In my work as a mentor with mostly low-income, first-generation, aspiring college students the phrase, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” has taken on a new meaning. Today in Nashville, there are many entities in place to…
Two weeks ago I stood in the gymnasium of Innovation Academy of Northeast Tennessee to participate in the ribbon cutting of the region’s new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) middle school. An overflowing crowd of excited students, parents, business leaders, and elected officials lined the gymnasium and wound through the hallways to hear how…
There is a great deal of anxiety across the state as school districts begin implementing the Common Core State Standards. In Loudon County, we feel clear, concise communication will be the center of a successful implementation. This communication needs to include all stakeholders–administrators, teachers, students, and their families and communities. But how do we get…
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…
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…