Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) Commissioner Penny Schwinn met First Lady Jill Biden and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to the University of Tennessee (UT) on Monday as the pair kicked off the Road to Success Back to School Bus Tour.
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Statewide assessment results for 2021 show declines in the number of students meeting or exceeding grade-level standards compared to 2019 after a year of virtual learning and disruptions from COVID-19.
In math, 44% of students in grades three to eight and 11 who took the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA) or Minnesota Test of Academic Skills (MTAS) met or exceeded grade-level standards, down from 55% in 2019. Student reading proficiency dropped seven percentage points to 53% from 2019, while science proficiency dropped eight percentage points to 43%.
ACCESS for ELLs (English language learners) measures students’ English language proficiency. Of the students who took the ACCESS for ELLs in 2021, 9% were proficient in English, a three percentage point decrease from 2019.
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Critical race theory (CRT) should be banned from Tennessee’s schools, according to an amended bill pending a final hearing in the Senate. Although the words “critical race theory” don’t appear in the amendment, it does address CRT tenets at length.
The bill now prohibits schools from using curriculum or any supplemental materials that promote conclusions of hierarchies or prejudices based on race or sex, or depict the United States as “fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist” and therefore worthy of overthrow. If any school violates these provisions, the Education Commissioner may withhold any amount of state funding from that school. These provisions appear at the tail end of the 14-page bill.
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Rumors out of the Bill Lee Transition Office are circulating that his list of possible Education Commissioners is being narrowed as they are apparently wrapping up interviews this week. In the next week the Lee team plans to wrap up their selection of Commissioners. Some of the names that continue to be mentioned as potential contenders for Education Commissioner include: – Former House Speaker Beth Harwell – Athens City Schools Superintendent Melanie Miller – Maryville City Schools Director Mike Winstead – Interim Ed. Commissioner Lyle Ailshie – Former Achievement School District Supt. Malika Anderson – Former Asst. Ed. Commissioner Kathleen Airhart – Louisiana Commissioner of Education John White – Professional Educators of Tennessee Exec. Dir. JC Bowman – Former State Rep. Eddie Smith (Knoxville) Former Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman, who actively promoted Common Core, oversaw and essentially created Tennessee’s testing nightmares, and who admittedly voted for Barack Obama before being tabbed by Governor Haslam for the top Education job in Tennessee, is reportedly NOT on the short list. However, the large number of Bill Lee insiders who previously worked for Huffman’s ex-wife Michelle Rhee at StudentsFirst, may be a red flag that anything is possible. …
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