Latest Impact Report
Our 2023 Impact
2023 represented another year of great progress for Tennessee students. K-12 students overwhelmingly surpassed pre-pandemic achievement, and college-going and college attainment continued to rise. Practitioners across the state implemented data-driven strategies like high-dosage tutoring and persistence coaching to keep students on a path to success. While SCORE and our coalition of partners celebrated these achievements, 2023 also served as a moment to reflect on persistent gaps in student outcomes and the important work ahead to support all Tennessee students.
Impact Timeline
Improving Student Outcomes Over the Years
2023
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE sharpens its focus on the pathway from kindergarten to postsecondary to career with three goals centered on driving success for Tennessee students:
All students receive an excellent public K-12 education.
All students earn a credential or postsecondary degree of value that prepares them for a career enabling economic independence.
Economically disadvantaged students, students of color, and rural students see improved success across all goals relative to their peers.
BY THE NUMBERS
Tennessee is lauded nationally as a leader in pandemic recovery by the Education Recovery Scorecard. Tennessee students exceed prepandemic ELA proficiency levels and are just shy of 2019 math proficiency levels.
BY THE NUMBERS
Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) conducted a five-year national study on public charter schools and found Tennessee public charter school students experience more average growth in math and English language arts than their peers in noncharter schools. This growth equals an additional month and a half of learning for Tennessee public charter school students.
SCORE REPORT
Learn more about SCORE’s Impact in 2023 by reading our Impact Report.
2022
STATE EDUCATION MILESTONE
Tennessee passes the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act (TISA), which is a nation-leading student-centered funding formula for K-12 that includes an additional $1B investment and incorporates additional weights for students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students, and charter school students.
STATE EDUCATION MILESTONE
Governor Bill Lee announces that Tennessee will infuse $500 million into Innovative School Models, allowing every public high school and middle school to apply for grant funds to support their innovative efforts to prepare students for postsecondary education and the workforce.
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE launches TISA implementation networks that support districts and public charter schools that impact over one-fifth of Tennessee’s K-12 public school population.
2021
STATE EDUCATION MILESTONE
Tennessee passes the Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act, requiring school districts to offer summer learning programs and creating a statewide high-dosage tutoring network as two key learning acceleration strategies.
STATE EDUCATION MILESTONE
Tennessee passes the Literacy Success Act, codifying many lessons learned from SCORE’s LIFT network on the impact of high-quality instructional materials on student learning.
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE launches the Recovery and Reinvention Resources (RRR) Network to support district leaders to develop stimulus spending plans that both meet immediate student needs and further a long-term strategic vision.
SCORE REPORT
SCORE publishes Funding for Learning: An Analysis of K-12 Education Finance in Tennessee and Modernizing Education Funding To Serve Every Student. These two reports set the stage for a historic student-centered revision to Tennessee’s 30-year-old funding formula.
2020
STATE EDUCATION MILESTONE
The pandemic leads to school closures across the state and subsequent learning loss that impacts student achievement for years to come.
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE launches the COVID-19 Innovation Recovery Network to test and surface strategies for effective COVID-19 response in select school districts across the state. The network pilots strategies like high-dosage tutoring, summer and extended learning, and effective use of stimulus resources.
2019
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE expands its focus to include K-12, college, and career success by merging with Tennessee’s statewide college completion organization —Complete Tennessee.
BY THE NUMBERS
43%
of Tennessee Adults Hold Postsecondary Degrees or Credentials
Reaching the highest rate in 10 years, 43% of Tennessee adults hold postsecondary degrees or credentials.
BY THE NUMBERS
62%
College-Going Rate
Tennessee’s college-going rate remains around 62% after being buoyed by 2015’s Tennessee Promise scholarship.
SCORE REPORT
SCORE publishes What High School Could Be. This guide charts a path to reimagine Tennessee high schools so that more students are prepared for college and career by graduation.
2018
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE hosts an election-year nonpartisan forum on education policy with candidates for governor to ensure education is a top issue in the campaign.
BY THE NUMBERS
Tennessee earns national recognition for its high standards and for closing the honest gap in reporting student proficiency.
2017
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE begins convening the Leading Innovation for Tennessee Education network (LIFT), which supports districts to pilot high-quality instructional material. This strategic practice network impacts over 250,000 students.
BY THE NUMBERS
89.1%
HS Graduation Rate Record
Tennessee sets a record rate for high school graduation at 89.1%.
2016
BY THE NUMBERS
Top 25
in Science
Tennessee students reach the Top 25 and close the gender gap in science on the Nation’s Report Card.
SCORE REPORT
SCORE supports improved teacher preparation with a comprehensive research report, Prepared for Day One, and works with partners to increase teacher leadership statewide.
2015
BY THE NUMBERS
Top 25
in Fourth Grade Math
Tennessee students reach the Top 25 in fourth-grade math on the Nation’s Report Card.
SCORE REPORT
A key tool for improving student outcomes and empowering teachers through data, SCORE publishes two guides on assessment: Teaching Testing and Time: Educator Voices on Improving Assessment in Tennessee and Meaningful Measure of Student Learning: Improving Assessment in Tennessee.
2014
STATE EDUCATION MILESTONE
Tennessee Promise is signed into law, providing mentorship and last-dollar scholarships for new high school graduates to attend community colleges and Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCATs). This makes two years of college in Tennessee tuition-free.
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE launches the Tennessee Educator Fellowship to help educators become advocates for high standards and outcomes for their students and their profession.
2013
STATE EDUCATION MILESTONE
Tennessee begins offering teacher-led professional development that impacts 60,000 teachers statewide.
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE’s Expect More, Achieve More Coalition grows to more than 400 education, business, and community organizations supporting a statewide effort for high academic standards and expectations.
BY THE NUMBERS
Tennessee becomes the fastest-improving state for student achievement on the Nation’s Report Card.
2012
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE conducts a statewide listening tour with teachers and compiles a report of recommendations to strengthen teacher evaluation implementations.
2011
STATE EDUCATION MILESTONE
Tennessee implements multimeasure teacher evaluation and expands access to high-quality public charter schools. Teachers and students begin to use higher standards and more rigorous assessments statewide.
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE introduces the SCORE Prize, a data-driven effort to honor innovative schools and districts that excel in preparing all students for college and career.
2010
STATE EDUCATION MILESTONE
Tennessee’s First to the Top Act is signed into law, requiring college and career readiness standards, using student growth data to improve instruction, and establishing a strategy to help struggling students get on a path to success. The reforms help Tennessee win a federal Race to the Top grant, funding that allows states to move rapidly to implement bold strategies to improve student performance.
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE convenes all major gubernatorial candidates for a forum focused on education issues and helps secure support from each for the First to the Top Act.
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
SCORE launches a coalition of mission-aligned partner organizations across the state, called the Expect More, Achieve More Coalition, to support high standards and rigorous assessments.
2009
SCORE ACCOMPLISHMENT
Senator Bill Frist, M.D., founds SCORE to unify and coordinate education reform efforts throughout Tennessee and to launch a collective vision for improving K-12 student outcomes.
SCORE REPORT
SCORE publishes its first report — A Roadmap to Success: A Plan to Make Tennessee Schools #1 in the Southeast Within Five Years — which serves as a policy and implementation guide to rapidly improve outcomes for Tennessee students.
2007
STATE EDUCATION MILESTONE
U.S. Chamber of Commerce gives Tennessee failing marks for inflating the reporting of student achievement levels.
Explore the Work Behind the Impact
SCORE delves into new research on current education issues to provide a deeper understanding of policies and practices connected to improving student success.