Month in Education

AUGUST 2026

SCORE’s recent symposium, AI in K-12 Education: Keeping Students at the Center, brought together education leaders, policymakers, researchers, and innovators to explore how Tennessee can  prepare students for a future shaped by artificial intelligence (AI). We learned about AI’s potential to accelerate learning, what responsible implementation requires, and how we can ensure decisions about its use start with the needs of students and educators. The symposium created space for leaders to explore emerging research, hear perspectives from educators, and engage in student-centered conversations about using AI in education. We invite you to explore our resources from this event — including slide decks, research, and helpful links — and watch the event recordings.

Teachers are the most important in-school factor impacting student success, yet Tennessee faces growing challenges to recruit and retain educators. As vacancies increase, more classrooms are being staffed through emergency credentials, highlighting the need to strengthen the teacher pipeline. The latest Perspective on our blog identifies barriers that make it difficult for aspiring teachers to enter the profession and examines a proposed State Board of Education policy that would provide additional ways for teacher candidates to demonstrate content knowledge while maintaining high expectations for teacher quality.

Thanks to a new partnership between the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) and the U.S. Census Bureau's Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) Explorer, we now have clearer insight into what happens after Tennessee students earn a degree or credential from a Tennessee community college or four-year university, including employment and earnings for graduates. This represents a major step forward in helping leaders understand whether education pathways are serving students well and how policy can better support them on pathways to long-term economic independence.

From student learning loss and health issues to infrastructure strains and difficult resource decisions, extreme weather is impacting students in Tennessee classrooms. In SCORE’s latest webinar, Connecting the Dots: Extreme Weather and Student Success, national experts and education leaders examine the research, highlight experiences from the field, and discuss solutions to better prepare for these challenges.

Educator externships are short, high-impact professional learning experiences that equip teachers to bring industry knowledge and career-connected skill-building to their students. To support strong educator externship programs through thoughtful planning, SCORE has released A Playbook for Tennessee Communities to Build Educator Externships. Designed for chambers of commerce, school districts, employers, workforce organizations, and other local partners, the playbook helps communities build and strengthen educator externship programs that equip educators to help students see how their classroom learning connects to future careers. 

Join us in welcoming Laura Encalade and Beth Duffield to the SCORE team. As chief of staff, Laura joins SCORE’s leadership team and guides our organizational alignment and strategy. She previously worked at Lipscomb University, Teach For America, the State Board of Education, and the Tennessee Department of Education. As senior director of workforce initiatives, Beth leads our efforts to connect education to workforce opportunity. She previously led workforce strategy for Williamson Health, Ascension, and Turner Construction and also worked for the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce.

We’re also excited to announce the promotion of Diane Hughes to senior communications manager. Since joining SCORE in 2019, Diane has steadily expanded her role in producing and sharing SCORE’s work with external audiences through digital content, social media, reports, and other public-facing communications. Please join us in congratulating Diane for her contributions to the SCORE team.

Laura Encalade

Beth Duffield

Diane Hughes

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

BY THE NUMBERS

A study of the state’s Advise TN program found the initiative had a significant and positive impact on college-going rates — a 4-percentage-point gain in college-going the year after high school. FAFSA completion and Tennessee Promise application rates — early indicators of increased college enrollment — also improved. Among Advise TN students, FAFSA filing and application rates for Tennessee Promise were 7 and 3.7 percentage points higher, respectively, than those of students at non-Advise TN schools. As Tennessee continues efforts to increase postsecondary attainment and connect more students to economic opportunity, these findings provide valuable insights as we work to ensure that students receive the support they need to successfully pursue opportunity beyond high school. SCORE's recent report, Beyond Financial Aid: How Advise TN Expands Postsecondary Opportunity, breaks down the findings.

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