Serving the Historically Underserved:
A Moral and Economic Imperative
Nearly 60 percent of students in Tennessee’s public schools are economically disadvantaged,
and 35 percent are students of color.
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Tennessee cannot reach its educational goals or meet
its workforce needs as long as these students remain underserved by the state’s public schools
and dramatic gaps in achievement and college readiness persist. These discrepancies demand
urgent action. Any delay will result in more students slipping through the cracks of the
education system, cut off from the opportunities and support they need for a successful future,
and inhibit Tennessee’s progress.
Tennessee Department of Education should
continue to provide districts with sample
assessment schedules and other guidance
on best practices in the implementation
of technology-based assessments. The
department’s Scheduling and Logistics Task
Force can support districts by sharing sample
schedules, providing guidance on logistics,
analyzing current issues and providing ongoing
feedback. After the first year of implementation
of TNReady, the Tennessee Department
of Education should ensure results from
technology-based assessments are valid and
reliable measures of student learning.
• Improving Transparency with the TNReady
Assessment. The Tennessee Department
of Education should commit to improved
transparency with the TNReady assessment
by providing educators and parents with
a larger sample of test items after test
administration. To improve the usefulness of
data from TNReady, the department should
prepare to release additional test items after
TNReady is administered in 2016-17. These
additional test items will allow educators to
better use results from TNReady to improve
their instruction and will allow students and
families to better identify opportunities for
growth in the coming year.
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should provide educators with professional learning
opportunities that will help them prepare students
for success on the TNReady assessment. CORE
offices and local school districts should provide
professional learning opportunities for teachers and
school leaders that provide them with resources to
develop high-quality assessments for their schools
and classrooms. After the first year of implementation
of TNReady, the Tennessee Department of Education
should continue to provide professional learning
opportunities to educators on the new assessment.
These professional learning opportunities should
focus on how to prepare students for success on
the new assessment and how to use data from
the assessment to drive shifts in instruction. As
Tennessee transitions to a new assessment system,
educators must have common definitions of different
types of assessment and have the support they
need to develop high-quality assessments for
implementation in their classrooms. During SCORE’s
2015 Listening Tour, educators emphasized that they
use data from classroom assessments and local
interim assessments to make in-time decisions about
their instruction. For this reason, it is important to
ensure they have the support they need to develop
high-quality assessments that provide accurate
feedback on student learning.
Implement High-Quality Interim Assessments. CORE
Offices should provide districts with resources and
Provide Educator Support. The Tennessee
guidance to ensure they select and implement interim
Department of Education and local school districts
assessments that are high-quality and aligned to