Inside TNSuccess

In the spirit of keeping the holidays alive just a little bit longer, we thought we’d share some of our bright spots from the past 12 months. We are grateful for your help and encouragement, and the great work of the other education advocacy groups who’ve come alongside us this year.

-We’re social! Last January, we launched our Facebook and Twitter pages. With your help, we’ve made friends. Lots of friends. 17,000 of them on Facebook, actually. You’ve helped us share, send, tweet, and promote Tennesseans for Student Success.

-We fought for high standards, greater accountability, more choice in education, and for every child in Tennessee to receive a top-notch Tennessee education that helps them be ready for success outside of the classroom. Along with education proponents around the state, we championed legislation that helped rescue children stuck in failing schools, and we helped ensure high academic standards were a part of every Tennessee classroom.

-We traveled across the state meeting teachers, parents, students, legislators, and community leaders. We are big believers that you should use your two ears and one mouth according to ratio, so we were honored to join you in Memphis, Clarksville, Cookeville, Knoxville, Murfreesboro, Nashville, and everywhere in between. We heard about kids improving under high standards, from teachers relieved to be teaching an aligned curriculum, and from parents excited to see students learning and preparing for success.

-We spent the summer making sure kids were reading. From our successful #StopTheSlide campaign reminding students that 20 minutes a day of reading will help stop the summer grade level slide, to spending the summer reading The Tale of Despereaux to 30 kids in Murfreesboro, we were determined to make sure your summer was full of fun and reading.

-We joined with other education initiatives to remind you, your neighbors, and your friends that your input was critical to ensuring the state had high-quality, grade appropriate standards. Along with thousands of your fellow citizens, you shared your thoughts, concerns, and ideas about academic success in Tennessee classrooms.

-We’ve all gotten ready. TNReady. You’ve joined the excited about Tennessee’s new statewide, yearly assessment. This once-a-year test is the only assessment test given by the state to Tennessee’s students and will be a great snapshot of what our kids actually know.

As you can see, it’s been a year full of teachers, parents, ideas, meetings, conversations, committee hearings, and student success. We couldn’t do it without you! This year will be full of opportunities to champion Tennessee’s outstanding students, teachers, and policies. We hope you’re as excited about the months to come as we.