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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
A committee that is responsible for reviewing English Language Arts (ELA) standards in Tennessee public schools for grades K-12 is recommending revising reading standards to include more diverse texts.
If approved, the new standards would have students “consider a wide range of narrative and authorial voices, experiences, and diverse cultural perspectives across places and times.”
Tasked with reviewing 531 ELA academic standards, the Standards Recommendation Committee is making the recommendation in part due to letters written by EdTrust-Tennessee, an education advocacy group that asked for new standards promoting cultural awareness and the understanding of the perspectives of others.
EdTrust’s reasoning for the requested change comes from more than 40 percent of Tennessee public school students being students of color.
In their June 2025 letter, which was co-signed by several organizations including the NAACP Tennessee State Conference, the group wrote that students benefit from seeing their own identities, and those of their classmates, being reflected in the stories that they read. The group states that the “majority” of reading material in the state’s public schools are written by white authors.
Director of Policy and Academics at the State Board, Breanna Sommers, pointed out to committee members that any changes made must align with Tennessee’s prohibited concepts law.
The two-year long standards review for ELA began last summer, kicked off by a public feedback survey. The standards have already been reviewed and revised several times by the Educator Advisory Team and the Standards Development Committee, made up of higher education professionals and K-12 educators.
The Standards Recommendation Committee consists of eight members. These are appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house. They have looked at the proposed standards, and a second survey, in order to create a final draft of standards for ELA which will go to the State Board of Education.
Standards drive the adoption of textbooks, local curriculum, and assessments. This latest overhaul of state standards will go into effect for the 2029-2030 school year.
The State Board of Education must meet two times in order to discuss the drafted standards and to vote on them. A final reading is expected next February.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
4 Responses
“Education” is terminally infested with lucifer’s accursed dimmercraps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pFr0qvpxKI
To solve all of this is to get rid of public schools all together. Children can either be home schooled, tutored, or sent to private school. The excuse of, well some can’t afford it, is absolute BS. Libraries have ton of material, on line, and scholarships are offered at private schools. A donation fund can be set up though charities, so the notion that children have to have public school is BS. Parents are not parents anymore and really haven’t been since the Boomer were old enough to be parents. Women think they need to work instead of being home raising and educating their kids. Women today believe having kids as a burden or a paycheck- for any woman who feels that way, don’t have kids.
Education is not about educating, it’s about control of the future and a place were “parents” don’t have to care about their kids for the next 8 hours of the day. ” the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” William Ross Wallace. So the questions becomes, you want to be ruled from your knees or do you want the powers that be to be ruled by you?
Amen!
“Education” is terminally infested with lucifer’s accursed dimmercraps running their gubmint babysitting racket.
ABOSLUTELY NOT. Remove the committee members: they are worshipers of satan and hate this county and God.