Tennessee Invests Additional $5 Million in Priority School Planning Grants

Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Department of Education has awarded nearly $5 million in federal funds to five districts to plan for how to best support their Priority Schools, the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools in the state, in terms of academic achievement.

“We believe this additional financial investment will help districts provide our Priority Schools with specific supports,” said Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman. “For the past several years, our state has been focused both on improving overall performance of all kids in Tennessee, while closing achievement gaps and supporting students that are the farthest behind; we have seen results from these efforts and are excited to help districts plan for additional interventions.” [Read more]

Tennessee Department of Education Announces Next Round of Priority, Focus Schools

Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Department of Education today announced the newest round of Priority and Focus Schools, as well as school-level TCAP results.

Tennessee’s accountability system identifies three types of schools, as required by the U.S. Department of Education: Priority, Focus, and Reward Schools. Priority and Focus Schools are named every three years, and the first designation was in 2012.

Priority Schools are the 5 percent of schools across the state with the lowest overall performance. Focus Schools are 10 percent of schools with the largest achievement gaps between groups of students, regardless of overall performance. [Read more]