July 30, 2012

Less Choice, More Structure for Students: In a Tennessee System, It Works

Less Choice, More Structure for Students? In a Tennessee System, It Works. 2

Joon Powell for The Chronicle

In a course on collision repair at the Tennessee Technology Center in Nashville, Shannon Murray learns how to use equipment to get a damaged car back to its original shape.

By Jennifer González

Nashville

Motivational framed posters line the hallways here at the Tennessee Technology Center. "The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers," one reads. "But above all, the world needs dreamers who do." In classrooms hang inspirational poems with titles like "Success" and "Don't Quit."

That hopefulness permeates the center, from its staff to its roughly 900 students, with measurable results.

The Nashville campus is part of the Tennessee Technology Center system, which has