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Welcome to the education section. When I was growing up, America was number one in public education kindergarten through the 12th grade. Then we fell to 5th, then 10th, then 15th, then 20th, then 26th in the world. And we are getting wore and worse. Our kids today are competing against students from these other countries – and they are not getting the jobs. In this site, we discuss how we can reverse the disturbing trends – and they CAN be reversed. Join me in learning what each one of us can do to make sure that no child is left without the opportunity to succeed in life. Check out the pages in this section __ the news, the videos and most importantly how you can get involved – and let me know your thoughts and suggestions along the way.
Improving public education is critical to the future of America’s economy and America’s health. A nation that learns more can lead a healthier and longer life. In addition in Tennessee, our schools have consistently underperformed. We’re ranked 43rd nationally, and in the international community, American schools rank 26th in the world. We can and must to better to remain competitive. These are just a few of the reasons why I started an initiative in February of 2009 called the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE). SCORE’s mission was to jumpstart long-term educational change in Tennessee, ensuring that every child graduates high school prepared for college or a career. SCORE is supporting bold reform in Tennessee, which is at the leading edge in school reform thanks to its winning role in the federal Race to the Top competition. Nationwide, our challenge is clear. Just over 70% of students graduate from high school – and only half of those graduates leave prepared to succeed in college, career and life, according to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 15-year-olds in the U.S. rank below their peers in 23 industrialized nations when it comes to math literacy. SCORE is instilling a renewed sense of urgency around public schools and driving change among educators, policymakers and business leaders. SCORE’s activities include supporting innovative education initiatives and advocating new policies that make a difference. Working at the grassroots level, this is a private, citizen-led initiative. SCORE is working to help improve Tennessee’s schools to be first in the Southeast in five years. You can join by engaging in local efforts in your school district and by talking with and working with your local elected officials and school boards to help implement SCORE’s recommendations by demanding excellence in your community. Together we are helping improve schools across the state. For more information, please visit the TN SCORE website at www.tnscore.org.
Consider Laura. When she entered the third grade, she couldn’t understand the stories all her friends enjoyed. She was even too embarrassed to read aloud. Why? She could only read at a first grade level.
Laura’s hardly alone — but that’s small comfort. A recent study from the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that one in six children who are not reading proficiently by the third grade does not graduate from high school on time. In other words, Laura’s abilities in third grade may very well determine her...
read moreAmericans hear a lot about decline. Declines in manufacturing, fading productivity, plummeting home values, spiralling deficits, and sadly, dwindling faith in the American dream.
Let me tell you where I see the worst decline — but also our nation’s best hope.
One in five kids in America lives in poverty. That’s 20 percent of America’s future left behind. Left to drop out of high school, suffer through shorter lives, commit crimes, have a child in their teens — and then perpetuate this cycle with their own...
read moreCOOKEVILLE — The Highlands, Nashville’s WTVF NewsChannel5, Tennessee Tech University, and the League of Women Voters of Tennessee today announced that the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) is joining as a sponsor in the Highlands Town Hall Debate 2010, a general-election gubernatorial debate scheduled for September 14 at TTU in Cookeville.
SCORE, a not-for-profit, non-partisan group led by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, encourages sound education policy decisions at the state and local levels....
read moreBlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee today announced a $500,000 contribution to advance K-12 public education reform — and better health outcomes — in partnership with the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), founded by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
“BlueCross BlueShield has a history of supporting promising community work across Tennessee, especially when it has the potential to promote better health,” said Vicky Gregg, president and CEO of the not-for-profit health...
read moreThere is exciting and timely news for students looking to make a direct impact in the world. Each year, the Clinton Global Initiative’s CGI U sponsors a competitive grant program called the Outstanding Commitment Awards. These grants are given to students who submit proposals for “Commitments to Action” that are aimed at improving communities and lives in their communities and across the globe. The grant awards range from $1,000 – $10,000 and applications are open to all currently-enrolled students, both undergraduate and...
read moreNASHVILLE — Something remarkable is happening in American public education.
In a matter of months, the Obama administration’s Race to the Top competition engineered the kind of wholesale reform that ordinarily would take a generation to pull off. Ideas once considered to be the realm of conservative education policy are seeing a refreshing bipartisan embrace. In contrast to the partisan feuds defining the health care debate, Race to the Top is remaking public education as a practically...
read moreNASHVILLE – Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who chairs the education-reform group Tennessee SCORE, on March 4 issued this statement following news that Tennessee is a finalist in the federal government’s groundbreaking Race to the Top competition:
“Tennessee’s spot as a finalist confirms what we’ve known: The Volunteer State is poised to move farther, faster in public education reform than any other state in the nation. Governor Bredesen, the General Assembly, and stakeholders including...
read moreTennessee SCORE is a case study in a new Policy Innovators in Education (PIE) Network report, “The Race to Reform: How Education Reform Advocates are Leveraging Race to the Top,” which tells the stories of state advocacy groups with an “outsized” impact...
read moreNASHVILLE — Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who chairs the education-reform group Tennessee SCORE, today issued this statement following news that Tennessee is a finalist in the federal government’s groundbreaking Race to the Top competition:
“Tennessee’s spot as a finalist confirms what we’ve known: The Volunteer State is poised to move farther, faster in public education reform than any other state in the nation. Governor Bredesen, the General Assembly, and stakeholders including the TEA are to be...
read moreBy: Sen. Bill Frist, M.D.
In my 12 years of service to Tennesseans in the United States Senate, I learned that progress often comes from taking advantage of moments when the stars align around a specific goal. In Tennessee, one of those moments is upon us, as for the first time in over 25 years the stars have aligned to make real, meaningful improvements to Tennessee’s education system.
Today, there are a number of factors coming together to create a truly unique opportunity for improving our schools. Earlier this year,...
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