Articles

Congratulations to the 2015 SCORE Prize Winners


All year long the State Collaborative on Reforming Education—SCORE—works with and for students, parents, and teachers in Tennessee and each October we have the privilege of dedicating an evening to recognizing the amazing progress they have made. I love that our annual SCORE Prize awards ceremony doesn’t just bring together administrators and policy makers in education, but also teachers and students from across the state. It’s a lively crowd and one of my favorite nights of the year.

This year I was particularly thankful to have Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and our Education Commissioner, Dr. Candice McQueen, join me in recognizing the hard work of our schools across the state, and I think the whole crowd was thrilled that ABC’s Nashville star Charles Esten—or Deacon Claybourne—was on hand to perform for us.

The SCORE Prize is an opportunity to lift up successful schools and districts across Tennessee and share best practices with each other. These awards are earned based on data collected by our SCORE Prize Selection Committee. They spend weeks examining data and visiting schools and districts across the state to determine the best of the best. Watch the video to see how the SCORE Prize winners are chosen. I offer them my sincere thanks.

This year’s winners again raised the bar on excellence in education. Together they are pushing Tennessee forward for the sake of our children and future.

Elementary School Finalists:

  • Delano Elementary School in Shelby County (2015 winner)
  • Andersonville Elementary School in Anderson County
  • Dresden Elementary School in Weakley County

Middle School Finalists:

  • New Vision Academy in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (2015 winner)
  • Grassy Fork Elementary School in Cocke County Schools
  • KIPP Academy Nashville in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools

High School Finalists:

  • The Soulsville Charter School, Shelby County Schools (2015 winner)
  • Covington High School, Tipton County Schools
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools

School District Finalists:

  • Trousdale County Schools (2015 winner)
  • Dyersburg City Schools
  • Johnson City Schools

You can learn more about the winning schools here.

I was also particularly impressed with the individual students who were honored for their work. The Students Rise to the Challenge (SRTTC) scholarships award $1,000 to a student in each age category for an essay or video describing how one of their teachers helped them overcome an academics challenge.

Weston Downing, a 12th-grade student at Covington High School in Tipton County Schools; Yeleeya Li, a sixth-grade student at Indian Trail Intermediate School in Johnson City Schools; and Nicholas Reynolds, a fifth-grade student at Andersonville Elementary in Anderson County Schools, all did outstanding and creative work and paid worthy tribute to the teachers in their lives. You can read and watch Weston’s, Yeleeya’s, and Nicholas’s prize-winning entries here.

Congratulations to all of the SCORE Prize finalists and winners, and thanks to the SCORE Prize Selection Committee, Jaime Woodson and the outstanding SCORE team, and all of the students in Tennessee who keep pushing us forward.