Students for Education (SFE), a Tennessee-based nonprofit dedicated to encouraging youth civic engagement, is expanding its national footprint as part of a broader effort to help soon-to-be voters advocate for their own education and influence public policy.

A new study from the Progressive Policy Institute indicates that low-income students in both public charter schools and traditional public schools in 10 major cities are catching up to statewide performance levels.

The U.S. Department of Education has named six Tennessee schools as National Blue Ribbon Schools this year including Miller Perry Elementary School in Kingsport, Glenwood Elementary School in Oak Ridge, Early College High School in Nashville, Merrol Hyde Magnet School in Hendersonville, Spanish Immersion at Barksdale in Clarksville, and Jordan Elementary School in Brentwood.

Tennessee earned an A for transparency in reporting COVID-19 learning loss data, according to a new CRPE report. The report highlighted Tennessee's commitment to providing accessible longitudinal student performance data.

Congressional Democrats are at risk of shedding a critical voting bloc in swing states: Black and Hispanic voters who say their concerns about improving public education and increasing access to schools beyond their zip codes are falling on deaf ears. 

Fortified by a stream of Democratic endorsements and high-dollar donations, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared every bit the presidential contender when she appeared before the national convention of the American Federation of Teachers last week.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has a history with an issue Tennessee Democrats have spent the last year opposing.

A new statewide survey from the Beacon Center of Tennessee found 50 percent of registered voters in Tennessee are dissatisfied with the way things are going in K-12 public education.  

Representative Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, went on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show recently to discuss the failed effort he led last session to reduce the amount of state tests Tennessee students are required to take along with the number of evaluations their teachers see. Cepicky said the changes he championed were similar to changes Wisconsin lawmakers made when they implemented a school voucher program.

While parents strongly support the use of statewide summative assessments to measure student progress, many believe that few K-12 leaders are clearly sharing how results are used to formulate academic intervention strategies.

A new survey study from the Walton Family Foundation and Gallup suggests that students are still in need of additional academic support to improve performance and address “learning loss” that came with COVID-19.

Tennessee school districts are finalizing their AI policies ahead of the 2024-25 school year as they navigate new legislation requiring guidelines on AI use in classrooms.

Tennessee ranks 14th out of 30 states included in a recent report from the Education Freedom Institute that measures the quality and accessibility of states’ public charter school systems.

As more states require schools to out transgender students to their families, a new study links involuntary disclosure of sexual orientation or gender identity to heightened rates of depression and anxiety.

Vanderbilt University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have announced a new partnership focusing on artificial intelligence research to develop technologies for national security, as U.S. universities continue to invest more in machine learning research and education programming.

Knox County Board of Education officials discussed banning books that depict sex at Monday’s school board work session.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing funding to eight Tennessee school districts to purchase more than 40 clean school buses to reduce their fleets’ emissions.According to a recent announcement from the EPA, the funding comes from the EPA’s 2023 Clean School Bus Program, which is part of President Biden’s “Investing in America” agenda. It said the program provides rebate funding to selectees to replace older diesel-fueled school buses, which are linked to asthma and other respiratory issues in surrounding communities.

The education and parent advocacy organization Nashville PROPEL has released a white paper detailing what local parents think about “Nashville’s hidden literary crisis,” as well as how that crisis affects students of color.According to a news release emailed to Tennessee Firefly, less than 30 percent of students in the Metro Nashville Public Schools district are reading on grade level despite nearly 80 percent of parents believing their children are at or above grade level, a finding consistent with national trends.

It’s not often that statehouse elections in rural Texas steer the national conversation about school choice. But things might change later this month.On May 28, voters will choose Republican candidates in 13 of the state’s 150 House districts. Four are currently held by representatives targeted by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for persistently stymying his attempts to create a statewide system of education savings accounts (ESAs).

Williamson County parents will soon learn whether their kids will have to attend summer school to advance under state reading proficiency requirements.