Best for All Central Reaches 250K Visits, Hundreds of New Resources Added
Districts Partner with TN Teachers on New Videos and Resources for Families and Educators
NASHVILLE, TN—Best for All Central, Tennessee’s Hub for Learning and Teaching, has reached over 250,000 visits since launching in early August, and is now home to more than 1,400 high-quality resources for families and educators.
Tennessee school districts have created hundreds of new resources for the tool, which focus on instructional videos for kindergarten through 8th graders in both English Language Arts and Math. Additional classroom videos include K-2 foundational literacy and math lessons, science lessons, a Pre-K video series, additional teacher professional development resources, and Career and Technical Education (CTE) activities.
Best for All Central is an online tool and resource hub designed to provide school leaders, educators, and families an extensive collection of high-quality, optional resources to support teaching and learning. As Tennessee's online hub for best-in-class instructional and professional development materials, the resources are all designed to be easily accessible, searchable, and free. The department launched this tool as a top priority to support Tennessee’s districts, educators, and families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Our teachers, school leaders, and district staff are working incredibly hard to serve students right now,” said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. “The department is partnering with school districts across the state to continue adding resources to Best for All Central—providing free, high-quality resources for our educators on everything from lessons for CTE to videos modeling Pre-K activities developed right here in Tennessee. This year may look different than a typical school year, but Tennessee is coming together to meet the needs of all students. We are especially grateful for the districts that have created instructional videos and look forward to working with other districts to build even more resources.”
Best for All Central can be accessed at http://bestforall.tnedu.gov/.
Overton County Schools, Fentress County Schools, and Marshall County Schools have been creating instructional videos serving various grades through recovery relief funding grants from the department.
An additional round of grant funding is available for districts interested in developing or sharing previously created remote learning videos. Videos may be developed using instructional materials districts have already adopted at the local level. To be considered for this grant funding opportunity, districts should complete the short informational document linked here. The department will review applicants on a rolling basis through November 16, 2020.
Director Sorrells of Marshall County stated, “Marshall County is very happy to work with the state to offer these lessons. We are also very proud of our teachers for taking on this additional task.”
Tammy Lewis, Instructional Supervisor at Marshall County, commented, "We are honored that Marshall County teachers were chosen to create video lessons for our locally adopted curriculum. We are excited to be part of a project that will benefit students from across the state of Tennessee."
Ginnie Jackson, sixth grade ELA teacher at Rickman Elementary School in Overton County Schools, noted, "I consider it an honor to represent Rickman Elementary School in the Best for All Central and district video grants initiative. This project is challenging me to reflect upon my own instruction, examine our locally adopted curriculum and state standards more closely, and develop lessons that will be practical and easily utilized for all students across Tennessee."
Fentress County Schools’s Instructional Supervisor Rhonda Roysden said, “Fentress County Schools is so excited for the opportunity to partner with the State of Tennessee to create math videos for students, families, and teachers across the state. While getting to share some of our amazing teachers with students across the state, the students in Fentress County will benefit immensely. Our teachers are working extremely hard to create Tennessee Standards-aligned math videos to support both teaching and learning."
Recently added resources include:
- CTE materials and student activities are available for the following career clusters: Agriculture, Food, and Natural Sciences; Business Management and Administration; Health Science; STEM; Transportation; Hospitality and Tourism; Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security.
- Fall 2020 academic classroom videos on ELA, math, and science continue to be added, which are intended to provide districts with weekly content on core areas of instruction. A new K-2 math foundations video series is also included.
- TN Foundational Skills Curriculum Supplement Resources, including implementation guides, teacher professional learning videos, intervention tools, and model video lessons. Included in these resources are early childhood videos that provide weekly 10- to 15-minute preschool literacy videos featuring five interactive learning centers in which children can play and learn as they watch.
- TN Foundational Skills Curriculum Sounds-first Activities: Videos model teacher moves for the sound-first activities embedded in the supplement instruction and provide practical professional learning supports for foundational reading skills and implementation supports for the TN Foundational Skills Curriculum Supplement.
- New trauma-informed professional development for teachers and school leaders to support students who have experienced trauma, create a trauma-informed school, and strategies for schoolwide trauma-informed responses to behavior.
- New professional development resources are available on ensuring access to virtual instruction for all students during COVID-19 and best practices for substitute teachers.
Along with all new resources for professional development, standards, and an additional series of instructional videos, Best for All Central makes resources provided by the department more easily accessible for educators and families all in one place— including 320 PBS Teaching Tennessee lessons and companion guides, the STE(A)M Resource Hub, Foundational Skills Curriculum Supplement, and Professional Learning Community (PLC) guides.
Additionally, the site features user guides along with the ability to filter and search for instructional and professional development resources by grade level, subject, topic, audience, and more.
The resources in the online tool are designed to accommodate various levels of Wi-Fi and technology accessibility in mind, and many of them can be utilized online, downloaded, or printed for later use.
For additional information on the department’s COVID-19 and school reopening related resources, please visit https://www.tn.gov/education/health-and-safety/update-on-coronavirus/reopening-guidance.html. For Tennessee Department of Education media inquiries, contact Edu.MediaInquiries@tn.gov.
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