The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce presented its Education Report Tuesday, citing four specific recommendations for Metro Nashville Public Schools to improve the district’s work-based learning program.The two-year pilot program partners 17 schools with local businesses to provide students with professional career training, an hourly wage, and academic credit.

The Tennessee Department of Education announced two additional educator preparation providers (EPP) are now available to provide teacher apprenticeships through the state’s Grow Your Own (GYO) initiative.The University of Memphis will offer a bachelor's teacher apprenticeship pathway and Arete Memphis Public Montessori will offer a licensure-only pathway through Grow Your Own.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) has opened the optional schools application process for the 2023-24 school year.This process provides families and parents with the convenience of being able to select from over 100 open enrollment school options within the district. That includes many public charter schools that are among the highest performing in the district.

Memphis-Shelby County School Board members received a clearer picture of the priorities parents want the next superintendent to have Wednesday night and two of the biggest are a focus on diversity and the ability to create change.The board held the second of three public input sessions this month to give parents and community members a chance to weigh in on the search that began when former Superintendent Joris Ray resigned last August.

The search for a new superintendent to lead Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) is seeing disagreement over whether the ideal candidate is already on the job.At last Thursday’s community input session on the superintendent search, some pushed for the permanent instatement of interim superintendent, Tutonial “Toni” Williams, rather than continue the nationwide search.

Tennessee students may soon be able to use their HOPE Scholarship to obtain a master’s or other advanced degree.Legislation filed earlier this month by State Representative William Lamberth and State Senator Bo Watson would open the scholarship program to students who’ve completed their first baccalaureate degree early.

A new report from the State Comptroller’s Office found nearly $60 thousand in inappropriate fuel card spending by employees of the Cheatham County School District transportation department.Auditors didn’t specify how the cards were misspent or when the alleged spending occurred, but they do believe the misuse occurred because of deficient policies.

Newly elected Republican Representatives William Slater and Kevin Raper don’t even have their pictures posted yet on the Tennessee General Assembly website, but both are now occupying leadership positions in key House Committees.Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton appointed Slater as the Vice-Chair of the House Education Administration Committee Thursday and assigned Raper to be the House Education Instruction Committee Vice-Chair.

State Senator Dawn White was always going to make an impact on education. The Murfreesboro legislator says even as a young child growing up in Eagleville Tennessee, she was attracted to teaching. “I mean my mother will tell you the stories of when my sister and I would play when we were little kids, I would always be the teacher so it’s just something that I always had a passion for and a heart for,” said Sen. White. 

The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board is poised to choose a firm by the end of the month to lead its national search for a new superintendent.MSCS received applications from four search firms ahead of the board’s Dec. 21 deadline, Kenneth Walker, the district’s general counsel and chief legal officer, told board members during committee meetings Tuesday afternoon.

Perhaps no issue was more impactful in last year’s legislative session than education. The 112th General Assembly ended with the historic passage of the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) Act that completely overhauled the way public schools are funded in Tennessee.The 113th General Assembly that begins at noon today likely won’t pass legislation as sweeping, but that doesn’t mean legislators won’t have an opportunity to make an impact on K-12 education.

Nashville State Community College has partnered with BGSF to create the Darrell Freeman Fellowship, an opportunity for students pursuing careers in Information Technology.Through this partnership students who graduate with an Associate of Applied Science degree in programming, networking, cyber security and data analytics will be provided additional certification training and other resources.

As instructional leaders in our district, we are fortunate to spend lots of time in classrooms. Cathy loves to share the story of popping in on one fourth-grade lesson to observe student writing. The room was cool, dim and quiet; the only sound was the scratch of pencils on paper as students brainstormed ideas for the poems they were going to write, a culminating task to wrap up an EL Education module on poetry. The teacher circulated as students pondered topics that were especially important to them — topics that were worthy of an entire poem.One word at the center of a student’s brainstorm was particularly striking: “education.”

The state of education is dire, and parents are seeking options. The achievement gap across the state in every subject, with a 23% spread between black and white students and a 19% gap between Hispanic and white students, is widening.In Knox County, just 10% of black students and 16% of Hispanic students are proficient in 7th grade math. Only 23% of black students and 27% of Hispanic students are proficient in ELA in 4th grade in Knox County. The alarms should sound off at the need for better education options for minority students.

When the Tennessee General Assembly returns to Nashville next Tuesday, Representative William Slater will be among 19 new members in the State House.Slater won the Republican primary for House District 35 last August and then ran unopposed in November to represent Trousdale County and part of Sumner County.  He’s succeeding former Representative Jerry Sexton who decided not to seek another term in office.

A state audit revealed that Dyer County Schools wrongfully used over $63,000 from a COVID-19 grant to award bonuses to administrative staff without proper approval or documentation.