Rural LIFE sought to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement in grades 6-8 by:

• adopting personalized learning strategies that meet the needs of all students and provide them with the knowledge and skills needed for success in high school, college and careers; 

• providing teachers with support for personalized learning strategies focused on literacy from lead teachers, academic coaches, classroom laboratories and other professional development activities; 

• leveraging a shared services network (SSN) that supports continuous improvement and leverages economies of scale to support schools and LEAs with integration of personalized learning instructional strategies with Tennessee standards; 

• curating standards-aligned instructional materials for teacher development and student enrichment and 

• providing teachers with formative assessment and data tools that they can use to improve their instruction and monitor student progress. 

Rural LIFE’s Overarching Goals

• Goal 1: Students—including high-need students—demonstrate increased proficiency in literacy as a result of teacher use of personalized strategies.

• Goal 2: Teachers demonstrate increased effectiveness through use of personalized learning strategies.

• Goal 3: The project's approach can be successfully replicated.