Tennessee State Board of Education Seeks Feedback on Revised K-12 English Language Arts Standards

The Tennessee State Board of Education launched its second round survey to collect public feedback on the state’s newly revised K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) academic standards, requesting public feedback through March 31, 2025.

The State Board of Education is charged in state law to review and approve ELA, social studies, science, and math standards at least every eight years. The K-12 ELA academic standards set grade-specific goals that establish what students are expected to know and be able to do by the end of a given grade or course. Tennessee’s ELA Academic Standards are skill-based, including drafting arguments supported by evidence, and vertically aligned from kindergarten through 12th grade to ensure students are postsecondary and career-ready regardless of pathway or profession.

During the two public review periods, the State Board invites Tennesseans to share their feedback on the state’s K-12 ELA academic standards through an online survey. Members of the public can review the recommended changes to all sections of Tennessee’s ELA Academic Standards. The survey includes options to indicate whether a standard should be kept, changed, removed, or moved to a different grade level, as well as space to indicate if a new standard should be added.

The first round of public feedback collected almost 25,000 comments from teachers, education leaders, and parents. At the conclusion of the first survey window, teams of Tennessee educators from K-12 schools and higher education reviewed the public comments, which informed their proposed revisions. These revisions are now available for public review in the second survey window.

Following the second survey, the Standards Recommendation Committee (SRC) — a public body appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the House of Representatives — will review the proposed revisions alongside public comments to finalize standards revisions to recommend to the State Board of Education for final adoption. These steps combine public input and expert vetting in a transparent and inclusive way.

Adopting the revised standards kicks off a preparation process that includes educator training, aligned textbooks and instructional materials review and adoption, and aligning state assessments to the revised standards. After these processes are complete, the revised ELA academic standards will be implemented in Tennessee classrooms during the 2029-30 school year.

An overview of the academic standards review process is available on the State Board of Education website. Any questions on the academic standards review process should be sent to [email protected].