Diving into Accountability: Tennessee's Education Reforms with Lizzette Reynolds

In this episode of Swimming Upstream, host Tom Luna is joined by Strategos Group Partner Johnny Key for a live conversation from the Excel in Education Conference in New Orleans with Lizzette Reynolds, Commissioner of Education for the state of Tennessee.

A major focus of the conversation is literacy. Reynolds explains Tennessee’s commitment to the science of reading, the importance of early literacy benchmarks, and how statewide implementation from teacher preparation to instructional materials and tutoring has helped drive improvement. She emphasizes that literacy is foundational not only to academic success, but to students’ long-term economic and life outcomes.

The episode also explores assessment and accountability, including Tennessee’s A–F school grading system, the push for clearer and faster data reporting, and how states can use assessment results to support not punish schools and educators. Reynolds discusses how Tennessee is reimagining high school accountability through a “Future Ready” lens that values college, career, and military readiness.

The conversation closes with a hopeful outlook on Tennessee’s educators, school leaders, and students and a fun piece of trivia: Mountain Dew originated in Tennessee, originally created as a whiskey mixer.

Key Moments

00:00 Tom Luna on leadership, accountability, and Swimming Upstream

01:08 Introducing Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds live from New Orleans

01:43 Reynolds’ path from federal education policy to Tennessee leadership

04:32 Implementing Tennessee’s A–F accountability system

07:34 Why literacy and the science of reading matter long-term

10:03 Tutoring, teacher prep, and instructional support statewide

15:13 Assessment, ESSA waivers, and accountability going forward

17:42 Future Ready Tennessee: rethinking high school outcomes

21:43 Using assessment data to individualize instruction

24:10 What gives Reynolds hope for Tennessee’s students

25:39 Tennessee trivia: the origin of Mountain Dew

Connect with Lizzette Reynolds

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizzetteg