Nashville, TN – Today, Tuesday, September 8th, 2020, the Tennessee Department of Education?announced a third phase of its partnership with statewide PBS stations to help ensure children continue to have access to educational content throughout the fall semester.
Starting September 8th, all six Tennessee PBS stations– WNPT Nashville, East Tennessee PBS, WCTE Upper Cumberland, WKNO Memphis, West TN PBS, and Chattanooga WTCI – will offer high quality educational programming weekdays from 9:00am –11:00am CST, through the fall semester.
For the month of September, programming will focus on ELA and math for 1st- 4th grades.
“We are incredibly grateful for to our partners at PBS across the state who are continuing to help provide access to educational content to Tennessee families and students,” said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. “These videos– created by Tennessee teachers in Tennessee classrooms—were viewed heavily through the spring and summer, so we are excited to continue the partnership and help keep students reading, exploring, and learning throughout the fall semester.”
In collaboration with Tennessee teachers and districts, the department created an at-home learning series consisting of a total of 320 virtual classroom lessons providing ELA and Math instruction for 1st –8th grade students, to help ensure children had access to learning opportunities regardless of internet connectivity in their home. The video lessons are also available on the department’s YouTube page and have had more than 100,000 views there since the spring.
“Getting academic instruction daily is so critical for our students, but not everyone has reliable access to the internet,” said Eric Lomax, director of Perry County Schools. “PBS has always been a supporter of public education and we are thankful that kids across the state will continue to have access to these videos, broadcasting right from their TVs, during the fall semester.”
As the school year is now in full swing, families will have access to learning opportunities for their children regardless of school or district instruction model. During the fall semester, the schedule will be updated on the department’s PBS Teaching Tennessee webpage and the PBS affiliate stations’ websites.
Schedule for September 8th- September 25th, Monday through Friday:
- 9:00 AM CT: 1stGrade ELA
- 9:30 AM CT: 1stGrade Math
- 10:00 AM CT: 2ndGrade ELA
- 10 :30 AM CT: 2ndGrade Math
Schedule for September 28th- October 2n, Monday through Friday:
- 9:00am CT: 3rd Grade ELA
- 9:30am CT: 3rd Grade Math
- 10:00am CT: 4th Grade ELA
- 10:30am CT: 4th Grade Math
“The Tennessee public television stations are committed to serving our children and families every day. This partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education allows us to provide an intentional block of teacher created content that will reach every home in our state,” said Becky Magura, President and CEO of WCTE. “We are thrilled to once again offer a new season of valuable content provided by our Tennessee Department of Education and featuring Tennessee teachers!”
In response to COVID-19 school closures, the TDOE-PBS partnership launched April 6th. From June through August, the partnership continued with the Summer Learning Series and featured PBS LearningMedia programming that was specifically chosen for a continued focus on early literacy and math, aligned to Tennessee standards.
For access to additional resources related to reopening schools, visit the Tennessee Department of Education’s Reopening webpage: https://www.tn.gov/education/health-and-safety/update-on-coronavirus/reopening-guidance.html.
