of leaders convened at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC to discuss the role of partnerships between private enterprise and public sector institutions in support of educational…

Recap Video: ‘A Common Cause: Better Preparing Tennessee’s Students through the Common Core’

Implementing the Common Core State Standards: Four Lessons from Kentucky

I’ve learned a lot over the last 18 months about what it takes to implement the Common Core State Standards in a state. Press around Common Core generally highlights the aspirational components of the standards. The fact that these standards, in comparison to the standards that many states had in place before, will make our…

Better Standards + Better Assessment = Better Data

The Common Core has the power to enrich data-driven decisionmaking at all levels Implementation of the Common Core State Standards has begun, and new aligned assessments are on the horizon. Nation-wide state departments of education, teachers, principals, superintendents, have been working to ensure that educators are ready to teach based on the new standards. Meanwhile,…

SCORE Institute Focuses State Leaders on Common Core Standards

On Tuesday, leaders from across Tennessee gathered in Nashville to engage in a broad-ranging discussion about better preparing Tennessee’s students through the Common Core State Standards. Governor Bill Haslam, Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman, and SCORE’s Founder and Chairman, Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, all led portions of the program. SCORE hosted…

Linking Common Assessments and College Readiness

Last week, students across Tennessee began taking their annual TCAP exams. In a few years, however, those tests will be replaced by computer-based assessments taken by students across a consortium of two dozen states: the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC. As students were taking their exams, higher education leaders…

Lipscomb, Ayers put focus on teachers

This Op-Ed co-authored by Candice McQueen and Jamie Woodson originally appeared in the 5/2/12 Tennessean. What will the end of the story be? We ask ourselves that question daily as we make progress toward Tennessee’s bold goals in public education. It is a question we must answer collectively as we visualize a day when all Tennessee children graduate from…

Focus on Instructional Materials a Must for Student Success

“The Common Core standards will only have a chance of raising student achievement if they are implemented with high-quality materials, but there is currently no basis to measure the quality of materials.” This sobering assessment by Matthew Chingos and Russ Whitehurst of the Brookings Institution opens a strong argument for greater focus on instructional materials…

How the U.S. can find and train more great teachers

This Op-Ed originally appeared in the 4/10/12 The Week. Consider Laura. When she entered the third grade, she couldn’t understand the stories all her friends enjoyed. She was even too embarrassed to read aloud. Why? She could only read at a first grade level. Laura’s hardly alone — but that’s small comfort. A recent study from the…

SCORE Releases 2011-12 State of Education in Tennessee Report

(Nashville) – The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) today released the 2011-12 State of Education in Tennessee report, the organization’s annual assessment of K-12 public education in Tennessee. SCORE Chairman and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist presented the report at West End Middle School during SCORE’s quarterly Steering Committee meeting of major education…

Educators Still Seek Answers to Decades-Old Questions

Questions posed by an Alabama school superintendent in a letter addressed to his successor in 50 years present many of the most vexing present questions in education policy. Superintendent Cranford Burns of Mobile wrote the letter to be inserted in a time capsule for release in 50 years. Superintendent Burns’ questions include: Should the school…

The Classroom Ever Expanding: A Call for Attitude, Ambition, and Amnesia

Last week I represented the state of Tennessee as the 2012 Teacher of the Year at the 2012 National Teacher of the Year Program Conference in Dallas, Texas. The National Teacher of the Year Program, sponsored by ING and Target, is a project of the Council of Chief State School Officers in partnership with the…

LEADing the Way

It has been a year of great change in Tennessee schools. Revised tenure rules, collaborative conferencing, the beginnings of the transition to Common Core standards have all been new dynamics in public education in the Volunteer State. Obviously one of the biggest and most important changes has been the movement to the new teacher performance…

Education on the Hill: 2012 Legislative Priorities

This week the legislature will convene to start the second session of the 107th Tennessee General Assembly. Last year, we made great strides toward raising the standards in education and we need to continue looking forward. I applaud the Governor for listening to the feedback from teachers, superintendents, and other school officials by selecting SCORE…

Half-Empty or Half-Full?

Is the glass half-empty or half-full? My response to that simple question can be quite revealing. It’s a common question used to determine a person’s view or perspective about a particular circumstance. Am I a pessimist, realist, optimist, or opportunist? Regardless of my philosophical viewpoint, it is imperative to embrace two undeniable implications related to…

Final Reflections as a School System Director

December 2011 is my last month as a Director of Schools. I have been in this role for 5 years and have had some of the proudest moments of my life as leader for the Putnam County School System. I have watched our system be recognized for instituting an on-line school; a strategic pay plan…

ESEA Webinar with TN Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman (Nov. 9)

State Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman to join town hall call and webinar to preview and discuss the ESEA waiver request WHAT: Tennessee has the opportunity to submit a waiver in implementing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act – commonly known as No Child Left Behind. Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman will present a…

Clear Communication is Key

I recently attended a meeting on improving science education. Those in attendance included experts in the field of science curriculum, engineers, educators, and representatives from the Tennessee Department of Education. About midway through the discussion, I was discretely asked if I understood what was being discussed. Terms and acronyms like Common Core, ELA, NAEP, STEM,…