About The SCORE Prize
The SCORE Prize, created in 2011, recognizes Tennessee public schools and districts that are leaders in learning and exemplify the work that is moving Tennessee toward the goal of preparing every student for success after high school. SCORE annually awards the SCORE Prize to one elementary school, one middle school, one high school, and one school district. The schools that win the SCORE Prize are awarded $10,000 each, and the district winners receive $25,000.
Finalists and winners are identified carefully based on student achievement gains and replicable best practices and policies that lead to sustainable improvements for students.
The SCORE Prize seeks to achieve three goals:
- To identify and reward schools and districts that are demonstrating great student outcomes
- To learn from high-performing schools and districts across Tennessee
- To share best practices and success stories from schools and districts that are implementing sudent-focused, data-driven changes
Selecting Finalists And Winners
The process of identifying the three SCORE Prize finalists in each category begins with looking at student achievement data. All public schools and districts in Tennessee that meet the selection criteria, including having three years of relevant assessment data, are included in the initial review. SCORE works with a selection committee made up of education stakeholders from across Tennessee and education leaders from outside the state. To ensure that individual bias does not affect the selection of finalists, the identity of each school and district is not revealed, even to SCORE, until after the finalists are chosen.
School site visits are a crucial component of the evidence used to identify winners and enable SCORE to highlight and share best practices with other schools and districts throughout the state. Following the identification of finalists, members of the selection committee visit each finalist to gather and document evidence of the steps taken to improve student achievement outcomes and better prepare all students for college and the workforce. Visits include classroom observations, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews.
After all visits have been completed, the selection committee meets to discuss the findings as well as review the data again. Each selection committee member casts a ballot to select a winner in each category. The winners are announced at a SCORE Prize event in the fall.