TENNESSEE’S EDUCATION REFORM PLANJune 09, 2010

THE EDUCATION PIPELINE

For every 100 ninth-graders

67 graduate from high school in four years

19 graduate with an associate’s degree in three years or a bachelor’s degree in six years

Source: NCHEMS = 10 students

“We can do better.We’ve got to do better.”

— Governor Phil BredesenAddress to Special Session of the 106th General Assembly

January 12, 2010

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

“Our problem in public education is clear … The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 15-year-olds in the U.S. rank below their peers in 23 industrialized nations when it comes to math literacy.”

— Senator Bill FristUSA Today Op-Ed

March 31, 2010

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

MATH

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Rank Nation Average

1 Finland 563 2 Canada 534 3 Japan 531 4 New Zealand 530 5 Australia 527

AVERAGE 500 17 United States 489

18 Slovak Republic 488

19 Spain 488

SCIENCE Rank Nation Average

1 Finland 548 2 Korea 547 3 Netherlands 531 4 Switzerland 530 5 Canada 527

AVERAGE 498 24 United States 474 25 Portugal 466 26 Italy 462

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) average scores of 15-year-old students on mathematics and science literacy scales

TENNESSEE STORY

1992: Investment in data2004: Statewide pre-K strategy2007: Updated Basic Education Program (BEP) funding formula2008: College- and career-ready standards via American Diploma Project2009: Revised charter school law2010: First to the Top law

Article of Faith: BEP fully funded each year

RACE TO THE TOP

Competitive federal grant fund – $4.35 billion authorized by Congress– Additional $1.35 billion requested by President– Focus on aggressive reform in four core areas:

• Pursuing higher standards and tougher assessments• Making better use of data to improve classroom instruction• Identifying and cultivating great teachers and leaders• Turning around persistently failing schools

– Competitive priority: STEM

Multiple rounds– Round One: 15 states emerged as finalists– Two winners: Delaware and Tennessee

Tennessee’s take: $501 million

STANDARDS & ASSESSMENTS

Standards leader– American Diploma Project– Governor co-chairs Achieve

Common core: Ahead of curve– Close alignment with

existing standards– Smooth transition expected– Part of Common Core

Assessment Consortium

Tennessee’s goal:All students college- and

career-ready

DATA HISTORY

Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) established in 1992Nation’s oldest and most robust database for tracking “student growth” — or a child’s improvement in the classroom over timeFully functional and statistically reliableData available at district, school and teacher levels

Key message:Tennessee has the data.We don’t have to build it.

TEACHER QUALITY

Local districts leading the way– Benwood Initiative,

Chattanooga– Teacher Advancement

Program (TAP), Knox County

– Teacher Effectiveness Initiative (TEI), Memphis

Key message:Changes are bottom-up,

not top-down.

FIRST TO THE TOP ACT

Creates new Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee to build new teacher and principal evaluations

Requires 50% of evaluation to be based on student achievement data, including:– 35%: TVAAS, or a comparable measure of student growth

if TVAAS data isn’t available– 15%: Other measures of student achievement developed

by advisory committee and adopted by State Board of Education

OTHER MAJOR CHANGES

Removes prohibition on using student growth data before three years of data is obtained– Frees data to inform

decisions on granting tenure

Local school districts may develop alternative salary schedules in lieu of stateAchievement School District provides structure for state takeover of persistently failing schools

SUSTAINING CHANGE

Bipartisan and statewide political support100% of school districts and 93% of unions signed onGubernatorial candidates pledged to implementPhilanthropic and business support

Key message:This isn’t a pilot project.

These reforms are law and they’ll be implemented

statewide.