Teachers learn about mental health to help their students
Deedra Finch watched several years ago as a close family friend battled mental health issues — depression, bipolar disorder and addiction. “That’s when I started to think about what mental health looked like among my students,” said Finch, a Metro Nashville Public Schools educator with 19 years of experience. School districts and educators are on the front line of meeting...Read MoreExtra duties limited school counselors’ face time with students. A new rule is changing that.
Middle school counselor Denise Owens previously closed her door to students during one of the most stressful periods of the academic year — exam days — when anxious students often need to talk to a trusted adult. Counselors across Tennessee, including Owens, are tapped to help coordinate statewide testing at schools and are unavailable to meet with children for weeks at a time. It is one of...Read MoreMetro Schools Lays Blueprint for Driving Literacy Achievement
National literacy data indicates that 37 percent of fourth-grade students and 36 percent of eighth-grade students are not scoring at- or above-proficiency (source: 2017 NAEP). In Nashville, two out of three third graders aren’t reading on grade level by 3rd grade – an indicator which can pre-determine a student’s future successes many years into the future. These sobering statistics are the...Read MoreIt’s been six years since Tennessee took over its first low-performing schools. How are they doing?
Six years after the state took over six of Tennessee’s lowest-performing schools, all of those schools continue to struggle, new state test results show. The state’s ambitious goal with the Achievement School District was to transform the schools that tested in the bottom 5 percent into top-performers within five years. Though the district’s founder later acknowledged the goal was too lofty,...Read MoreTennessee teachers lag in diversity as more minority students enter schools
While Tennessee’s population of students continues to grow more racially diverse, the state’s workforce of teachers is nowhere close to reflecting the same degree of diversity. A report released by the Tennessee Department of Education quantifies the gap: while 37 percent of the state’s students are students of color, 13 percent of teachers are teachers of color. In some...Read MoreTNReady score released: Search to see how your school did on Tennessee’s statewide test
The Tennessee Department of Education released on Thursday the school-level TNReady scores. Search the statewide database at the Tennessean to see results for individual schools. TNReady problems in 2018 The superintendents of the state’s two largest school districts declared in a Friday letter “no confidence” in TNReady after numerous years of problems. Shelby County Schools...Read MoreMetro Nashville Public schools open school year with about 60 vacancies
Nashville public schools has about 60 vacancies at the start of the school year that started on Tuesday, with the district covering those positions with substitutes. Most of the teaching roles needed by the district are in hard to fill such as English Language learner, special education, math, and science teachers, said district spokeswoman Dawn Rutledge. The district is continuing its search...Read MoreTennessee Announces 2018-19 Principal District Supervisor of the Year Finalists
Education Commissioner Candice McQueen announced the nine finalists for the 2018-19 Tennessee Principal of the Year and Supervisor of the Year awards today. The finalists represent each Center of Regional Excellence (CORE) region in the state, with three finalists in each Grand Division (West, Middle, and East). “We know that strong leadership plays a key role in the ultimate success of our...Read MoreNashville and Shelby County schools superintendents declare ‘no confidence’ in TNReady
The superintendents of the state’s two largest school districts declared in a Friday letter “no confidence” in TNReady after numerous years of problems. Shelby County Schools Director Dorsey Hopson and Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Shawn Joseph issued the letter to call for the state to halt the standardized assessment and convene a statewide educator working group...Read More"Good, bad, or ugly- the numbers matter. We urge every Nashvillian to learn about their local school board district, get to know the candidates for elected office, and be equipped and empowered to engage with key decision makers- including our Metro Nashville Board of Education."
Tara Scarlett, President and CEO of The Scarlett Foundation