The Tennessee State Board of Education is inviting the public to provide feedback and comments on the state’s K-12 mathematics academic standards through December 6, 2019, at 12 PM CT.

 

To facilitate suggestions on proposed revisions to the academic standards, the State Board launched a public review survey to allow Tennesseans to share their opinions on the current math academic standards. Public comments from the review website will be taken into consideration when the math academic standards are reviewed and updated in 2020. The State Board of Education is charged in law with reviewing all academic standards at least every six years in a thorough and transparent process, and this public survey is the first step in that process.

 

“Academic standards set a key baseline for what all Tennessee students should know and be able to do at the end of a course or school year,” said Dr. Sara Morrison, executive director for the State Board of Education. “These standards drive curricular decisions in districts and set the expectations for what our state assessments evaluate.  Input from educators, parents, and community members in Tennessee help make the standards strong and aligned with our students’ needs for success later in life.”

Upon completion of the public comment window, three advisory teams comprised of Tennessee K-12 and university educators will draft recommended math academic standards for each grade band: K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Members of the Educator Advisory Teams will consider all comments and feedback submitted on the standards. After the Educator Advisory Teams submit their proposed revisions, another committee will review the standards to ensure vertical alignment across the K-12 continuum and rigor to ensure student growth.

 

Before the standards are approved by the State Board, the Standards Recommendation Committee will conduct a thorough review. Members of this committee are selected by the governor, speaker of the House of Representatives, and the speaker of the Senate. The State Board of Education is undertaking the revision of math academic standards at this time in order to align the math standards review process with the next math textbook adoption cycle.

After the State Board approves math standards on final reading in late 2020, the state Textbook and Instructional Materials Commission will recommend a list of aligned educational resources from which school districts will adopt materials. The revised math standards will go into effect for the 2022-23 school year with aligned instructional materials to support instruction.

 

The State Board last received public comment on Tennessee’s math standards in 2015 and, following revision, approved the current standards in April 2016. During that review process, there were 131,424 reviews and 20,344 comments, each of which was considered by the educator advisory team as they updated the standards line-by-line.

 

An overview of the academic standards review process is available on the State Board of Education website.