Tennessee Early Literacy Network (TN Department of Education)

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) is working with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to form networked-improvement communities as part of the Tennessee Early Literacy Network (TELN), led by the state’s regional offices. TELN brings districts together to collaborate in seeking practical solutions to a defined problem of practice and engaging in continuous improvement cycles to learn what works in solving the problem in their specific context. In the near term, the aim of TELN is to improve early reading outcomes (read more about Tennessee’s focus on early literacy here). In the longer-term, these improvement networks are intended to shift how the TDOE empowers and builds capacity of regions and districts to problem solve, find better solutions, and improve student achievement in their own unique contexts – part of the effort to empower districts under the Commissioner’s Tennessee Succeeds strategic plan.