Team TN

Our Mission and Vision

Mission Statement: Team Tennessee, using the Pyramid Model framework, facilitates public-private collaborations to strengthen the social-emotional development of all infants and young children while intentionally addressing systemic inequities in early childhood intervention and education.

Vision Statement: We envision a state where all young children have a healthy social emotional foundation for life, including those with or at risk for disabilities, and to ensure children and families have access to anti-biased, inclusive, and natural learning environments.

The Team Tennessee (Team TN) Leadership Group is composed of 10-12 senior officials from key state departments, institutions of higher education, and stakeholder organizations.

Pyramid Model Framework

The Pyramid Model is an evidence-based framework for supporting social emotional development and positive mental health in young children.

The Model builds upon a tiered public health approach aimed at providing universal supports for all children to promote wellness, targeted teaching of social emotional skills to those who need more support, and intensive services to those who need them.

Yellow

An effective workforce provides systems, policies, and professional development foundations necessary to ensure a workforce is able to adopt, implement, and sustain these evidence-based practices.

Blue

Universal supports are essential for all children to promote social emotional health through nurturing and responsive relationships and high-quality environments.

Green

Prevention practices that teach targeted social emotional strategies (friendship skills, emotional literacy, anger management and problem solving) to prevent problems.

Red

Intervention supports practices that focus on children who need individualized intensive intervention when the child’s behavior does not respond to practices from the lower levels of the pyramid.