Kids Count State of the Child: Are Tennessee Children Prepared to Learn?

Nashville, TN – At the beginning of the school year, children wait for the school bus or in the drop-off lane for their first experience of school. Many of them arrive with the skills they need to learn. Many, however, arrive with gaps in the foundation for learning that must be filled so they can make the most of their experience.

Children do not enter school as blank slates, each equally impressionable to educators’ efforts. Children enter school with figurative backpacks. Some children come with an eagerness to learn, good health, emotional security and a sense of safety fostered by a supportive family and community. Others come without important tools for learning and already weighed down by the trauma of poverty, hunger, violence or abuse.

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Tennessee Fourth Graders’ National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading Scores Improved over 10-Year Period

Nashville, TN – Fourth grade reading scores of Tennessee students improved more over the past 10 years than those of students in most other states, a new data snapshot on education finds.

The report, KIDS COUNT Data Snapshot: Early Reading Proficiency in the United States, compares 2003 and 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) fourth grade reading scores.

It was issued by the Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT Program. [Read more]