Race to the Top Finalist Interview State of Tennessee Leadership Team March 16, 2010 Washington, D.C. 8/17/20151

The Tennessee Story 8/17/20152

Sustaining Real Reform … We Are All Going There Together  Bipartisan and statewide political support  100% of districts and 93% of unions signed on  Urban and rural districts leading the innovation  Strong multi-sector leadership across the state  All gubernatorial candidates have pledged to implement and support  Significant philanthropic & business support We have launched this work. We invite you to invest and be part of its success. 8/17/20153

We Demonstrate Commitment Protected education focus and investments → Annual full funding of Basic Education Program → Longstanding investment in data → Statewide strategy for early childhood education → College- and career-ready standards for all through the Tennessee Diploma Project → Charter schools & innovation → “First to the Top” legislation 8/17/20154

Courage to Make Change Senate Bill 5: First to the Top Act  Enacted significant reform for educators, schools, and postsecondary education in special legislative session  Set a framework for teacher & principal evaluation with 50% being based upon student achievement data (where available)  Created an Achievement School District to clarify and provide authority for state takeover of lowest-performing schools  Set in place a college completion agenda that includes performance- based funding  Much of this was part of the Tennessee plan before Race to the Top. The funding opportunity provided an incentive for timely action. 8/17/20155

We Build On Success  Ambitious and achievable plan built on a strong foundation  Accelerates goals of the Tennessee Diploma Project: college- and career-readiness for all students  Shared priority for Tennesseans This is not a pilot project. It is a comprehensive roadmap for transformational reform for the entire state. 8/17/20156

Making It Happen  First to the Top Oversight Team → Based on the Office of Tennessee Recovery Act Management model → Across multiple agencies → State and local → Measurement for results  Tennessee Department of Education → Realigning the department for the work ahead → Creating Race to the Top Implementation Centers → Partnering with the U.S. Education Delivery Institute  Working with experts from Tennessee and across the country  Ongoing research and evaluation component built into the proposal to inform decision-making 8/17/20157

Sustainable Across Time & Politics It’s how we do business in Tennessee:  Build sustainable policies and programs with a broad base of support  Support statutory change in a bipartisan fashion, with many champions  Create collaborative structures to advocate for solutions (SCORE, Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee, College & Career-Ready Policy Institute Leadership Team, etc.) Tennessee is the place to get things done. 8/17/20158

Standards & Assessment 8/17/20159

We Are Making Progress, And We Can Accelerate … Leaders are committed to reaching student achievement goals. GOAL: All students college- and career-ready 8/17/201510

 A national leader → American Diploma Project → Governor co-chairs Achieve → College & Career-Ready Policy Institute  College & career-ready policies for all students → Standards, assessment, accountability → Alignment to postsecondary education → College completion agenda in place Our goal: all students college- and career-ready. 8/17/ Leading In High-Quality Standards & Assessment

STEM: Raising the Bar  STEM skills critical to economic development  Significant STEM assets already exist → Oak Ridge National Laboratory managed by University of Tennessee and Battelle → Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) → STEM centers at postsecondary institutions  TN STEM Innovation Network will bring assets together to share and learn in partnership with Battelle, ORAU, and the Ohio STEM Learning Network; and to develop more opportunities for teachers and students 8/17/201512

Ahead Of The Curve  Will adopt Common Core Standards in July → Close alignment with Tennessee’s existing standards → Allowing for smooth transition  Leading role in Common Core Assessment Consortia → Already committed to college- and career-ready anchor assessment 8/17/201513

Realizing the Power of Data 8/17/201514

Data To Support Instruction  Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS)  Nation’s first value-added system  Student academic achievement and growth data available at the district, school, and teacher level  Fully functional & statistically reliable student growth model already in place (since 1992!) We don’t have to build it. Our goal is to use the robust data we have more effectively. 8/17/201515

Using Data Can Transform Teaching & Learning  Statutory limitations on data use removed  Already in 2010: data dashboards and educational data access are now available to every teacher in the state  Longitudinal Data System plan calls for view of the child → Links horizontally & vertically to agencies across government → Links to value-added data → Links to “dashboard” for educators → Presents opportunity for educators and others to see the full set of supports and/or challenges a student faces that could affect learning  Professional development will focus on effective use of data to enrich and improve instruction & student learning 8/17/201516

Data Will Inform Preparation Programs & Tenure  Removes the prohibition on using teacher effect data until data from three complete academic years are obtained – so that this information can inform tenure granting decisions  Authorizes teacher effect data to be shared with SBE- approved teacher preparation programs of the individual teacher, if it does not personally identify the particular teacher 8/17/201517

Adding & Growing Capacity All of our proposed investments in making our data useful for teachers are designed to: → Add short-term expert capacity to implement, train, and coach → Create tools, networks, and innovations that remain long after the grant period → Build long-term capacity of Tennesseans to manage reform and increase student achievement This is designed to improve student achievement in financially sustainable ways. 8/17/201518

A Learning Agenda For The Nation  Tennessee Consortia for Research Evaluation and Development (TN CRED) → Brightest researchers from within Tennessee and across the country → Research all reform elements in the proposal → Ongoing data and reporting to inform implementation & understand outcomes → Funded through the proposal as well as grants  TN CRED will be a link to national researchers  Already coordinating grants and IES opportunities Tennessee’s research will help the entire country learn what works for students and what doesn’t. 8/17/201519

Focus on the Lowest-Performing Schools 8/17/201520

Changing Business As Usual  Desire and passion to pursue change  Deep investment, partnerships, and governance changes for the lowest- performing schools  New statutory mechanisms and supports to keep struggling schools from falling further  Changes in the way funds are leveraged to accomplish goals and decide who will provide support to certain schools 8/17/201521

Pyramid Of Intervention 8/17/201522

Focus Schools  Schools in second year of School Improvement  Serious intervention to prevent these schools from being chronic low-performers  Schools remain with district and will be served with Tennessee’s existing school improvement resources (Exemplary Educators, etc.) 8/17/201523

Renewal Schools  Designed to keep schools on the edge from falling further – to renew them in their communities  Drawn from the categories of Corrective Action and Restructuring 1, or from schools that fall into either the lowest 5% in achievement OR Restructuring 2  A mix of 18 urban, small-city, and rural schools expected in this category in  Schools remain with district but must choose a certified partner to build capacity and/or implement turnaround model → State will issue RFI to solicit high-quality capacity-building, model, and turnaround partners, with $300,000 in RTTT funds per school annually → District can choose only from the high-quality providers to work with these schools based on individual school and district fit → Must provide the level of autonomy the chosen partner requests to conduct their work 8/17/201524

Achievement School District (ASD)  Drastic action for schools in the lowest 5% in achievement AND in Restructuring 2 & beyond  13 schools in major urban districts expected in  Commissioner has the authority to take over schools → Place them in a “virtual district” under the direction of the ASD Superintendent → ASD Superintendent will report directly to Commissioner → May contract with entities to operate → Significant authority and resources to support the work → Structured planning and possible return to home district if successful  Collaborative of five national partner organizations will work with ASD Superintendent and Commissioner to run the schools 8/17/201525

Make It Happen For Students In Tennessee  Hungry for change, motivated to help students achieve  Ready to do the work  Can serve as a benchmark for the nation  Committing resources will make a greater impact here than anywhere in the country Tennessee thrives when every student is college- and career-ready. Investing can make it happen faster. 8/17/201526

Teachers & Leaders 8/17/201527

Theory Of Change: Teachers At The Heart Of Boosting Student Achievement 8/17/201528

Teacher & Principal Evaluation  The creation of Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee (TEAC) to build new teacher & principal evaluation instruments to be adopted by SBE  Requires annual evaluation of all teachers & principals and that personnel decisions be based in part on evaluations, including: → Promotion → Retention → Tenure → Compensation 8/17/201529

Teacher & Principal Evaluation  50 percent of the evaluation criteria developed must consist of student achievement data, as follows: → 35 percent of the evaluation criteria: TVAAS or some other comparable measure of student growth, if TVAAS data not available → 15 percent of the evaluation criteria: other measures of student achievement selected from list of measures developed by TEAC & adopted by the SBE  Other mandatory criteria include: → Review of prior evaluations → Personal conferences to include strengths, weaknesses and remediation → Relative to teachers only: classroom or position observation followed by written assessment → Relative to principals only: additional criteria pursuant to the principal’s employment contract 8/17/201530

Alternative Compensation  LEAs to submit proposed salary schedules to be approved by the commissioner & SBE as an alternative to the state base salary schedule. Such alternative schedules shall: → Be subject to collective bargaining where applicable → Not reduce the salary of a teacher employed by the LEA at the time of the adoption of the salary schedule → Be subject to appropriation by the governing body empowered to appropriate the funds 8/17/201531

Districts At Work Already  State following innovative districts → The Benwood Initiative in Chattanooga → TAP Model in Knoxville → Memphis Teacher Effectiveness Initiative  Districts learning from and networking with each other to accomplish reform → Nashville Teacher Effectiveness Initiative → CLASS → AIMS → Southwest Tennessee Rural Consortium 8/17/201532

Professional Development For All Teachers To Help Students Achieve  Common Core Standards  Use of data dashboard early warning system  Data use for instruction, evaluation, professional development, and compensation systems at the local level  Teacher & principal evaluation instrument and value- added assessment  Data training for using Teacher Working Conditions survey These are statewide investments that will pay dividends well into the future. 8/17/201533

The Tennessee Plan  Rigorous standards & assessments  Longstanding commitment to data  Strategy for turnaround schools  Focus on great teachers & leaders 8/17/201534

Get the best return on your investment. Invest in Tennessee. 8/17/201535