Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE)

What Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) does

Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) education advocacy nonprofit founded in 2009 and headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The organization is chaired by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and led by President and CEO David Mansouri. SCORE's mission is to transform Tennessee education so that all students can achieve success from kindergarten through career. Its work spans three integrated functions: policy advocacy with state legislators and the Tennessee Department of Education; direct practice and implementation with school districts, charter networks, and postsecondary educator preparation programs; and research and data analysis that informs both advocacy and practice.

SCORE's core offerings are research publications, statewide frameworks, and practitioner networks rather than software products. Key assets include the annual State of Education report; the TN2030 statewide goals framework launched in 2022; the Impact Credential Framework co-developed with 25+ cross-sector partners; the Lead in Literacy Network aligning educator preparation programs with the science of reading; the Tennessee AI Ecosystems Project, a network of nine districts launched in 2024 with Playlab and Google.org; and the West Tennessee Pathway Network convening four rural districts with Ford Motor Company sponsorship. Distribution is direct: policy engagement, district partnerships, network convenings, and a publicly accessible resource library on tnscore.org.

The business model is grant- and donation-funded. SCORE generates no revenue from fees for its services, publications, or events; all resources are provided free to stakeholders. Funders identified in the source material include Google.org and Ford Motor Company, alongside broader foundation, corporate, and individual philanthropy. Revenue figures, audited financials, and funding round details are not publicly disclosed.

Name

Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE)

Legal name

State Collaborative on Reforming Education

Website

https://tnscore.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tennessee SCORE is a Nashville-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that drives K-12 to career education reform through policy advocacy, practitioner networks, and statewide research, serving Tennessee policymakers, districts, and educator preparation programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Nashville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding and Donations: As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, SCORE generates revenue primarily through grant funding from foundations, corporate philanthropy, and individual donations. The organization does not charge for its services, publications, or events.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

No source material was provided in the input to describe the company's core offerings.

Product overview

SCORE (State Collaborative on Reforming Education) is a nonprofit education advocacy organization that provides research, policy resources, data insights, and professional networks rather than a traditional technology product. The organization's offerings include annual State of Education reports, the TN2030 statewide goals framework, the Impact Credential Framework, the Lead in Literacy Network program, Instructional Coherence Toolkits, and the Tennessee AI Ecosystems Project. These resources support policymakers, educators, and advocates in improving Tennessee education outcomes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TN2030: A series of new statewide goals for student success around which the education, policy, and business communities can coalesce to establish groundbreaking achievement gains for Tennessee students.
• Lead in Literacy Network
• Tennessee AI Ecosystems Project

Quantifiable outcome

• Tennessee ranked second in the nation in math growth and fourth in reading growth between 2022 and 2025.
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• PlaylabcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026SCORE partnered with the technology nonprofit Playlab to launch the Tennessee AI Ecosystems Project, a network of nine innovative Tennessee school districts focused on shaping strategic, responsible, and effective AI implementation. Playlab provides hands-on AI learning and development guidance, helping practitioners understand technical foundations and practical applications of AI in education.
• The College BoardsecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025The College Board's Teamship program was implemented at KIPP Nashville Collegiate High School through partnership with SCORE's network support. Teamship organizes students into collaborative consulting teams using design-thinking frameworks to solve real-world business and organizational challenges.
• All Means AllcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024SCORE partnered with All Means All to lead the Finance Leaders Cohort, a 15-month program bringing together finance and executive leaders from public charter school networks to reimagine the role of finance leadership in serving all students, particularly students with disabilities.
• Knox County SchoolscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2024SCORE partnered with Knox County Schools to embed a randomized control trial into an early literacy pilot during the 2024-25 school year, testing the impact of instructionally coherent literacy intervention. This partnership produced the strongest causal evidence to date on instructional coherence benefits.
• Tennessee Department of EducationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024The Department partners with SCORE on multiple initiatives including the Teamship work-based learning pilot with KIPP Nashville and broader workforce development alignment efforts across the state.
• Putnam County School SystemcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2023Putnam County Schools partners with Tennessee Technological University through SCORE's Lead in Literacy Network to strengthen alignment between EPP training and district literacy instruction expectations, including shared mentor training and preservice teacher field experience coordination.
• Tennessee Technological UniversitycoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2023Tennessee Technological University partners with Putnam County Schools through SCORE's Lead in Literacy Network to revise undergraduate literacy coursework methods and build shared vision for literacy instruction aligned to the science of reading and high-quality instructional materials.
• National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ)secondaryOthers · 1 January 2023NCTQ provides third-party assessments of how well educator preparation programs prepare teachers to teach literacy. SCORE uses NCTQ data to track EPP alignment with the science of reading and measure improvements from the Lead in Literacy Network.
• West Tennessee Pathway NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Convened by SCORE in 2022, this network brings together four rural West Tennessee school districts (Dyersburg City Schools, Haywood County Schools, Lauderdale County Schools, Milan Special School District) for regional alignment and cross-district collaboration to accelerate student pathways in high-demand fields.
• Tennessee Education Research Alliance (TERA)secondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022SCORE partnered with 15 school districts and TERA to understand broader trends behind educator labor market challenges in Tennessee, informing the strategic school staffing research series.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Educators for Excellence: A teacher-led organization advocating for policies that elevate the teaching profession — comparable to SCORE's educator-pipeline and voice-of-educator priorities, with state chapters in several metros.

Direct peers

• America Achieves: A nonprofit focused on state education systems change, educator talent, and college/career readiness. Operates programs like the Educator Effectiveness Fellows that parallel SCORE's leadership and educator pipeline work.
• Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd): A state-focused education reform organization founded by Jeb Bush that produces policy analysis, model legislation, and technical assistance for states on K-12 and education-to-career pathways — closely comparable to SCORE's policy + practice orientation.
• TNTP (The New Teacher Project): A national nonprofit working with school systems on teacher recruitment, development, and retention — directly comparable to SCORE's Lead in Literacy Network and Great Teaching & Leadership priority.
• 50CAN: A national network of state-based education advocacy campaigns pursuing student-centered K-12 reform. Operates a similar state-focused advocacy + research model to SCORE and is its closest structural analog.

Broad incumbents

• Achieve: A bipartisan education reform organization focused on rigorous standards, graduation requirements, and workforce alignment. Comparable to SCORE's work on credential-to-career pathways and assessment policy.
• New America (Education Policy Program): A think tank with a major education policy program covering early childhood through higher education. Comparable to SCORE in producing research-driven policy recommendations, though at greater scale and broader scope.
• Education Reform Now: A national education advocacy organization pushing for high-quality public schools. Engages in state-level policy work comparable to SCORE's advocacy footprint, though at greater national scale.
• The Education Trust: A national education advocacy organization focused on closing opportunity gaps for low-income students and students of color. While national in scope, it pursues a similar research + advocacy approach to SCORE.

Others

• Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE): A research and policy organization studying how to reinvent public education through innovation and evidence — adjacent peer to SCORE for its research-driven posture and state systems-change orientation.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/score4schools
• Facebookfacebook.com/score4schools
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tennessee-score
• Instagraminstagram.com/tnscore

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE)