Two years ago, the DLC, Marshall Street, and Tennessee SCORE collaborated to launch IGNITE Nashville, with the goal of improving co-planning practices between general and special education. Today, that work is showing up in schedules, in team routines, and in student results across Nashville schools. Launched in summer 2024, IGNITE Nashville brought together ten Nashville charter schools to focus on co-planning. IGNITE Nashville was created as a result of Marshall Street’s learnings through their national

A Common Scenario We’ve all been there. It’s mid-October and the school year is in full swing. You’re co-teaching in 6th grade ELA, and Michael (a student on your caseload) raises his hand to answer a question. You hold your breath – this is a BIG deal. Michael is a struggling reader, making him very hesitant to participate in class. The teacher calls on him, he shares his response and… his answer is correct! This

Across Tennessee, and especially in Nashville, schools continue to face a critical shortage of qualified special educators. Meeting that need requires more than recruiting teachers. It requires preparing educators in ways that reflect the realities of today’s classrooms. That’s the vision behind the Special Education Job-Embedded Pathway, a partnership between Diverse Learners Cooperative (DLC) and Nashville Teacher Residency (NTR). The pathway blends coursework, coaching, and job-embedded practice so educators can immediately apply what they’re learning

The Teacher Leader Fellowship is a meaningful year of coaching and growth, school visits, mentor communities, and a culminating Impact Project. What actually happens to an educator over the course of a year in this program is harder to summarize. We asked two of our 2025-26 fellows to tell us themselves. Isormari Pozo is an ESL educator who used the Fellowship to redesign how multilingual learners (especially at-risk seniors) have a voice in the systems