SREB and Tennessee
SREB and Tennessee
An overview of SREB programs and services and how Tennessee participates in them.
Appropriations from member states support core SREB services. SREB leverages the longstanding commitment of member states to attract external funding for additional programs and services that benefit member states. States may also choose to join targeted networks for additional fees.
Policy
Goals for Education | Monitoring State Policies
Monitoring and reporting to assist education leaders and policymakers as they shape public policy. SREB tracks trends and analyzes the progress of all 16 SREB states in each area in the Challenge to Lead 2020 Goals for Education and provides Legislative Reports that detail legislative and budget actions in each state.
SREB’s Insights data tool allows leaders to explore actions across states, delve into a topic for a deeper understanding or select a detailed state report.
College and Career Readiness
Intensive work to help states implement essential components of SREB’s recommendations for statewide college and career readiness. These include assessing high school juniors to determine their progress toward the state’s readiness standards — and requiring those who are underprepared to take transitional courses in 12th grade.
Readiness in State Accountability Systems
SREB staff distilled key elements of SREB states’ accountability systems under the Every Student Succeeds Act into interactive profiles at Insights.SREB.org.
PUBLICATIONS
In October 2018, SREB updated the state profiles and published a regional report on five ways SREB states prioritized readiness in their ESSA plans.
Tennessee’s profile notes the state’s effort to raise expectations for college and career readiness through its long-term goals and school performance indicators.
In October 2018, SREB staff presented information from the reports at SREB’s annual meeting of legislative and governors’ staff. Five stakeholders from Tennessee attended.
Between April 2017 and January 2018, SREB hosted monthly conference call meetings of a state accountability network, for SREB member states to share ideas and discuss questions about redesigning and implementing state accountability systems under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Two state education agency leaders from Tennessee participated.
Career and Technical Education
State Leaders Forum
Annual meeting for teams of legislators, policymakers, state board members, secondary and postsecondary education leaders, and workforce development agency representatives. Attendees explore policies and practices that help more young adults graduate prepare for postsecondary credentials and degrees and good jobs.
Tennessee attendees at SREB’s State Leaders Forum in November 2017: 5
Educator Effectiveness
Advises state and district leaders as they develop strategies to support the professional growth of teachers and principals. SREB serves as a technical advisor to state education agencies, spotlights inspiring stories of local practice and convenes stakeholders at regional meetings.
Technical Assistance
In the last 12 months, SREB’s educator effectiveness team provided general policy and practice resources.
convenings
The state department sent representatives to SREB’s sixth annual Educator Effectiveness Convening in April 2018. They participated in collaborative working sessions with peers from 12 SREB states. State department staff met to discuss shared problems of practice in four areas: equitable access to effective teaching, leadership development, professional learning and teacher voice.
reports and data
SREB produced the following resources for Tennessee leaders during the last 12 months:
School Is My Happy Place, May 2018, which showcases the innovative strategies used to develop a positive school culture at an elementary school in central Florida.
Mentoring New Teachers: A Fresh Look, January 2018, which proposes three action areas for states, districts and schools to support the development of novice educators and their mentors.
Teacher Preparation
SREB’s Teacher Preparation Commission met during 2016, 2017 and 2018 and will publish its final recommendations to improve teacher preparation programs in late 2018.
The Commission published its first report, More than the Numbers: Teacher Preparation Data Systems State Policy and Recommendations, in September 2017. Tennessee’s Teacher Preparation Report Card is featured in the report.
Postsecondary Education
Affordability
SREB’s Commission on College Affordability in the South recommended policies and practices to keep college costs within reach of all students. In addition to the Commission’s report, policymakers can draw on updated regional and individual state affordability profiles to understand how costs impact families at different income levels.
SREB convened state higher education agency academic officers in October 2017 to discuss factors that impact college affordability. Attendees learned from each other about new policies for tuition, fees, financial aid, transfer, textbook costs, online courses, collaboration with K-12, readiness, and serving returning adults. A representative from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission participated.
SREB featured TN Promise and TN Reconnect financial aid programs during the 2018 annual meeting of legislative and governors’ office staff.
State Services
Connects policymakers with custom information, presentations and assistance on education issues as they arise. Leaders in member states are encouraged to contact SREB for data, analysis and advice.
SREB staff visited Tennessee to meet with legislators and staff, and attend committee meetings in 2018.
Throughout 2017-18, legislators, legislative staff and governor’s staff from Tennessee requested assistance on topics including evaluations of reading programs.
Meetings
Tennessee staff were among those from eight SREB states at the 2018 meeting of legislative and governors’ staff to discuss topics that will likely be on agendas during the upcoming legislative sessions.
Tennessee legislators were among those in attendance at the 2017-18 meetings of SREB’s Legislative Advisory Council and Legislative Work Conference.
Curriculum and School Improvement
Advanced Career
Nine pathways that combine college-ready academics with hands-on, project-based assignments that spark students’ learning and interest in STEM careers. Each four-course AC pathway prepares students for advanced industry credentials and two- and four-year postsecondary credentials and degrees.
Tennessee schools delivering AC curricula during 2018-19:
- Innovations in Science and Technology: 3 schools
- Teachers trained to date: 8
Making Schools Work
A school improvement process developed by SREB that engages K-12 educators and school leaders in identifying and studying problems of practice, implementing research-based solutions to those problems, and learning within a collaborative network of schools. Schools adopt Making Schools Work through designs for middle grades schools, high schools and technology centers.
Tennessee is a member of the Making Schools Work network.
Advisory Council Member: Casey Haugner Wrenn, Assistant Commissioner, College, Career and Technical Education division, Tennessee Department of Education
State Coordinator: Lyle Ailshie, Deputy Commissioner, College, Career and Technical Education division and Teachers and Leaders division, Tennessee Department of Education
Schools, districts and states contract with SREB to implement Making Schools Work and receive targeted school improvement services such as professional development, instructional coaching and technical assistance.
Two Tennessee districts contracted with SREB for direct services in 2018-19.
SREB will deliver 60 days of on-site coaching professional development in these districts.
Professional Development
For Teachers, Principals and Counselors
Making Schools Work Conference
Annual conference, formerly known as the High Schools That Work Staff Development Conference, for K-12 teachers, counselors, principals, technology center directors and state and district education agency personnel.
Tennessee attendees at the July 2018 conference: 16
College- and Career-Readiness Standards Networking Conference
Conference that focuses on literacy and mathematics tools and strategies. Teams of educators and school leaders explore disciplinary literacy strategies and formative assessment lessons that engage students in math.
Tennessee attendees at the July 2018 conference: 3
Learning-Centered Leadership Program
Leadership preparation program that develops current or aspiring principals’ capacity to serve as effective instructional leaders who understand how to use data to locate and close gaps.
Tennessee attendees at the 2018 Annual Leadership Forum: 1
Project-Based Learning in Career Pathway Courses
System of professional development, job-embedded coaching and virtual support that helps academic and CTE teacher teams design project-based assignments in middle grades schools, high schools and technology centers.
Thirty-five Tennessee teachers and administrators from 24 schools, agencies or districts received project-based learning professional development, coaching and support services in 2017-18.
Postsecondary Education
Academic Common Market
A tuition-savings program for college students in SREB member states who want to pursue degrees not offered by in-state institutions. Students can enroll in out-of-state institutions that offer their degree program and pay the in-state tuition rates.
During calendar year 2017, 2,130 degree programs were available, 152 institutions participated and 3,355 new students were certified for study.
In 2017,132 Tennessee students participated in the Academic Common Market, saving, on average, $13,609 each and a collective total of $1,905,230 in tuition
ACM State Representative: Victorica Harpool, Assistant Executive Director for Academic Affairs,Tennessee Higher Education Commission
Regional Contract Program
Gives students the opportunity to earn a professional health degree from participating institutions in other states through in-state tuition rates at public institutions, or reduced tuition at private institutions. More than 600 students participate each year.
Number of out-of-state students who enrolled in Tennessee programs in 2017-18: 202
Residents of other states may contract for entry into Meharry Medical College and University of Tennessee Health Science Center in College of Dentistry, and Southern College of Optometry. These Tennessee institutions received approximately $4 million from other SREB states.
State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement
A nationwide system to offer more high-quality distance education programs for students and ease the regulatory burden on institutions. SREB member states may opt in to offer distance education activities in other SARA states. By participating, colleges and universities in the SREB region save almost $30 million annually.
Tennessee is an approved member of SARA.
Colleges and universities in Tennessee saved $8.9 million for initial authorization and save $2.6 million annually on renewals, according to estimates in a return-on-investment study by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.
Tennessee SARA representative: Julie Woodruff, Assistant Executive Director of Postsecondary School Authorization and Lead Attorney, Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
Fact Book and Data Exchange
Fact Book
The SREB Fact Book on Higher Education is a compilation of comparative data on topics including demographics; college enrollment, retention, progression and graduation; tuition and fees; student financial aid; state support for postsecondary education; and faculty salaries. The Fact Book is published bi-annually, but the data are updated annually and made available on the SREB website.
Tennessee leaders receive the SREB Fact Book on Higher Education and Tennessee: Featured Facts From the SREB Fact Book on Higher Education.
SREB-State Data Exchange
An annual collection of postsecondary education data that are submitted by representatives (i.e., Data Exchange coordinators) of postsecondary education system offices. The data collected include degrees conferred, student retention and progression, time to degree, student credit hours taken by high school students and by college students in courses using distance education technology, state funding for postsecondary education, and tuition and fees.
SREB-State Data Exchange tables are posted on the SREB website.
Tennessee’s Participating agency and SREB-State Data Exchange Coordinator: Crystal Collins, Tennessee Higher Education Commission
Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing
Helps expand and strengthen schools of nursing to reduce the critical shortage of nurse educators needed to educate the nation’s registered nurses. The Council surveys institutions for nursing education trends and shares online graduate nursing courses.
As of October 2018, six Tennessee institutions are members, listed here with their representatives to the Council:
East Tennessee State University: Wendy Nehring, Dean
Middle Tennessee State University: Jenny Sauls, Director
Southern Adventist University: Barbara James, Dean
University of Memphis: Lin Zahn, Dean
University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis: Wendy Likes, Dean
Walters State Community College: Cheryl McCall, Director
Doctoral Scholars Program
Supports minority students to help them earn Ph.D.s, begin careers at colleges and universities, and diversify campus faculties. The SREB-State Doctoral Scholars Program hosts the annual Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, the nation’s largest gathering of minority doctoral scholars, with more than 1,200 attendees.
Scholars funded by Tennessee in 2017-18: 19
2017 Institute attendees from Tennessee: 22
Scholars Tennessee has supported since joining in 1993: 111
Graduates since 1993: 82
Graduates currently employed: 67
Percent employed in education: 90
Tennessee-supported Ph.D. students have attended these institutions since 1993:
East Tennessee State University
Georgia State University
Meharry Medical College
Tennessee State University
Tennessee Technological University
University of Memphis
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
University of Tennessee – Knoxville
Vanderbilt University
Interstate Cooperatives
Go Alliance
An interstate cooperative to increase high school graduation rates, access to education beyond high school and postsecondary degree completion — particularly for those who would be the first in their families to enroll. Go Alliance research, services and professional development focus on college access policy and communications strategies to motivate students to plan for and apply to college.
Tennessee is a Go Alliance member state.
Go Alliance Representative: Troy Grant, Associate Executive Director for College Access and Success, Tennessee Higher Education Commission
Educational Technology Cooperative
Membership group of state K-12 and higher education coordinating and governing boards that represent more than 800 colleges and universities and 3,100 school districts in SREB states. The ETC focuses member agencies and state policymakers on using technology wisely, helps states understand technology issues and forms an action agenda for effectively using technology in education.
Tennessee representatives attended the spring and summer webinars. Tennessee ETC representatives helped determine SREB’s 10 Critical Issues in Educational Technology and served on working groups for revisions.
Tennessee ETC Representative and Member Agency:
Greg Sedrick, Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs and Tennessee eCampus, Tennessee Board of Regents
Technology Purchasing Savings
Schools, universities and agencies in SREB states saved $3.3 million on over $33 million in technology purchases during fiscal year 2017 — double the FY2016 savings — through SREB’s participation in MHECtech discount agreements. Organizations in each of the 16 SREB states participated.
Tennessee saved $640,238 on $6,473,518 in technology purchases in fiscal year 2018.