Tennesseans for Quality Early Education (TQEE)

Our thoughts and prayers are with colleagues, friends, and families of the communities that experienced catastrophic damage from Hurricane Helene. Please consider supporting the efforts of Beth Huber as her team organizes and delivers social-emotional kits and prepares comforting spaces for children and families in the impacted areas.

Great resource on mindfulness activities to support healthy adult-child interactions. Especially relevant in light of the recent Surgeon General advisory noting 48% of parents feeling overwhelmed by stress most days: https://bit.ly/4eDTp81

Nominations are pouring in for the first annual Tennessee Early Educator Awards! These awards aim to honor exceptional early childhood educators, elevate the early childhood education profession, and highlight the critical role high-quality early education plays for Tennessee’s children, families, and communities. Nominate your favorite Early Educator by following the link and completing the form by Friday, August 2, and noon Central Time. https://lnkd.in/d-nnwikM Don't miss out! 20 deserving awardees from across Tennessee will receive $1000 cash, a shopping spree at Lakeshore Learning, a trip to Nashville, and other fun surprises! A special thanks to our presenting sponsor Lakeshore Learning Materials and our supporting sponsors Ballad Health, Hyde Family Foundation, The Boyd Foundation, Niswonger Foundation , and CRISP Communications, LLC Good Luck!

Nominations are underway for TQEE's first annual Tennessee Early Educator Awards! These awards aim to honor exceptional early childhood educators, elevate the early childhood education profession, and highlight the critical role high-quality early education plays for Tennessee’s children, families, and communities. Nominate your favorite Early Educator by following the link and completing the form by Friday, August 2, and noon Central Time. https://lnkd.in/d-nnwikM 20 deserving awardees from across Tennessee will receive $1000 cash, a shopping spree at Lakeshore Learning, a trip to Nashville, and other fun surprises! A special thanks to our presenting sponsor Lakeshore Learning Materials and our supporting sponsors Ballad Health, Hyde Family Foundation, The Boyd Foundation, Niswonger Foundation, and CRISP Communications, LLC Good Luck! #TNEarlyEducatorAwards #teacherawards #TQEE #Loudvoicesforlittlekids #earlyeducation

Hey Tennessee early childhood advocates and voters! Early voting for state legislative primary elections is underway --July 12-27th! 🔔 🔔 🔔 And primary election day is Aug 1. 💡BUT...KNOW BEFORE YOU VOTE! Ask the candidates if they'll prioritize policies that support Tennessee's young children and families! We surveyed voters across the state. They're overwhelmingly in favor of smart investments in early childhood care and education – let’s make sure TN’s state policymakers are too! Check out this link where you can get some good tips and find out where to vote, who's running for election, and more. 👇 👇 👇 https://lnkd.in/eM5-fXgp ♻️ Repost this and encourage others to be a loud voice for little kids! #loudvoicesforlittlekids #knowbeforeyouvote #earlychildhood

TQEE is thrilled to announce the launch of the first annual Tennessee Early Educator Awards. These awards aim to honor exceptional early childhood educators, elevate the early childhood education profession, and highlight the critical role high-quality early education plays for Tennessee’s children, families, and communities.   Nominate your favorite Early Educator by following the link and completing the form by Friday, August 2, noon Central Time.  https://lnkd.in/d-nnwikM   20 deserving awardees from across Tennessee will receive $1000 cash, a shopping spree at Lakeshore Learning, a trip to Nashville, and other fun surprises!    A special thanks to our presenting sponsor Lakeshore Learning Materials and our supporting sponsors Ballad Health, Hyde Family Foundation, The Boyd Foundation, the Niswonger Foundation, and CRISP Communications, LLC.   Good Luck!

The 2023-24 TCAP scores were released by Tennessee Department of Education today. While growth from last year was modest, the good news is that third grade ELA and math proficiency rates have steadily improved since recent lows driven by the pandemic. (Note: This chart shows scores since the year before the pandemic and the years following. State testing was not administered in 2020 due to the pandemic).  >>> Yet, with roughly 60% of Tennessee’s third graders not proficient, we have our work cut out for us. Third grade reading and math proficiency is a well-documented and crucial springboard for future academic and life success; and it depends on a strong early learning foundation. 📣 Let’s call on state policymakers to make the investments necessary to support young children, families and early educators so our kiddos can thrive!   If you're willing to help get the word out, put "Be a loud voice for little TN kids!" in the comments. That'll help expand the reach of this post. Thank you! #loudvoicesforlittlekids #TCAP #literacy #earlychildhood

Bright Start TN – an initiative of TQEE that brings together a statewide network of community partnerships dedicated to accelerating early learning outcomes and closing achievement and opportunity gaps for Tennessee children birth through third grade. Community partnerships are working toward the goal of increasing the percentage of third grade children who are proficient in reading and math. To accomplish this, they are: Using data to better understand barriers to early learning Identifying and leveraging existing local and state assets and resources Establishing and scaling evidence-based and promising strategies Tracking outcomes and using data for continuous improvement Sharing learnings among peer communities and with local and state policymakers Informing TQEE’s state policy agenda and expanding our advocacy network While each Bright Start TN partnership plan is unique, each incorporates goals and strategies in three major areas: High-quality birth-through-age-eight learning environments Health and development beginning at birth Supportive and supported families and communities

Bright Start Community partnerships are working toward the goal of increasing the percentage of third grade children who are proficient in reading and math. To accomplish this, they are: Using data to better understand barriers to early learning Identifying and leveraging existing local and state assets and resources Establishing and scaling evidence-based and promising strategies Tracking outcomes and using data for continuous improvement Sharing learnings among peer communities and with local and state policymakers Informing TQEE’s state policy agenda and expanding our advocacy network While each Bright Start TN partnership plan is unique, each incorporates goals and strategies in three major areas: High-quality birth-through-age-eight learning environments Health and development beginning at birth Supportive and supported families and communities

Tennessee Early Educators, We honor YOU for all YOU do for the next generation of leaders. TQEE celebrates YOU for fighting to ensure all Tennessee children get the quality early care and education they need to power our state’s future. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!