Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education

“The president and chief executive officer, chief impact officer, vice president of strategy, vice president of finance and operations, and finance manager perform the initial review of the form 990. A draft copy of the form 990 is shared with the audit chair and audit committee for review prior to the draft form 990 being reviewed by the chairman and vice-chair of the board. Upon satisfactory review, the full board receives a copy of the form 990 for review.”

“Score has a written conflict of interest policy which is reviewed and updated, if necessary, annually by the governance committee. Additionally, a disclosure statement along with the copy of the current policy is mailed to each board member annually for completion and acknowledgment. All disclosure statements are reviewed by the president and ceo and chairman of the board to determine if further action is needed.”

“The process for determining compensation includes: 1) a review and approval by the board of directors or compensation committee of the organization, 2) the use of data regarding comparable compensation for others in similar positions and 3) contemporaneous documentation and record keeping.”

“Governing documents, policies, and financial statements are available upon request.”

“The state collaborative on reforming education's (score) mission is to catalyze transformative change in tennessee education so that all students can achieve success in college, career, and life. Score is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan organization that supports student success across tennessee by ensuring all schools and systems meet high expectations; preparing, recruiting, supporting, and retaining excellent teachers and leaders; and aligning k-12 and college with career and life success.”

“Advocacy: score builds awareness and support for education issues and works to sustain momentum among organizations and individuals around improving student success in the state of tennessee. Score's efforts in 2020 included the following: - in the 2020 legislative session, score held several meetings with legislators, monitored more than 250 proposed pieces of legislation and developed analyses of 28 bills, with a focus on promoting literacy initiatives based in the science of reading; defending high academic standards, aligned assessment, and multiple measure teacher evaluation; promoting completion grants to improve postsecondary persistence and outcomes; supporting a streamlined, transparent financial aid process for students attending postsecondary; and supporting charter school facility needs. - score developed education policy ideas and recommendations for tennessee on key issues including supports for educators and students to accelerate learning amid and following the covid-19 pandemic; allocating federal stimulus resources; assessment and accountability; literacy; high-quality public charter schools; advanced coursework opportunities; and completion grants. - through the tennessee educator fellowship (tef), score helps educators develop deep knowledge of education policy and effective advocacy and communications skills. Tef engaged 60 educators in 2020 as the sixth cohort concluded and the seventh launched. Fellows and tef alumni shared their perspectives on key issues including literacy, educator evaluation, and charter school authorization during the 2020 legislative session and in more than 60 meetings with state legislators during the february 2020 day on the hill hosted by score. - score engaged 58 leaders through two cohorts of the complete tennessee leadership institute (ctli) in 2020. Score partnered with the hunt institute to conduct ctli, an annual program designed to support thought leaders from postsecondary institutions, k-12 districts, state and local government, and advocacy organizations to dive into higher education data, foster partnerships, explore innovative solutions, and work toward improved postsecondary completion across the state. Workshop topics in 2020 included equity and quality of access to higher education, supporting student success and completion, and responding to covid-19. - score convened over 400 participants from across the state for an early literacy summit. The summit convened educators, literacy experts, policymakers, and other education stakeholders to generate urgency for literacy and consider key strategies to ensure more students are reading on grade level in tennessee. - score provided leadership in clarifying public charter school policy priorities across organizations and convening partners to consider big issues facing the charter sector. In 2020, score worked to connect charter issues to the broader set of tennessee education priorities, elevate them as an area of focus for the state, and secure new state investment in charter facilities. - score partnered with higher education institutions on a social media campaign in the summer of 2020 called it's go time tennessee. The campaign focused on ensuring the class of 2020 graduates and current college students had the information they needed to pursue postsecondary opportunities in the fall, amid the covid-19 pandemic. Students were encouraged to enroll and finalize college-going plans to increase their chances of long-term career success.”

“Research and innovation: score researches key policies, develops tools and reports that elevate important topics, supports pilot efforts in communities across the state to identify proof points for what works to drive student success, and shares best practices to advance score's strategic priorities. In 2020, this work included: - score monitored available data, conducted public opinion polling, engaged stakeholders across the state, and stayed abreast of emerging research to monitor the state's progress and inform key education strategies and areas of focus. Score released two state of education in tennessee reports, outlining priorities for tennessee to advance student progress in the current context. The february 2020 release had over 180 people attend, and the december 2020 release had an attendance of 270. - score publicly released a series of 10 covid-19 impact memos on key challenges and opportunities amid the pandemic, focusing on a broad range of timely topics including summer learning, the digital divide, and teacher supports. - score released by the numbers, a first-of-its-kind index of education data on school performance, workforce development, and civic engagement in tennessee. The report helped inform key stakeholders about students' trajectories over time and highlighted opportunities to improve data collection, policy, and practice to drive greater progress for students. - score convened a p20 data working group to develop a strategy to improve access to and use of data across the k-12 to career continuum in order to provide valuable information about students' trajectories and inform interventions that drive student success. The working group developed an updated charge, purpose, and intended outcomes for its work, inclusive of both strategic practice and advocacy efforts to drive state-level change. - score released the driving forward: ensuring postsecondary students earn credentials in a changing economy report. The report provided a detailed overview of how economic recessions affect postsecondary education and the workforce, what the covid-19 crisis and economic fallout could mean for students pursuing degree, and policy options for policymakers and higher education leaders to consider moving forward. The virtual release event in july hosted over 180 attendees. - score convened a group of district and charter leaders from across the state that met regularly in 2020 to engage in professional learning and pilot innovative ideas to accelerate student learning amid the covid-19 pandemic. This group of educators convened virtually to collaborate on issues including: learning loss, safe school reopening, students' social and emotional needs, reengagement of chronically absent students, and supporting students across the critical transition from high school to postsecondary. They also conducted rapid "innovation cycles," two-week mini experiments to test strategies in response to the challenges posed by covid-19 such as high-dosage tutoring, flexible learning academies, student engagement in a virtual environment, and personalized advising. - score continued to convene and support the leading innovation for tennessee (lift) education network, which has focused on literacy work since 2016. Lift aims to build the capacity of educators to provide standards-aligned literacy instruction that supports students to build knowledge and develop foundational reading skills rooted in the science of reading. This work is accomplished through the use of high-quality instructional materials and aligned professional learning. In 2020, score expanded the lift network to include a total of 20 districts representing 231 schools across the state and serving more than 120,000 students. Score published the lift annual report to share lift's progress and lessons learned. - score released two additional reports to inform literacy policies, literacy instruction, and solutions being driven across the state: science of reading and urgenc”

“Activating philanthropy: score works to collaboratively support key partners as their efforts align with score's theory of change. In 2020: - score provided subgrants to organizations at the state level and in some of tennessee's largest cities that are committed to score's mission and vision for student success. These subgrants supported organizations to develop proof-points and expand their impact for students in ways that aligned with and informed statewide education priorities. For example, score partnered with nashville state community college (nscc) to engage in strategic planning to reorient the college toward the needs of students. The new strategic plan led to the formation of better together nashville, a joint effort of metro nashville public schools and nscc to focus and align college-to-career pathways with the help of improved data and knowledge-sharing systems. - score served as a fiscal sponsor for education efforts that advanced score's mission in order to facilitate philanthropic investment in tennessee education, strengthen alignment across initiatives statewide, and maximize effectiveness of projects. Through fiscal sponsorship, score supported student-centered efforts statewide, such as a pilot of a strong charter authorizer evaluation process; development of the tennessee educator preparation report card; and development of an online resource hub designed to make instructional materials and professional development resources more easily accessible, searchable, and actionable for educators and families as they shifted to virtual learning. Score also served as strategic adviser and fiscal sponsor for knox promise, a community-based comprehensive approach which provides knox county tennessee promise students with additional monetary and advisory support to attain postsecondary degrees and credentials. - score continued to administer the tennessee educational innovation fund (teif), a venture philanthropy fund that score launched in 2018 to provide support to efforts across tennessee that have the potential to advance student success in new and innovative ways. Through the teif, score supported initiatives aimed at supporting educators and students amid the covid-19 pandemic, including the tennessee rural acceleration and innovation network - which provided 15 rural school districts with technical assistance, implementation support, and strategic guidance to provide effective virtual instruction and develop viable reopening plans - and the principal professional learning series of virtual trainings on key problems of practice amid covid-19 available to all principals across the state. - score convened the tennessee learning circle (tlc) of education philanthropic leaders across the state to learn about best practices and consider education priorities for tennessee, with a focus on the impact of covid-19 and effective response strategies. The tlc shared collective ideas and priorities with state leaders, pushed each other's thinking, and continued to lead education efforts in their own communities.”

“Contract labor - miscellaneous contractors/consultants: program service expenses 0. Management and general expenses 905. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 905. Contract labor - project annual report: program service expenses 91,315. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 91,315. Contract labor - project tef alumni engagement: program service expenses 175,100. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 175,100. Contract labor - project out of state partner support: program service expenses 129,000. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 129,000. Contract labor - policy & research support: program service expenses 839,305. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 839,305. Contract labor - project strategic communications: program service expenses 151,583. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 151,583. Contract labor - advocacy outreach support: program service expenses 32,500. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 32,500. Contract labor - technical assistance support: program service expenses 247,458. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 247,458. Contract labor - polling: program service expenses 151,400. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 151,400. Contract labor - project tef: program service expenses 5,460. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 5,460. Contract labor - project lift: program service expenses 100,990. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 100,990. Contract labor - complete tn: program service expenses 6,945. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 6,945. Contract labor - policy memo/reports: program service expenses 41,350. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 41,350.”