Tag: Tennessee State Board of Education

Proposed Tennessee Board of Education Rules to Limit Public Comment Faces Public Opposition from Sen. Brent Taylor

Tom Pappert
Brent Taylor

New rules proposed by the Tennessee State Board of Education to the General Assembly last Thursday met strong public opposition from Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis), who on Tuesday vowed to vote against a change that would limit public comment to 10 individuals per topic and require parents to provide 48-hours notice of their intention to speak.

The rules were proposed during a Thursday meeting of the joint Government Operations Committee in the General Assembly. Among other new restrictions, they would limit comment to 10 members of the public per issue and require parents to fill out a form 48 hours in advance in order to speak.

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Tennessee Department of Education Presents Updates on School A-F Grades to State Board of Education Ahead of November Rollout

TC Weber

The Tennessee State Department of Education(TDOE) updated the State Board of Education(SBE) last week on progress toward implementing the state’s A-F school grading system.

Lawmakers passed legislation in 2016 requiring the TDOE to release school letter grades annually. Grades were intended to be implemented during the 2017/18 school year, but state testing issues and COVID-19 prevented the release of those scores until this year. In anticipation of releasing individual school grades, the Department of Education is revising the grading formula to give parents greater clarity. 

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Tennessee State Board of Education Defines Summer School Requirements for Third-Graders Facing Retention

TC Weber

As Tennessee school districts wait to receive scores from spring’s Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP), the State Board of Education (SBE) passed rules guiding the implications of those results.

The rules, crafted by the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE), and passed by the SBE on Friday, will determine how many Tennessee’s third-graders will spend their summer months.

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Tennessee State Board of Education Releases State Charter School Authorizer Evaluations

TC Weber

At last week’s quarterly meeting, the State Board of Education (SBE) released its latest evaluation of Tennessee’s charter school authorizers. The State Board evaluates Tennessee’s six charter school authorizers at least every two years. In 2021 evaluations were delivered for Hamilton County Schools, Knox County Schools, and Shelby County Schools. That left the Achievement School District, Metro Nashville Public Schools, and the TN Public Charter School Commission for this year.

In 2019, Tennessee became the 4th state in the U.S. to implement authorizer evaluations when the State General Assembly passed legislation charging the SBE with conducting periodic evaluations of authorizers to determine authorizer compliance and evaluate quality. To bring this charge to fruition, the State Board partnered with SchoolWorks, an education consulting group with experience in authorizer evaluations.

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Tennessee State Board of Education Considers Rule Change That Would Result in Change to Value of Education Savings Accounts

TC Weber

On January 30th the Tennessee State Board of Education will hold a rulemaking hearing on BEP to TISA transition rules. Included is a provision that could serve to increase the value of state Education Saving Accounts (ESA), potentially even doubling that value. This could ultimately lead to increased investment by state lawmakers. 

Item number 7 under proposed rule 0520-01-16 governing ESAs reads as follows:

“The maximum annual amount to which a participating student is entitled under the Program shall be equal to the amount representing the per-pupil state and local funds generated and required through the state’s K-12 education funding formula Basic Education Program (“BEP”) for the LEA in which the participating student resides, or the statewide per pupil average of required state and local funds as determined through the state’s K-12 education funding formulaBEP funds, whichever amount is less.”

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Tennessee State Board of Education Approves List of Math Materials Eligible for Adoption by Local Districts

TC Weber

At its regularly scheduled meeting Friday, the Tennessee State Board of Education approved a list of eligible materials for K-12 instruction of mathematics by local districts. The list is compiled by the Tennessee Textbook Commission and presented to the state board by the Tennessee Department of Education (TNDOE).

The submission and subsequent approval are part of a legally mandated review process conducted by the state. Every six years, one core subject is slated for review, and districts must select materials they intend to purchase and implement to educate students in that core subject for the next six years. English language arts went through the process in 2019, and social studies in 2020. Math was slated for review in 2021 but was delayed for two years, so as not to conflict with a state review of math standards.

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Tennessee Board of Education Solicits Parent Feedback on School Social Studies Programs

Peter D'Abrosca

The Tennessee State Board of Education is asking parents for feedback about the state’s social studies programs, and will update those programs accordingly.

“The Tennessee Academic Standards are the grade- or course-level expectations for what students should know and be able to do,” according to the board’s website. “The State Board of Education (SBE) is charge in law with conducting a review of math, science, English language arts, and social studies standards on a rotating, six-year cycle.”

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Tennessee Department of Education Faced Lawsuit over Textbook Bias Allegedly Perpetrated by Commissioner Penny Schwinn

Corinne Murdock

A lawsuit alleged that Commissioner Penny Schwinn favored certain textbook vendors without merit at the expense of more qualified vendors. Textbook and educational materials publishing company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) filed the suit against the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) in November of 2019. Consequently, HMH noted that the sale of all other grade levels of reading materials offered by HMH were jeopardized, since they are designed to be implemented together from K-12 curriculum.

The Tennessee State Board of Education acted on the recommendation of an advisory panel appointed by the Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission to not adopt HMH’s third grade reading material. HMH claimed that the advisory panel’s process was disrupted after Schwinn appointed Dr. Lisa Coons as TDOE Assistant Commissioner for Standards and Materials. Thereafter, HMH claimed that the panel re-reviewed and failed HMH’s material, while TDOE adopted programs offered by competitors that also received failing grades.

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Fielding Rolston Commentary: Legislators: Protecting Our Students and Teachers

Admin

By Fielding Rolston   When students step into their classrooms, they are there to learn and prepare for their future. Our teachers serve to advance each student’s education and guide them towards success. Educators have an additional responsibility: maintaining the trust and respect of their students and their communities by conducting themselves professionally and responsibly. The vast majority of our teachers are upstanding professionals, but when a teacher violates this trust, their professional license in Tennessee may be suspended or revoked. Though a small agency in the state government, the State Board of Education develops the rules and policies for K-12 education in Tennessee, and serves a crucial role through the thorough examination of licensure discipline cases. By holding our state’s educators to the highest standards, we can ensure the safety of our children and preserve the professional integrity of the teaching profession. For the last twenty-two years, I have served on Tennessee’s State Board of Education and for twelve of those years, I was the Board’s chairman. During this time, I have seen hundreds of educator licensure discipline cases, and most were not severe. However, we have seen teachers abuse their roles, exhibiting inappropriate and sometimes criminal behavior towards…

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