[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":44,"_46":47,"_48":49,"_50":51,"_52":53,"_54":55,"_56":57,"_58":59,"_60":61,"_62":63,"_64":65,"_66":67,"_68":69,"_70":71,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6476422,"mediaKeyId","5730230-3824247e7900488092b8160b75583f36","parentId",5730230,"title","Committee sets logistics for weeklong ELA work sessions; Department of Education outlines support and stakeholder themes","audioSeconds",0,"startMs",8709000,"endMs","viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5730230-3824247e7900488092b8160b75583f36&start=8709&end=8709","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5730230-3824247e7900488092b8160b75583f36/thumbnail_8709000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6476422/Tennessee/Committee-sets-logistics-for-weeklong-ELA-work-sessions-Department-of-Education-outlines-support-and-stakeholder-themes","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6476422-558483e67ed87fdfc0e4e700c78911f5/orig.mp4?Expires=1770400076&Signature=EFx5k4X2c3kTFEVKy6sLJzrXEWjNkuSzShHKoSkzoi6--HOJW521uwonWgd2cGV-6ciPw5YUhxedkounDZqU3gUZVVTzvGEDKRxYd2gIscSSOSQBtX1Hw86kCGl0IgSa0kEwPvHOxQ3XDYzlcJAzhj5s0gwmrsGkWbiUqSYvD-oQ~1cjUCaDXyEw-sxsv93qsgT9DgGD7VzkMmRPizmcTWbhWeIz1qrXQll2PPWjOimkPQR-hVjhwv-3Ppja~I7QHVy~c0Lofk3GE6Uz3EXZ6eRYwgKWUVApSh7P5qFGB-fO7u8JYIwIqDjpdupIyoL-GNmcZm7pJtqP5NmaMoxYhA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","State Board of Education","date","2025-09-06T21:57:05.907Z","article","The ELA Standards Recommendation Committee used its Sept. 5 session to finalize operational guidance for multi‑day in‑person review sessions next week and to receive an overview of Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) support and stakeholder feedback themes.

Meeting logistics and procedure
Brianna Summers, director of policy and academics for the State Board, reviewed practical details for the committee’s working sessions: daily start times, reflection periods, flex time for deeper review, and the “parking lot” tool to capture unresolved items for later deliberation. Summers said the committee’s leadership (chair and vice chair) will control the daily pace and called on members to submit brief priority‑reflection documents before the workweek to help set the agenda.

On voting, Summers and committee staff explained the difference between roll‑call votes (used for electronic meetings) and voice votes (used in person). She also described the required motion-and-second procedure and reminded members that a simple majority (five of nine) is sufficient to adopt changes during the work sessions. The meeting record shows the committee already used a roll‑call vote Sept. 5 to approve using the electronic recording as the minutes (8–0).

TDOE overview and stakeholder themes
Christy Wall, assistant commissioner in TDOE’s Office of Academics, and TDOE staff outlined how the department collected and summarized stakeholder feedback and described supports the department will provide during implementation. TDOE staff explained that feedback was gathered through surveys, direct outreach to district leaders and professional organizations, convenings and ongoing communications.

TDOE summarized three recurring stakeholder themes:
- Clarity: Stakeholders asked for clearer, more precise language and more consistent verb choice so teachers can interpret standards consistently.
- Progression (vertical alignment): Several respondents asked the committee to confirm that skills are introduced, reinforced and mastered at developmentally appropriate grades, especially across the 5–6 and 8–9 transitions.
- Coherence: Stakeholders sought alignment between the standards, the introductions/glossary and the appendices so teachers can confidently translate standards into instruction.

Donna Shope, TDOE senior director for early literacy, urged committee members to consider whether standards are understood the same way by novice and veteran teachers and recommended the committee review the supporting introductions and glossary to eliminate ambiguity. TDOE staff also offered to provide grade-band specialists on site during committee workdays to answer content questions and to help document the committee’s decisions for later publication.

Why it matters: TDOE staff framed the standards not just as policy text but as the foundation for instructional materials adoption, teacher training and statewide assessment; the department and State Board stressed that clarity and vertical coherence will shape future curriculum purchases and professional development.

Ending
Committee leadership confirmed that staff and TDOE will remain available during the working sessions for point-in-time questions, and that final edits to standards and supporting documents will be documented in the committee’s shared drive and the leadership-maintained spreadsheet.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","September 5, 2025 ELA Standards Recommendation Committee Meeting","oneSentenceSummary","The committee confirmed procedures, voting rules and public‑comment logistics for next week’s in‑person workdays. Tennessee Department of Education staff summarized stakeholder feedback themes (clarity, progression, coherence) and offered implementation supports.","taxTitle","State Board of Education, Deparments in Office of the Governor, Organizations, Executive, Tennessee","taxId",36988,"location","Tennessee","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_46":81,"_48":82,"_50":83,"_52":84,"_54":55,"_56":57,"_58":85,"_60":61,"_62":63,"_64":86,"_66":67,"_68":69,"_70":71,"_72":73,"_74":73},6476428,"Public survey finds majority of draft ELA standards should be kept; kindergarten, grade 8 drew the most comments",1804,4476000,6280000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5730230-3824247e7900488092b8160b75583f36&start=4476&end=6280","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5730230-3824247e7900488092b8160b75583f36/thumbnail_4476000.jpg","/articles/6476428/Tennessee/Public-survey-finds-majority-of-draft-ELA-standards-should-be-kept-kindergarten-grade-8-drew-the-most-comments","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6476428-775c4426ee5f6d3b4d5e01e6f7c5e91b/orig.mp4?Expires=1770400076&Signature=Hb8mu7B3acP8wpPcr3YVEfqaSQZNCkjiT6-1pXRpRaYj1S7UvCGM8zHMeOQZ~RX2CX7tAd-9Kj3XH9oExEJRXDWJtM4AVIoov95k~Lac3nk4zM1T2th~VkYa05buLv8yrs0qFZnqVSFTvflqBRy~-g~6ayvNsuGlZgyvUsXT6HZmRbeZYOIgvNKYvME2No0OfQV4EfD0GPD3MNFkBgLQExG5IGm6jzl9r7XqDXXGn3HAHu2jpI9ugddSHlbgTyaiaS-E4YvzF-yC4cqRjVBb3Cvduji3kFhAo204n7yQcmRsArj2WCU9ky7scMTQhfogI-7CCm-WZvg1PahEKgvq8g__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","A public feedback summary presented Sept. 5 to the Tennessee State Board of Education’s ELA Standards Recommendation Committee showed broad support for the draft ELA standards, while flagging specific areas for revision.

Measure Learning analyst Jackie Phillips presented analysis of the March 3–31 public survey and told the committee that out of 23,358 individual standard ratings across K–12 (respondents could rate multiple standards), roughly 82% of ratings recommended keeping the draft language as presented. The survey team reported 696 individual returned surveys overall; teachers accounted for about 74% of respondents.

Key findings presented
- Overall counts: The presenters reported 696 surveys returned (389 for K–5; 166 for 6–8; 141 for 9–12) and 23,358 total per‑standard responses. Kindergarten, grades 1–3 and grades 8–10 received the highest numbers of responses. Kindergarten had the most comments by grade.
- Recommended actions: Of the total per‑standard responses, 82% were “keep,” about 8% were “change,” 5% “move” and 5% “remove.” (Round‑1 feedback earlier this cycle had informed the draft that was reissued for round 2.)
- Concentrated concerns: Survey commenters most frequently asked for clearer wording, more precise verbs in standards, explicit vertical progression between grades and clearer paragraph/length expectations for student writing. Respondents also asked for foundational phonics instruction to be explicit before grade 3 and for grade‑by‑grade lists of high‑frequency roots and affixes.
- Geographic response: Of county-level returns, Shelby County provided the most surveys (79 returns), followed by Rutherford and Hamilton counties.

“I do have to warn you before I begin that I am nine months pregnant,” Jackie Phillips said at the start of her presentation, adding point-of-fact about the team’s availability to answer detailed analysis questions. Brianna Summers, the State Board official coordinating the review, noted that the survey link was distributed to more than 300 organizations and to the 297 applicants for EAT membership.

Why it matters: The survey results were used by the educator advisory teams to shape the draft standards that the committee is reviewing; the committee must now reconcile public feedback, teacher input and research evidence as it finalizes language next week.

Ending
The survey team left detailed tables and comment appendices in the committee’s shared drive. Committee members asked whether the EAT chairs had seen draft survey data during their deliberations; staff said the EAT used round‑1 feedback and that round‑2 feedback informed the draft now before the committee.","Measure Learning and Scantron summarized round‑2 public feedback: most drafted standards received 'keep' recommendations, but kindergarten, grade 3 and grade 8 attracted the most comments and suggested edits.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_46":93,"_48":94,"_50":95,"_52":96,"_54":55,"_56":57,"_58":97,"_60":61,"_62":63,"_64":98,"_66":67,"_68":69,"_70":71,"_72":73,"_74":73},6476432,"State Board ELA committee hears proposed standards revisions centered on science of reading and vertical alignment",2316,554000,2870000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5730230-3824247e7900488092b8160b75583f36&start=554&end=2870","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5730230-3824247e7900488092b8160b75583f36/thumbnail_554000.jpg","/articles/6476432/Tennessee/State-Board-ELA-committee-hears-proposed-standards-revisions-centered-on-science-of-reading-and-vertical-alignment","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6476432-d9eb6c556f2aee8951e68b912d32495c/orig.mp4?Expires=1770400076&Signature=NuKufLkBwE9l33MgWQSjBzKrYnqDrU8dE5UidFP057J9O2nW0Na57UoWueQj3Fy7k43K7pnzCdbx1UeLOIU5yZhvaGaeMQ7A6fV2OX4-YUj57RlmjehGaSP~7kBqU9vi5-mv~7mW0Bqx3PwWGO9nWVG12ZP4CxkmyUJt-eKc5wlY7dl0NEDUxurkENsq0M3S8Aun3SIVQSGribZN1OH8v-LIIC~mNKm8KHXcsGbrGey-9ERxkcH3JyFmYhQU6n2gQUIK2RgF1jPyT-VDbm~GIb7789DiIR5fw-AMt1u6GuSV0G7aTiY0GENv2Cp37g4QaYWpNzagI2yKfcVMq9-6Ig__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Tennessee State Board of Education’s English Language Arts Standards Recommendation Committee met Sept. 5 and heard a detailed presentation from educator advisory team (EAT) chairs on proposed revisions to the K–12 ELA standards that center the “science of reading,” clearer vertical alignment and grade-specific expectations.

The proposed revisions were described as intended to align Tennessee instruction to research on how children learn to read and to make expectations clearer for teachers. Michael Duerlein, deputy executive director of policy and research with the State Board of Education, told the committee that the process is “driven by educators in the public” and called the standards-review process “one of the most transparent” in the country.

The EAT chairs described three organizing priorities behind the draft standards. “Our three guiding goals today are to explain how to analyze the standards in practice, how the SDC developed revisions, and why vertical alignment is essential for student growth from year to year,” said Nicole Moore, a sixth-grade teacher and one of the EAT chairs. The chairs said each proposed change was based on classroom practice, research and public feedback collected during two rounds of surveys.

Why it matters: The committee is drafting standards that will guide curriculum, instruction and state assessment for more than 1 million Tennessee students for the next implementation cycle. The chairs said clearer grade-level expectations and better vertical progression are intended to reduce gaps and improve student outcomes statewide.

What the chairs presented
- Science of reading: The draft standards assert that reading instruction must be systematic and aligned with current research. The chairs referenced Scarborough’s reading rope as the organizing model for aligning foundational skills (phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency) with language comprehension (vocabulary, background knowledge, reasoning).
- Cornerstones and vertical alignment: The draft introduces “cornerstones” — long-term, grade-span benchmarks — and asks committees to check that grade-level standards explicitly contribute to those cornerstones so skills build logically year to year.
- Foundational literacy (K–2): Chairs said foundational literacy standards were rewritten to make explicit, grade-specific expectations (for example, decoding and encoding standards were paired to emphasize reciprocity). The chairs noted added specificity about when and how foundational phonics should be taught.
- Elementary (grades 3–5): The draft expands explicit expectations for informational reading and cross‑curricular texts to strengthen content knowledge building in social studies and science.
- Middle grades (6–8): The proposal gives each middle grade a primary writing focus (narrative for 6th, informative for 7th, argumentative for 8th), and makes figurative language and note‑taking skills grade-specific and progressively complex.
- High school (9–12): The chairs proposed reformatting banded standards (for example, 9–10 vs. 11–12) to use course labels (English I, English II, etc.) to increase clarity when students take courses off grade level. Speaking and listening standards were revised to elevate listening and note‑taking and to require more purposeful uses of multimedia.
- Electives: Creative writing, journalism, speech, visual literacy and etymology/linguistics standards were updated with more precise verbs and examples; journalism standards were adjusted to allow multi-level classes (journalism 1–4) taught concurrently.

Discussion and questions
Committee members pressed for clarity on grade-specific grammar expectations and paragraph-length guidance. One member asked why some grammar items (for example, pronouns or specific punctuation) were moved earlier in the K–12 trajectory; the chairs said those moves reflect decisions about the appropriate grade for mastery versus reinforcement and that they would supply more detailed rationale and notes during the upcoming workdays.

On writing length and structure, several teachers and committee members asked for clearer guidance on how many paragraphs or how much student writing is expected at each grade. Tammy Marlow, a high school teacher and EAT chair, said middle-school writing would “go deeper” rather than “brush the surface,” and that the proposed grade-by-grade focus was intended to create time for students to master each mode.

No formal action was taken on the standards at the Sept. 5 meeting; committee members will review the draft text in a series of in-person working sessions next week and are expected to record specific edits and votes during that work period.

Ending
The committee will reconvene in person for multi-day work sessions beginning next week; chairs and State Department of Education staff will be on site to answer content questions and provide background materials. The draft standards and supporting documents were placed in the committee’s shared drive for members to review prior to the working sessions.","Educator advisory team chairs presented proposed K–12 English language arts standards that emphasize the science of reading, clearer grade-by-grade progression and new \"cornerstone\" benchmarks; committee will review proposed text next week.","actionData","errors"]

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Committee sets logistics for weeklong ELA work sessions; Department of Education outlines support and stakeholder themes

Public survey finds majority of draft ELA standards should be kept; kindergarten, grade 8 drew the most comments

State Board ELA committee hears proposed standards revisions centered on science of reading and vertical alignment