Before joining SCORE, I taught fourth grade at an elementary school in Nashville. As a fourth-grade teacher, I used data from classroom assessments, district benchmark assessments, and state Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) assessments to better understand my students’ progress toward mastery of our fourth-grade standards. My classroom assessments asked students to explain their thinking…
What is your level of effort? What is the best that you can give? These are questions asked of students daily at SCORE Prize winner Dresden Elementary, according to fourth-grade teacher Honey Cantrell. Students are encouraged to give “their absolute.” And in classrooms driven by creative, engaging, and differentiated instruction, teachers know that students’ best…
Dear Friends, To improve academic achievement for students, Tennessee took an important step by raising expectations in the classroom. To be sure that students are learning more, Tennessee is entering a new era of measuring student learning. This spring, students across the state are taking Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) exams in math and English…
Luis Gerardo Carmona moved from Mexico City to Manchester, Tenn., two years ago, with his wife and two young sons. To call it a big transition would be an understatement. Relocating from a city of 25 million people to a town of 10,000 was change enough, to say nothing of taking on a new language…
People often ask me what my favorite part of SCORE Prize is. Hands down it is the opportunity to make 12 site visits to the finalist schools and districts to observe, interview, and learn from teachers and school/district leaders, who are getting great results for Tennessee students. I walk away from these visits renewed and…