October 22, 2009
Dear Fellow Tennesseans,
We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve our schools. As I travel across Tennessee, I sense an urgency among
parents, students, and educators about the state of our schools. Everyone realizes far too many of our students are not being
adequately prepared for the future, and we are all committed to doing whatever we can to address this problem. But what
do we need to do?
Over the past nine months, the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) has held eight statewide
meetings in Nashville with education reform leaders from around the country and over 60 town hall meetings across the
state with educators, parents, students, policy experts, and state and local officials. In these meetings, we have heard about
the challenges facing our schools and some of the solutions being used to address these challenges. We have also conducted
hundreds of one-on-one interviews and performed exhaustive research. Our research now culminates in this report—a
plan to make Tennessee schools #1 in the Southeast within five years.
The specific recommendations contained in this report represent a consensus of education, political, business, and
community leaders across the state. These recommendations are based on the notion that no one person or idea can solve
the problems we face. Instead, these recommendations emphasize that a collaborative effort is required for real, lasting
change to occur. As you will see, our report lays out a clear vision for what must happen over the next five years, the specific
actions each stakeholder must take to make this vision a reality, and a detailed and realistic timeline by which these actions
can occur.
Starting today, SCORE will begin working diligently with our partners to implement this plan. For this to happen,
we need your help. On pages 20 through 29, we outline the specific ways each stakeholder can help our plan become a
reality. If you are a state or local elected official, we need your assistance ensuring the right policy environment exists for
our schools to succeed. If you are a business or community leader, we need your resources, time, and energy. If you are a
superintendent or principal, we need your leadership. And if you are a teacher or parent, we need your continued hard work
to ensure our children understand the importance of education and have every possible opportunity to succeed.
I hope each of you will turn to the section of this report most applicable to you and consider what you can do to improve
our schools. Working together, we can make Tennessee schools #1 in the Southeast, and, in doing so, ensure that all
Tennessee children receive the opportunity they deserve.
With warmest regards,
William H. Frist, M.D.