Parents across the state should learn this week whether their third and fourth-graders are at risk for retention because of new state reading requirements.Under the state’s Third-Grade Retention Law, third-graders who fail to show reading proficiency on state tests have to undergo either summer school or summer school and tutoring during their fourth-grade year to advance. Additionally, fourth-graders impacted by the law last year have to show “adequate growth” on state testing this year to be promoted to fifth-grade.

Nashville State Community College broke ground this week on a Clarksville campus expansion that’s designed to serve students with new academic programs in healthcare, information technology, secondary education, and industrial process control.The expanded facility on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard will include a complete renovation of the existing building in addition to a second building and expanded parking. 

Last summer Rutherford County teen Taylor Aslup took advantage of every opportunity to read.Aslup balanced work and cheerleading while still finding time to spend more than 31 thousand minutes reading books she frequently downloaded on her phone. That devotion to reading helped her earn a $1,000 scholarship as the overall winner in the annual Tristar Reads contest.

New Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins has looked to a variety of voices for assistance as she charts a path for the state’s largest school district.On Tuesday she heard from the youngest advisors.The 103-student transition team known as the “Legacy Builders” met at the Memphis Botanic Garden to present feedback for how the district can increase support, engagement, and academics.

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision outlawed segregation in public schools, making it illegal for districts to turn away African American children because of their race.A new report finds cracks in that ruling have continued to persist over the seventy years following that decision. “The Broken Promise of Brown vs Board of Ed” report from nonprofit organizations Available to All and Bellwether Education uncovered loopholes that still create discrimination for low-income students, students with disabilities, and others.

The Knox County Schools Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution affirming that school resource officers (SRO) and law enforcement officers will remain the only armed personnel allowed in school.This resolution came from board member Kristi Kristy, one of two school board members that proposed separate resolutions to oppose the new law that allows teachers to carry guns in school. Board member Katherine Bike made the other resolution, but withdrew it due to the board feeling that they ultimately say the same thing.

A heated debate over Hamilton County Schools’ proposed $674 million budget led to a failed vote to reinstate it on the agenda. The school board will revisit the issue in June.

The Jackson-Madison County School System Board of Education celebrated four schools that participated in the Greenpower USA Regional Talladega Competition that took place earlier this month placing in the top five, with one school winning overall.

Tennessee students have until May 15 to complete their FAFSA applications and secure financial aid for the 2024-2025 school year, with public universities offering resources to assist.

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) and the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network (TSIN) announced 13 new schools have received the Tennessee STEM/STEAM School Designation for 2024.

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.

A new poll finds the unanimous rejection of new charters at the school board level this year doesn’t align with the values of Tennessee voters who elected them.

Rutherford County Schools (RCS) is recommending purchasing backpacks for participants in the upcoming June summer learning camp.

If it wasn’t for Ruby Bridges, Ben Williams’ circle of friends would be smaller — and whiter. That’s why, when the 11-year-old Grahamwood Elementary School student read about how Bridges endured death threats and racial slurs to attend all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960, he wrote a letter thanking her.

Tennessee is not expected to have many truly competitive races in the August 1 state primary, but one that will be is already seeing misleading campaigning and a formal complaint of “skirting” campaign finance limits.That race involves Senate Education Chair Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, and his Senate District 4 Republican challenger Bobby Harshbarger, East Tennessee pharmacist and son of Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger, R-Tennessee.Harshbarger has attempted to run to the right of Lundberg and is misleadingly criticizing the Senator for the failure of legislation to ban pride flags from Tennessee classrooms.

The Memphis Grizzlies National Basketball Association (NBA) team is providing a donation to provide students at Fox Meadows Elementary and John P. Freeman Optional School with an all-new basketball hoop system.

Knox County parents will be notified if their children are at risk of retention under new state reading requirements, with options for retesting or summer intervention.

Soulsville Charter School senior Elisha Muhammad says a high school internship set her on a new path to advocate for those trying to overcome systemic barriers.

Tennessee lawmakers and school board members have spent a lot of time over the last few months debating whether teachers should be armed, but a new poll finds the voters that elect them are much more concerned about schools than guns.

A growing New York nonprofit is using a newly released report to cement data around the axiom that social capital — or who you know — is key for first-generation college graduates searching for their first job.The report by Basta, an organization that connects first-generation college graduates with careers, tracks the experiences of young job seekers, revealing that not all networks are the same.