What is Bright Start Tennessee?
Bright Start TN is a statewide network of community partnerships bridging opportunity gaps so children thrive by third grade.
Now in 8 regions across our state, Bright Start community partnerships assemble teams of experts and practitioners deploying evidence-informed strategies to strengthen their local early childhood care and education systems.
What are the goals of Bright Start Tennessee?
Our north star is third-grade reading and math proficiency, which is correlated with several outcomes, including high school graduation rates. Drawing upon decades of research, BSTN has identified three domains of care that directly influence this goal: High-Quality Birth-through-Age-Eight Learning Environments, Physical Health, Mental Health, and Development on track beginning at birth, and supported and supportive families and communities.
Further, we established 15 research-backed measures of success of success that guide the work.
Who are the members of the network?
Currently, the BSTN network consists of 8 community partnerships that cover 60% of the state. Each community has an early childhood care and education plan supported by a backbone organization that anchors and drives the work. Their work includes experts and practitioners in child care and early learning, health and mental health, family engagement and wrap-around supports, and K-12 education, as well as community organizations, government leaders, and various child-supporting agencies. These plans are packed with evidence-informed strategies. The 8 community partnerships and their backbone organizations include:
- Nashville/Davidson County, coordinated by United Way of Greater Nashville, NEEC, PN3
- Memphis/Shelby County, coordinated by First 8 Memphis
- Chattanooga/Hamilton County, coordinated by Chattanooga 2.0
- Knoxville/Knox County, coordinated by United Way of Greater Knoxville
- West TN, coordinated by United Way of West Tennessee
- Northeast TN, coordinated by the STRONG Accountable Care Community/ Ballad Health
- South Central TN, coordinated by United Way of South Central TN, MTSU
- Upper Cumberland, coordinated by Upper Cumberland Development District
How does the network organize to support early childhood care and education?
- Using data to better understand barriers to early learning
- Identifying and leveraging existing local and state assets and resources
- Establishing and scaling evidence-based and promising strategies
- Tracking outcomes and using data for continuous improvement
- Sharing learnings among peer communities and with local and state policymakers
- Informing TQEE’s state policy agenda and expanding the advocacy network for young children and their families
What Tools and Resources Does TQEE Provide to Support the Bright Start Tennessee Network
TQEE supports communities through a variety of ways: We offer a “Bright Start Playbook” as a guide to support their strategic planning; a framework for success anchored in 15 research-backed measures of success; the Data Dashboard to provide insights into their work; a Strategies Clearinghouse with research-backed strategies to consider for their work; regular opportunities to learn together including the annual ALIGN conference; involvement in state policy discussions and supported opportunities for engaging with state policymakers; and more.
Why is Bright Start Tennessee Network important?
The Bright Start TN Network fosters statewide collaboration, drives systemic change at the state and local levels, and advocates for policies that improve early education outcomes.
What are the benefits of being part of Bright Start Tennessee?
Bright Start Tennessee partners get access to localized data and strategic planning support, ongoing communities of practice webinars with state, local, and national experts, dedicated days on the hill with local legislators, and a statewide network of knowledgeable leaders in the ECE space.
How can someone get involved with Bright Start Tennessee?
Want to get involved with BSTN? Connect with your local Bright Start community, donate to support the continued work, write to your legislators supporting bills uplifting ECE in TN, and sign up for our BSTN newsletter for regular updates and learning opportunities.
What is Bright Start Tennessee’s long-term vision?
Bright Start TN envisions a world where all Tennessee children are proficient in reading and math by third grade and beyond, and have the resources, support, and opportunities necessary to thrive.
