TN ALL Corps
To address learning loss from instructional gaps in the spring of 2020 and 2020-21 school year, the Tennessee Accelerating Literacy and Learning Corps (TN ALL Corps) was established under Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-6-1507. During the 2021-22 school year through summer 2024, Tennessee school district served more than 225,000 students using a high-dosage, low-ratio tutoring model. This effort was initially supported by ESSER grants benefitting 87 school districts and 5 community partners. The model was expanded to support students who have tutoring as part of a required promotion pathway in the 2022-23 school year, leveraging the state’s growing expertise in effective high-dosage, low-ratio tutoring.
TN ALL Corps Model
The TN ALL Corps tutoring model offers targeted instruction for 30-45 minutes 2-3 times per week in small groups. The content follows a Learning Acceleration approach, helping students access grade-level content by frontloading upcoming concepts, extending practice of grade-level content or revisiting skills and standards. By aligning content in tutoring with content in core classroom instruction, the model ensures instructional coherence and expands access to grade-level content.
Information for Districts and Tutors
- The department offers two TN ALL Corps Tutor Training courses to fulfil the requirement of tutors being certified to provide TN ALL Corps high-dosage, low-ratio tutoring.
- The Aspiring and Alternative Educator course, designed for non-licensed educators, consists of six asynchronous training modules covering everything from the basics of tutoring to academic best practices. It is more comprehensive and should take approximately 6-8 hours to complete.
- The Licensed Educator course, designed for licensed educators, focuses on best practices in tutoring. It consists of three asynchronous modules and should take approximately 2 hours to complete.
Resources for Grades 4 through 8
In partnership with Niswonger’s Project On Track, Bristol Tennessee City Schools developed the following resources for ELA support that fundamentally support access to grade level content in Tier I classroom instruction in grades 4 through 8.
The department currently supports five community partners in Tennessee: Literacy Mid-South, Niswonger Foundation, United Way of Greater Chattanooga, United Way of Greater Knoxville and United Way of Middle Tennessee.
The Connected Literacy Program provides tutoring support to students in grades 1-3. Tutoring is grounded in Tennessee’s Foundational Skills Curriculum Supplement. The primary focus of Connected Literacy is to provide vital early grades literacy support, resulting in more students becoming proficient readers over the next few years. This work connects to the Tennessee Department of Education’s (TDOE) Best For All strategic plan and is positioned within Tennessee’s Accelerate TN initiative as it provides students with quality foundational literacy skills tutoring.
Connected Literacy grants are awarded to TDOE approved community partners who work with a district to recruit tutors and families, coordinate, and schedule learning supports, and provide family engagement opportunities.