Image Credit: Greene County Schools & Canva
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
A Tennessee school director who wants lawmakers to crack down on homeschooling oversees a district where only a third of graduating seniors are ready for college or careers.
Among the four high schools in Greene County, the average composite score from the most recent ACT exam results was 18.5, down from 19.1 in 2024.
Under Tennessee’s state accountability system, a score of 21 out of 36 indicates college and career readiness.
Statewide, approximately 37 percent of the total 2025 graduating cohort met the ACT benchmark of 21.
In Greene County, only 33.2 percent of the 2025 graduating class made a 21 on the exam.
Average scores on the four different parts of the test were as follows:
English: 18
Math 18.3
Reading 18.4
Science 18.6
When it comes to the district as a whole, TCAP scores from earlier in the year show that roughly half or less of all students across grades K-12 are meeting academic standards. High school TCAP scores show approximately a third of students meeting Math standards, about 40 percent meeting expectations in Science and Social Science, and barely half of all high schoolers meeting state standards in English Language Arts.
Greene County Schools consider this year’s ACT scores a “success” as it is higher than the national average.
A press release from Greene County Schools stated that the district remains “committed to preparing every graduate for success in postsecondary education, workforce pathways, and lifelong learning.”
Director of Schools Dr. Chris Malone said, “The district will continue monitoring student progress and expanding ACT preparation support as part of its broader college and career readiness initiative.”
The Tennessee Conservative recently reported that Malone provided a report to the Greene County Board of Education on the growing number of homeschoolers in the county.
Malone has said that he is concerned that some families use homeschooling as a way to avoid truancy issues or investigations by the Department of Children’s Services and has asked State Representative David Hawk (R-Greeneville-District 5) to address the issue in the upcoming legislative session starting January 13th, 2026.
There are now approximately 1,400 students in Greeneville and Greene County who are being educated at home. Malone reports that the number of homeschooled students had gone up about 200 since the beginning of the current school year.
Malone, who presented on the need for legislation around increasing homeschooling numbers in November at the Niswonger Foundation Legislative Convening, says he supports homeschooling families doing it the “right way” but says there is concern across the state about a loophole in Tennessee law that allows parents to escape scrutiny.
A similar argument was debated during this year’s legislative session when a bill aimed at creating an additional option for homeschooling families in the state died in the House Education Administration Subcommittee over concerns that without state oversight, parents might abuse their children.
Endorsed by both state and national homeschooling advocates, the “Family Right to Educational Emancipation Act” or FREE Act would have made Tennessee the 14th state to enact similar legislation.
The FREE Act would have created a new independent category for homeschooling that would have been exempt from compulsory school attendance while also keeping homeschool families under this new option free of any data collection, reporting, or assessment requirements.
However, keeping children in public school in Tennessee is not a guarantee that they will be safe.
The state’s last report on educator sexual misconduct gave Tennessee an F.
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
Excellent reporting and oh so revealing. It is funny how educrats, bureaucrats and politicians are all ‘demanding’ accountability of parents in their efforts to home school their very own children! Yet, these same hypocrites want immunity for their lack of performance in doing their jobs! They’ll never get it….distrust of election, educational and lawmaking results is all generated from their very own lack of accountability. Homeschooling in Greene County is increasing because parents are understandably concerned about the lack of education being provided in their schools. Yet, now these educrats are wanting MORE regulation on the parents – this would make a great SITCOM if it weren’t true! Talk abut ‘calling the kettle black’! How about some accountability for more public trust FIRST! And, leave our individual rights alone – in fact, the stone walling of the FREE ACT is just more fuel to the fire of current mistrust of our educational, political and governmental leaders. Will they ever ‘get it’?
I’m going to step out on a limb and say this man is a flaming liberal. He wants the crackdown on home schools because they have NO control over those children.
I for one hopes and prays for more children’s parents to go to homeschools for the future or private CHRISTIAN schools.
If I remember correctly, at the time of the establishment of the “education” lottery, the lottery scholarships initially required an ACT score of 21 to qualify, which at the time was the average score for Tennessee students. This was determined to be racist, so the qualifying score was dropped to below the average in order to qualify for the academic scholarship. The average score has dropped statewide after 10+ years of Common Core “State” Standards and the invasion of illegal aliens into public schools topped off with Bill Lee lockdowns. Costs increase for the increased percentage of ESL students as more illegals enter the system. As families exit the public system, the system scores will continue to drop. Federal funds are jeopardized (except for turning every school into Title 1). “Beating the state” average is a canard that gets easier every year – with ever decreasing scores. Especially when the vast majority of students in the average are from Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga.
Folks are sick of lucifer’s accursed anti-God, dimmercrap ran, pubic ejikashun’s abject failure at true basic education and of their leftist indoctrination.