and Speaker of the House of Representatives each
In January 2016, the Standards Recommendation
appointed three members. State leaders will appoint
Committee will make a formal recommendation
members of standards recommendation committees
to the State Board of Education for changes to
to review the science standards and social studies
the standards. The State Board of Education will
standards.
review feedback from the public and the Standards
97
Recommendation Committee and make final revisions
Two Standards Review and Development
to the standards based on this feedback in early
committees composed of content expert educators
2016. The revised English language arts and math
for ELA and math were charged with developing
standards will be fully implemented in the 2017-18
educational standards for review by the Standards
school year.
Recommendation Committee. The review and
development committees met through summer 2015
State Support for Standards Implementation.
to prepare Tennessee’s new standards for ELA and
In 2015, the Tennessee Department of Education
math, and drafts of those standards were made
continued to provide teachers and school leaders
available online by the State Board of Education in
with professional learning opportunities related
October. The standards review website enabled the
to Tennessee’s State Standards. In spring 2015,
public to comment and recommend maintaining,
the TDOE offered a Leadership Course for school
revising, or removing individual learning standards.
leaders and district instructional staff. This course
State Board of Education staff collected feedback
focused on Tennessee’s new assessments,
and response data for presentation to the Standards
writing best practices, instructional tools, and
Recommendation Committee at its November
resource supports.98 The Tennessee Department
meeting. Reviewers from the general public provided
of Education’s 2015 Summer Training for teachers
supportive feedback overall, encouraging the
offered two-day trainings in four content areas:
committee to maintain most standards as written by
early grades, math, English language arts, and social
the review and development teams.
studies.99 These trainings were offered in each CORE
Region and provided teachers with strategies and
Through fall 2015, the State Board of Education also
tools to help students meet the high expectations
hosted regional roundtables to provide additional
set by Tennessee’s State Standards.100
opportunities to incorporate feedback from
educators and parents on the draft ELA and math
Implementing Tennessee’s State Standards in the
standards. During those sessions, teachers and
Classroom. During SCORE’s 2015 Listening Tour, many
parents identified strengths of the draft standards,
teachers, principals, and district staff praised the
as well as areas for the Standards Recommendation
rigor and coherence of Tennessee’s State Standards.
Committee and State Board of Education to
For example, teachers expressed appreciation for
consider in their work to ensure the final standards
the way key concepts build on each other from one
would be both rigorous and developmentally
grade to the next. They also noted that the standards
appropriate for each grade level and both subject
challenge students to apply concepts to real-world
areas. Participants in the roundtables generally
situations.101
voiced support for keeping the standards as
33
drafted, and state board staff members presented
Despite the great progress educators have made in
their specific feedback for potential changes and
implementing Tennessee’s State Standards, important
improvements to the Standards Recommendation
challenges remain. While the current standards
Committee for consideration. The Standards
seek to cover fewer topics in greater depth, some
Recommendation Committee also received reviews
educators still feel that there are too many standards
of draft ELA and math standards from higher
and that it is not reasonable to expect teachers to
education faculty, the Southern Regional Education
cover them all. Others believe that some standards
Board, and SCORE. Recommendations from these
are so challenging that they are developmentally
reviews were presented to the committee for
inappropriate for the grade in which they are taught.
consideration.
Educators also expressed frustration with the gaps