State of Education in Tennessee Executive Summary – 2011-12 | Page 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY March 20, 2012 Dear Fellow Tennesseans, In 2011, Tennessee proved that it could rise to the challenge of education reform. Over the last three years, our state has made a series of policy changes to ensure that more of our students graduate from high school with the skills they need to be successful in life. After attracting millions of dollars in federal and philanthropic funds to support innovative K    2 –1 education reforms and passing the most significant education legislation since 1992, educators have begun taking the steps to implement these policies in the classroom. Now, we must ensure these policy changes have positive impacts for our students. Since the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) was founded, we have been committed not only to advocating for reforms that will lay the foundation to dramatically improve our schools but also to ensuring reforms are implemented with fidelity. In 2009, SCORE issued its Roadmap to Success report which outlined a plan to ensure that every student in Tennessee graduates high school prepared for college and career. Since then, the majority of those policy recommendations, including aligning our standards with college readiness standards and designing a new teacher and principal evaluation system that is based on multiple measures, including student achievement, have been adopted. But we are just at the beginning of this important work. In order for the early signs of success to be sustained and accelerated, it is crucial that we remain committed to achieving our state’s education reform goals. We must not lose a sense of urgency to improve. Our actions over the next few years will have significant implications in the lives of the next generation of Tennesseans. We hope that you read through this annual update and are both inspired by the tremendous progress that has been made, and motivated to continue in this important work. As the link between producing an educated workforce and creating jobs remains of critical importance, it is imperative that we focus on the important work of implementation — of turning policy successes into real student achievement gains. Our state and our children depend on it. With warmest regards, 3 THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN TENNESSEE 2011–12 THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN TENNESSEE 2011–12 4