 Dear reader,
The state of Tennessee has become the center of urgent education news on two different fronts, which we are exploring at The Hechinger Report. First, Ariel Gilreath takes us inside a third-grade classroom, where students are preparing for a controversial, high-stakes reading test that will determine whether they’re promoted to fourth grade.
Those who fail could be held back a year, per a new state law meant to address lagging reading scores and pandemic learning loss, Gilreath explains, in a story that also appeared in The Washington Post.
The state capitol in Nashville, meanwhile, has become the center of intense protests this week, many led by students, in the aftermath of yet another tragic school shooting. I spoke with students and a teacher who spent hours protesting both the lax gun laws in Tennessee and the expulsion of two Black lawmakers who took part in gun-control protests. “We are going to be heard,” one of the students told me.
Also, this week we continue our Saving the College Dream series on community colleges, with a story by our partners at AL.com on efforts to improve advising. And we look at a program in California to pay college students to work in climate mitigation, schools and for anti-hunger groups as they earn their degrees.
As always, we welcome your thoughts, ideas and potential solutions. Please get in touch, and remind others to sign up for our newsletters.
Liz Willen, Editor
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