Tennessee's Academic Standards - A Brief History and the Challenges Ahead
Taking Note
JANUARY 2011
Examining Key Education Reform Ideas in Tennessee
Tennessee’s Academic Standards:
A Brief History and the Challenges Ahead
Research over the past several years has shown that the skills
and knowledge needed to be successful in today’s workforce are
much greater than the skills and knowledge that were needed to be
successful in the workforce twenty years ago.i For example, seven
of the ten fastest growing occupations in Tennessee today require
some type of post-secondary degree (e.g., an Associate’s degree, a
Bachelor’s degree, or a Master’s degree).ii
The skills that students are expected to learn in school are established
by a state’s academic standards. Today, every state in the country is
allowed to create its own academic standards outlining the knowledge
a student should know at each grade-level and in each subject. Not
surprisingly, there is tremendous variation in the rigor of academic
standards across states – with some states having very low standards
and other states having very high standards. With the knowledge an
individual must possess to be successful in college or the workforce
increasing, there has been a national movement over the past several
years encouraging states to raise their standards and – in the past
twelve months – for states to voluntarily adopt common standards that
can be shared across multiple states.
Under former Governor Phil Bredesen, Tennessee moved to the
forefront of the standards movement. This memo outlines the changes
that have occurred in Tennessee’s academic standards over the
past several years as well as some of the challenges that lie ahead
as Tennessee works to implement higher academic standards and
produce a better educated workforce.
outlining the rigor of each state’s academic standards. Tennessee
received an “F” on this report card, ranking behind every other state in
the nation.v Motivated by this poor performance, Governor Bredesen
announced that Tennessee would launch the Tennessee Diploma Project
(TDP), the state’s local version of Achieve’s American Diploma Project. To
build support for TDP, the Tennessee Business Roundtable hosted six
roundtable discussions across the state with Governor Bredesen and
business leaders to give the Governor the opportunity to hear business
leaders’ concerns about the quality of the state’s workforce. The over
130 business leaders who attended these roundtables emphasized
that companies needed employees with stronger math, science and
communication skills, a stronger ability to work in teams and solve “real
world” problems, and a strong work ethic.vi
Throughout the summer and fall of 2007, the Governor’s office worked
with the Tennessee Department of Education, the State Board of
Education, and other key stakeholders to draft new, higher academic
standards for the state in reading, language arts, math and science as
well as new high school graduation requirements. The group ultimately
developed new academic standards that required many skills be taught
in earlier grades and that students learn more analytic thinking and
problem-solving skills. The group also developed new high school
graduation requirements that expanded the number of credits required
for graduation from 20 to 22, including requiring a fourth year of math
Fourth Grade Math Standards
OLD STANDARD
Tennessee Diploma Project
The initial national push for higher academic standards began in 1996
at a summit of the National Governors Association and leading CEOs
from across the country. This summit called for the United States to
increase the rigor of its academic standards to ensure that America
could compete in the global economy.iii Out of this summit, a bipartisan
non-profit organization called Achieve was launched to help encourage
states to adopt more rigorous academic standards. In 2005, Achieve
launched a program called the American Diploma Project Network that
encouraged states to adopt more rigorous standards, especially at the
high school level.iv
In 2007, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce published a report card
(Prior to 2009-10 School Year)
NEW STANDARD
(2009-10 School Year and Beyond)
Add and subtract fractions
with like denominators
Add and subtract fractions
with like and unlike
denominators and simplify
the answer
Determine the median of a
data set
Given a set of data or
a graph, describe the
distribution of the data using
median, range, or mode
Divide efficiently and
accurately with single digit
whole numbers
Solve problems using whole
number division with one or
two digit divisors
1207 18th Avenue South, Suite 326, Nashville, TN 37212 — tel 615.727.1545 — fax 615.727.1569 — www.tnscore.org