Tennessee must focus on early childhood learning
In the past decade, Tennessee’s education reforms have driven historic improvements, resulting in high academic standards, aligned assessments and accelerated growth in academic achievement for students in grades three through 12.
Despite the improvements, student proficiency still falls short of Tennessee’s goals. Tennessee’s standardsaligned assessments reveal alarming news: A majority of Tennessee’s students in grades three through 12 are not proficient in English and math.
The Nation’s Report Card tells a similar story. Despite Tennessee’s improvements, proficiency rates still rank it in the bottom half of all states.
Especially striking is that by third and fourth grades, our students are already significantly behind, with nearly two-thirds not proficient in English and math. We know that when students are not proficient by third grade, they are four times more likely to drop out of high school and 60 percent less likely to pursue a post-secondary degree. Once students fall behind in third grade, they tend to stay behind, or fall further.
Low proficiency in third grade is a clear indication that the quality of children’s learning prior to third grade requires significant improvements.
Learning begins at birth. The brain develops more in the first five years than at any other time during a person’s life. Deficits in early literacy and math skills have been documented as early as 9 months and widening from there along family income lines. Early literacy and math skills, as well as early social skills, at kindergarten entry are strong predictors of future academic success.
Tennesseans for Quality Early Education is committed to improving early education to ensure stronger academic achievement for all students and shared prosperity in Tennessee.
We are a bipartisan group of people and organizations in business, nonprofit, education, health care, law enforcement and faith communities advocating to make high-quality early education, from birth through third grade, a state priority.
Eighty-one percent of Tennesseans support “major change” in public education, and 69 percent say they would vote for policymakers who support early education, according to a statewide survey conducted by TQEE.
Tennesseans want better education outcomes and understand that depends on giving our children a smart start. TQEE stands ready to work with the next governor and General Assembly to make early childhood education the starting place for transformational change.
Dave Miller is president of First Tennessee, East Tennessee Region, and a member of the board of Tennesseans for Quality Early Education.