NATIONAL EDUCATION NEWS

Tennessee earned an A for transparency in reporting COVID-19 learning loss data, according to a new CRPE report. The report highlighted Tennessee's commitment to providing accessible longitudinal student performance data.

Fortified by a stream of Democratic endorsements and high-dollar donations, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared every bit the presidential contender when she appeared before the national convention of the American Federation of Teachers last week.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has a history with an issue Tennessee Democrats have spent the last year opposing.

A new statewide survey from the Beacon Center of Tennessee found 50 percent of registered voters in Tennessee are dissatisfied with the way things are going in K-12 public education.  

While parents strongly support the use of statewide summative assessments to measure student progress, many believe that few K-12 leaders are clearly sharing how results are used to formulate academic intervention strategies.

A new survey study from the Walton Family Foundation and Gallup suggests that students are still in need of additional academic support to improve performance and address “learning loss” that came with COVID-19.

Tennessee school districts are finalizing their AI policies ahead of the 2024-25 school year as they navigate new legislation requiring guidelines on AI use in classrooms.

Tennessee ranks 14th out of 30 states included in a recent report from the Education Freedom Institute that measures the quality and accessibility of states’ public charter school systems.

As more states require schools to out transgender students to their families, a new study links involuntary disclosure of sexual orientation or gender identity to heightened rates of depression and anxiety.

Vanderbilt University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have announced a new partnership focusing on artificial intelligence research to develop technologies for national security, as U.S. universities continue to invest more in machine learning research and education programming.

Knox County Board of Education officials discussed banning books that depict sex at Monday’s school board work session.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing funding to eight Tennessee school districts to purchase more than 40 clean school buses to reduce their fleets’ emissions.According to a recent announcement from the EPA, the funding comes from the EPA’s 2023 Clean School Bus Program, which is part of President Biden’s “Investing in America” agenda. It said the program provides rebate funding to selectees to replace older diesel-fueled school buses, which are linked to asthma and other respiratory issues in surrounding communities.

The education and parent advocacy organization Nashville PROPEL has released a white paper detailing what local parents think about “Nashville’s hidden literary crisis,” as well as how that crisis affects students of color.According to a news release emailed to Tennessee Firefly, less than 30 percent of students in the Metro Nashville Public Schools district are reading on grade level despite nearly 80 percent of parents believing their children are at or above grade level, a finding consistent with national trends.

It’s not often that statehouse elections in rural Texas steer the national conversation about school choice. But things might change later this month.On May 28, voters will choose Republican candidates in 13 of the state’s 150 House districts. Four are currently held by representatives targeted by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for persistently stymying his attempts to create a statewide system of education savings accounts (ESAs).

Williamson County parents will soon learn whether their kids will have to attend summer school to advance under state reading proficiency requirements.

According to the annual report, which surveyed 1,000 teachers across the country, 70 percent of teachers believe that their students are falling behind academically, highlighting a need for increased academic support.

School districts across the state began the 2022/23 school year with one thousand teaching vacancies according to data from the Tennessee Department of Education.

The turbulent rollout of a new federal financial aid application could mean thousands of low-income students miss out on college this fall.But one person feels especially perturbed by the botched implementation of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.Lamar Alexander — former governor of Tennessee, U.S. education secretary and Republican leader of the Senate education committee — thought the FAFSA Simplification Act would be his legacy.

In the middle of night, students at Utah’s Kings Peak High School are wide awake — taking mandatory exams.At this online-only school, which opened during the pandemic and has seen its enrollment boom ever since, students take tests from their homes at times that work best with their schedules. Principal Ammon Wiemers says it’s this flexibility that attracts students — including athletes and teens with part-time jobs — from across the state.Any student who feels compelled to cheat while their teacher is sound asleep, however, should know they’re still being watched.

Missy Testerman has enjoyed a teaching career that is decades longer than most, spending more than 30 years in first- and second-grade classrooms.But when she saw that her K-8 school district in rural Appalachia was quietly becoming a refuge for families from Mexico, Central America and Asia, she shifted gears and became an English as a second language teacher, pushing to smooth her students’ — and their families’ — transition to life in the U.S.

For the first time in 35 years, a Tennessee teacher is the National Teacher of the Year.The Council of Chief State School Officers awarded Rogersville City Schools K-8 English as a second language (ESL) teacher Missy Testerman the honor, recognizing her dedication to students and community. She’ll spend the next year serving as an ambassador and advocate for teachers and students across the nation.

Craig and Joy Stevens raise goats and chickens on a 60-acre homestead about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City — a 35-minute drive from the church where they attend mass every Sunday and more than an hour away from the closest Catholic school.That’s why they’ve applied to send their daughter Chloe to St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, a first-of-its kind religious charter at the center of a national dispute over separation of church and state.

About one-third of 12th graders across the country reported using marijuana over the past year, according to a study released March 12.During that same period, about 11% of 12-grade students reported using a lesser-known product, delta-8-THC, a psychoactive substance typically derived from hemp. It can produce a fuzzy, euphoric high similar to — but typically milder than — the THC effects delivered in cannabis.

Hamilton County Schools became the latest in a growing number of Tennessee school districts that are joining a national lawsuit against social media companies for allegedly targeting students.School board members unanimously voted Thursday night to join the suit against social media giants including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube.The lawsuit argues these companies are deliberately targeting students and young people for commercial gain and fostering antisocial behavior through things such as insufficient parental controls and the way platforms are designed to expose children to harmful content.

Before Thomas Guskey became a leading academic expert on grading and assessments, he was a middle school math teacher. One day he was chatting with an 8th-grade student, who he described as a “superstar,” and asked if she had studied for that day’s exam. He was shocked to hear she hadn’t.

At 5 feet tall, Uyen Tieu doesn’t tower over anyone, including many students. So when a superior said she was too petite to be anything but an elementary school principal, she figured he was probably right.A decade later, Tieu has not only been an assistant principal and principal, she’s now in charge of student support services for the Houston Independent School District — the eighth-largest school system in the U.S. But as an Asian woman and a single mother, she still feels pressure to prove herself in a male-dominated field.

A new poll from the National Parents Union (NPU) found a growing concern for the negative effects of social media consumption.That survey found 83 percent of parents believe there should be a minimum age restriction for when kids can have their own social media account.Most social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) require their users to be at least 13. Out of more than 1,200 parents polled, 20 percent found this to be the appropriate age restriction for children having their own social media accounts. Slightly less (16 percent) believe that age should be 16.

Memphis parent advocate Sarah Carpenter is among those blasting President Biden’s proposed FY 2025 budget for potentially cutting valuable support for public charter schools.The president’s budget plan includes a $40 million cut to the Charter School Program (CSP) that provides grants to support the startup of new public charter schools and the replication and expansion of existing public charter schools.