guidelines for student EPSOs and included provisions for reviewing existing dual-credit opportunities ; the law also outlined a plan for EPSOs to be available to students statewide .
• 2012 : Tennessee joined the Pathways to Prosperity network . The mission of Pathways Tennessee is to provide Tennessee students rigorous academic / career pathways , which are linked to economic and labor market needs and trends .
• 2013-14 : Tennessee transitioned from seven program areas to the nationally recognized sixteen career clusters .
• 2013-14 : The state reorganized programs of study and overhauled the courses to increase rigor and student expectations .
• 2013-14 : The state established a framework and standards for WBL . Training and coordinators are utilized to bring WBL to more students .
• 2014 : The CTE Report Card published on TDOE ’ s website for first time detailed courses taken and students with a CTE concentrator status ( three or more courses in a program of study ).
• 2015-16 : The Advanced Placement Rural Expansion Pilot was instituted .
• 2016 : The Career Forward Task Force was formed to define a ready student and craft recommendations to strengthen the connection between K-12 , postsecondary education , and the workforce .
• 2016 : TDOE enters a memorandum of understanding with Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology ( TCATs ) to award postsecondary credits for industry certifications .
• While charter schools have greater autonomy than traditional public schools , charter schools are held to the same accountability measures as other public schools , and their test scores and performance results are included in accountability measures for their authorizing agency .
• Charter schools that are identified on the state ’ s priority list , representing the bottom 5 percent of schools , must be closed by the chartering authority .
• In 2011 , Governor Haslam signed HB1989 / SB 1523 , lifting the cap on the number of charter schools allowed in the state and opening enrollment to all students within the LEA in which the charter school is located . As a result of this bill , charter schools authorized by an LEA or the SBE are no longer required to limit enrollment to students zoned to failing traditional public schools , to those who have failed to score proficient or advanced on TCAP , or to students who are eligible to receive federal free or reduced lunch . 48 However , LEAs must give preference to charter applications that demonstrate the ability to serve those groups of students .
• In 2013 , SB 830 / HB 702 passed , giving the SBE the authority to authorize public charter schools that are denied approval by local school boards . Schools authorized by the SBE on appeal may be managed by the LEA or by the State Board . If managed by the State Board , the school will still receive the same BEP funding as they would if authorized by the LEA . 49
• In 2015 , the SBE approved its first two charter schools that will open in the 2017-18 school year .
• During the 2015-16 school year , there were 98 total charter schools serving more than 29,000 students .
Charter Schools , Achievement School District , and iZones
Charter Schools
• Charter schools are public schools operated by independent , non-profit governing bodies that receive state and local BEP funding in the same manner as other public schools . In Tennessee , charter schools may be authorized by local school boards , the ASD , or the SBE .
• These schools have greater autonomy than traditional public schools in that they are able to make personnel , financial , and instructional decisions at the school level rather than the district level .
Achievement School District
• The Achievement School District ( ASD ) was created to dramatically improve the bottom 5 percent of schools in Tennessee .
• The ASD was developed as part of the state ’ s First to the Top legislation ( Public Chapter 2 ) in 2010 . 50
• The Commissioner of Education is authorized by state law to remove persistently low-performing schools from home districts and temporarily place them in the ASD , which can manage them directly or authorize charter schools to serve ASD students .
• Once selected , a school remains in the ASD for at least five years . Schools could return to their local education agency , conditional on performance of both the school and home district .
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