Give it up for Tennessee!

As I have traveled over the past few weeks from Nashville, to Franklin, to Oak Ridge, to Knoxville, to Jackson Tennessee, (dodging tornadoes) to work with TN Department of Education leaders, local central office leaders, school principals, teachers, Coordinated School Health Leaders, School Safety Specialists, and school climate researchers from Vanderbilt, I have been amazed at the depth of leadership that the state of TN has established to support school safety, school climate improvement, and student learning.

I have seen the state of TN launch a comprehensive new website for parents called kidcentraltn.org that makes finding support services for families and children a snap.

One piece of evidence that these investments are paying off is that TN was ranked #1 in academic improvement on the National Association of Educational Progress in 2014.

Tennessee was one of 11 states that were awarded $38.8 million dollars in Safe and Supportive Schools (S3) grants to develop school climate measurements and supports for school climate intervention.

What they have done with these resources is quite remarkable and I wanted to take a few minutes to acknowledge it today!

... Bill Preble, Ed.D.

Executive Director - CSCL