Established in 1986, Partnerships for EdExcellence, formerly the LRE for
LIFE Project, is a professional development project funded by the Tennessee
Department of Education and managed out of the University of Tennessee –
Knoxville. Partnerships for EdExcellence, hereafter referred to as
EdExcellence, envisions all children and youth receiving exemplary educational
services from exceptionally prepared educators. Our mission is to bridge the
gap between research and practice by empowering school systems, individual
schools, educators, administrators, and families to implement research-validated
educational practices with school aged children and youth within the context of
inclusive, caring schools and communities. In so doing, we hope to facilitate a
merger of general, career and technical preparation, and special education into
a unified and seamless system of education serving students with equity and
excellence.
EdExcellence
embraces the beliefs that learning can only occur within safe, welcoming,
inclusive settings and that best and promising educational practices are good
for ALL students. EdExcellence provides a variety of professional development and
technical assistance activities to schools depending on the needs of each
school.
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General education guides
all student learning.
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Differentiated and
personalized instruction is the key to educating today’s diverse students.
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Schools must address social
development and democratic principles as a mainstay of the educational
process.
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All students have gifts,
strengths, and talents.
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All school resources must
be configured to benefit all students.
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It is the responsibility of
educators to build on student’s strengths while moderately challenging each
student.
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Families are integral to
the educational process.
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Teaching and learning are
responsibilities shared by teachers and students.
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Special education, Title I,
English language learning, etc. are services and supports, not places.
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Education must be
accountable for meaningful, valued school outcomes. To achieve this
requires ongoing collaboration, data-driven problem solving, and ongoing
professional development.
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Teachers must teach ALL
students to apply knowledge in complex real-world contexts.
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Schools are a microcosm of
society.
