Setting Priorities from the Ground Up: SCORE’s Summer 2014 Focus Groups
Every year, SCORE releases a comprehensive report on the state of education in Tennessee that reviews progress and sets priorities for approaching challenges in the coming year. For example, this...
View ArticleVoices of Teachers: Our Students Need a New Assessment
Dear Friends, Who was the biggest contributor to your success when you were in school? For me, three talented teachers come to mind: Mrs. Seiler, who taught me to love reading, Mrs. Funderberk who...
View ArticleSCORE Focus Groups: An Educator’s Perspective
As a science teacher, I know firsthand the challenges teachers face every day. I’ve experienced the terror of a reckless classroom, the fatigue of planning lessons and grading papers long into the...
View ArticleRecapping the 2014 SCORE Prize
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...
View ArticleKIPP Academy Emphasizes that Middle Schoolers Will Go to AND Through College
Sewanee. Vanderbilt. Georgetown. The homeroom names at KIPP Academy Nashville, a SCORE Prize finalist school, have a familiar ring to them. Howard. Belmont. Georgia Tech. The names were carefully...
View ArticleAt Highland Park, Students Own Their Achievement Data
There’s a scoreboard in every fourth-grade classroom at 2014 SCORE Prize finalist Highland Park Elementary in Lenoir City. Sure, the displays could also be called data boards. But Principal David...
View ArticleMy First Year Teaching
I made it! I completed my first year of teaching. It was an eye opening experience that has helped mold my views in education in a variety of areas. I am a special education teacher at a North...
View ArticleWCS Supports Schools in Well-Rounded Approach to Achieving Excellence
Ever tried to change a tire without stopping the car? For Eric Lifsey, a principal in Williamson County Schools (WCS), that’s what it can feel like to implement even the most helpful of new practices....
View ArticleMy Trek to Tennessee Provides a Chance to Learn from Education Success
My Route to Tennessee “What brings you to Tennessee?” That’s the question I’ve been getting lately, as my Chicago accent gives away that I’m not a Nashville native by any stretch of the imagination....
View ArticleStudents and Teachers Alike Are Well-supported at Freedom Prep
Outstanding outcomes for students are delivered by 2014 SCORE Prize middle school finalist Freedom Preparatory Academy, a public charter school in Memphis. But the innovative supports in place at...
View ArticleStudents Rise to the Challenge: Finalist Announcement
This year’s Students Rise to the Challenge (SRTTC) scholarship competition brought SCORE many, many impressive essays, videos, and photos stories from public school students across the state of...
View ArticleNeed Some Education Inspiration? Come to SCORE Prize
On September 8, SCORE announced the 12 finalists for the fifth annual SCORE Prize. Four weeks, 12 schools, 10 districts, 1,800 miles, one speeding ticket, and five pounds later, I returned to Nashville...
View ArticleSCORE Releases State of Education in Tennessee Report
The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) today released the 2015-16 State of Education in Tennessee report and a list of five priorities that Tennessee should pursue in 2016 to sustain...
View ArticleLetter from Jamie Woodson: Renewing Our Shared Vision Focused on Students
Dear Friends, For the release of the 2015-16 State of Education in Tennessee report, Senator Bill Frist, the founder and chairman of SCORE, led a panel discussion with some of the policy leaders who...
View ArticleBalancing Act – Teacher, Mother, Advocate
“How do you find the time to do it all?” I frequently hear this question from several colleagues, co-workers, and friends who wonder about the balancing act of being a teacher, mother, and advocate for...
View ArticleJohnson City Schools Supports Academics by Supporting Student Mental Health...
Sometimes, grant-funded school programming effectively has an expiration date. When temporary funds end, so do the services they paid for. Sometimes. But not always. Eight years ago, SCORE Prize...
View ArticleEasy as A-B-C? Improving Tennessee’s Early Literacy Performance
“By any measure, too many children in Tennessee struggle to read,” is the opening sentence of the report, Setting the Foundation. Tennessee stands out as a state that has been making dramatic gains in...
View ArticleThe Greene Technology Center: “Not Your Grandparents’ Vocational School”
At the Greene Technology Center in Greeneville, students have over a dozen different career and technical education (CTE) programs to choose from. Among the broad range of options are automotive...
View ArticleThe Academies of Nashville Help Keep Students Learning and Graduating
In 2005, the graduation rate in Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) was just 62 percent. This unacceptably low level of performance led MNPS leaders to search the nation for school redesign models...
View ArticleFocusing on Racial and Ethnic Diversity among Nashville’s Teachers
Although a substantial body of research has indicated students of color tend to benefit educationally when they have the opportunity to receive instruction from and form relationships with teachers...
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