Friday, August 10, 2018
LovinNewsWEEKLY
JMCSS teacher among select group of TNReady Ambassadors
LOVINEDUCATION READING OVER SUMMER BREAK EARNS STUDENTS INVITATION TO GOVERNOR’S MANSION JACKSON, Tenn. – When dinner is served at the governor’s mansion, Sunday, two elementary students from the JacksonMadison County School System will be among the special guests. Isabella Hammond and Anna Marie Wyatt, both students at Community Montessori School, are among Tennessee’s Top 100 Summer Readers. Hammond, a second grader, and Wyatt, a first grader, had to read a minimum of 2,000 minutes to be eligible for a spot in a lottery for the special invitation by First Lady Crissy Haslam. Rising kindergarteners to rising 4th graders were challenged to track the number of minutes they either read, were read to or listened to audio books between June 1 and July 27. Students earned an additional entry in the lottery for each 1,000 extra minutes they read past the required 2,000 minutes. Each winner along with a parent will take part in a celebratory Kids State Dinner with Governor Bill Haslam and the First Lady at the Tennessee Residence in Nashville on Sunday, August 12. The First Lady’s Statewide Summer Reading Competition is a free summer-long literacy challenge designed to motivate children to read more books and visit their local library over summer break.
ANNA MARIE WYATT
ISABELLA HAMMOND
MADISON COUNTY STUDENTS RECEIVE SCHOLARSHIPS TO ATTEND UT MARTIN MARTIN, Tenn. – Several Madison County students have been awarded scholarships to attend the University of Tennessee at Martin for the 2018-2019 academic year, according to Dr. James Mantooth, executive director, Office of Enrollment Services and Student Engagement. Krossmon Brown, son of McAuthor and Angelina Brown, of Jackson, will be a freshman. He received the Achieve Scholarship. Josh Hogg, of Jackson, will be a sophomore. He received the Elam Transfer Advance Scholarship. Bethany Rhodes, daughter of Rowdy and Misty Rhodes, of Beech Bluff, will be a freshman. She received the Elam Transfer Promise Scholarship. Madison Sisco, of Mercer, daughter of Buffy and Damon Porch and Jeff and Serena Sisco, will be a freshman. She received the Dean Scholarship. Additional information on scholarships and other types of financial assistance is available by contacting the UT Martin Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, 205 Administration Building, UT Martin, Martin, TN, 38238, or by calling (731) 881-7040. IN
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JACKSON, Tenn. – Jackson-Madison County teaching veteran Tiffani Harris has been selected for an important role in the future of the state’s standardized test known as TNReady. She and just 36 other educators, selected from more than 900 applicants from across Tennessee, have been chosen as the first-ever TNReady Ambassadors. They are tasked with serving as advisers, providing on-the-ground perspective and feedback during the 2018-2019 school year. “I feel honored to have been chosen from so many applicants,” she admitted. “I know there were so many qualified applicants who deserve this opportunity as well.” Harris, who has been an educator for 18 years, currently serves as consulting teacher at Liberty Technology Magnet High School. “I hope to gain a better understanding of the TNReady mathematics assessment design,” Harris explained. “I believe it is a great opportunity to gain more insight from the state’s angle.” With a background as a math teacher, Harris has also served as an assistant principal at Liberty and Jackson Central-Merry High School and worked as Math Supervisor for the District. “My primary responsibility as an ambassador is to serve as a math content expert for other math teachers,” Harris explained. She said that will include participating in item reviews, field testing TNReady versions, providing feedback on test directions and scripts, and conducting content review focused on alignment of test questions to Tennessee standards. “I will also observe human scoring and review test blueprints,” she added. The Jackson native and South Side High School alumna expects her year-long assignment to be quite the commitment, but one she is looking forward to. “I expect hours after school per week and hours on the weekend,” she said. “But since the work is very similar to what I currently do, I don’t feel like the position is ‘work’ as much as it will help me in my current role.” All ambassadors will receive stipends from the state for their work. Harris holds a Bachelor’s from the University of Tennessee at Martin and earned her Master’s and Education Specialist from Freed-Hardeman University. She and her husband, Vincent, have a 3-year-old daughter, Karter. The TNReady Ambassadors will meet as a group in Nashville in September. However, Harris said they have already received a calendar of expectations through their year of service, which ends in July of 2019. The ambassador program is just one of several adjustments that have been made by the Tennessee Department of Education to better ensure that students can take the TNReady without disruption. They include the hiring of a new Executive Director of Assessment Logistics and a TNReady Customer Service Specialist.