Marta W. Aldrich reports for Chalkbeat that Tennessee’s “plan to start grading its schools this year has taken a big detour,” thanks partially to recent online testing issues that “forced officials to toss out a new A-F grading system.” The state will now “rate each...
According to Chalkbeat, in Tennessee, state education officials “are in daily talks with their federal education officials” over whether legislation meant to quell the public outcry regarding recent issues with the state’s assessments has put the state “out of compliance” with ESSA.
Alyson Klein also reports for Education Week that state lawmakers’ recent decision to give districts permission to “essentially toss this year’s assessment scores” because of major technical glitches could provide an “early gauge” of how flexible U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos intends to be...
Meghan Mangrum reports in the Chattanooga Times Free Press that as districts in Tennessee and across the Southeast “seek to improve student achievement and states roll out plans” to comply with ESSA, “many of them have quietly—and not so quietly—moved toward enhancing career and technical...
In Tennessee, 10 percent of a school’s grade under the state’s new ESSA accountability system “will be based on the percentage of students who are chronically absent.” This figure “is based on the number of students who miss at least 18 days—10 percent of the...
Approved State Plans Alabama: Final Plan Approved (5/7/18) Alaska: Final Plan Approved (5/16/18) Arizona: Final Plan Approved (9/6/17) Arkansas: Final Plan Approved (1/16/18) Colorado: Final Plan Approved (5/7/18) Connecticut: Final Plan Approved (8/15/17) Delaware: Final Plan Approved (8/2/17) District of Columbia: Final Plan Approved (8/28/17) Georgia:...
The Dept. of Education approved four state ESSA plans – the District of Columbia, Illinois, Oregon, and Tennessee. “As more and more state plans come under the department’s review, I am heartened to see how states have embraced the spirit of flexibility under ESSA to...
Doug Mesecar, an adjunct scholar at the Lexington Institute, authored an opinion piece on ways Tennessee is utilizing personalized learning in the state’s ESSA plan. He highlights Tennessee’s use of blended learning for Algebra I, predictive analytics, teacher micro-credentialing, and competency-based education.
In conjunction with State Representative David Hawk (R-Greenville), the Tennessee Dept. of Education filed legislation to “make the necessary changes to state law” in order to comply with the state’s ESSA plan. According to Education Commissioner Candice McQueen, “this legislation is designed to take advantage...
The Tennessee Education and Equity Coalition sent a letter to Education Commissioner Candice McQueen citing “assets and shortcomings” of the state’s proposed ESSA plan. The organization “applauded the state’s attention to historically underserved groups like racial minorities,” but raised concerns that some students may “fall...
