Section 1: Year In Review
Endnotes
implementing a new evaluation system. The district
will then use that evaluation system to recruit and
reward high-performing teachers, provide additional
support and growth opportunities to all teachers,
and remove the lowest-performing teachers.
In August 2010, the U.S. Department of Education
announced that the Niswonger Foundation in
Greeneville was one of only 49 winners of the
Department’s Investing in Innovation competition
(from a total of 1,698 applicants). As a result, 15
districts in Northeast Tennessee will receive $21
million over the next five years to implement
rigorous coursework through a combination of
distance learning, online learning, Advanced
Placement, and dual enrollment courses. The
grant will provide a model for how rural districts
in the state can provide all students with access to
rigorous courses.
In addition to Race to the Top, three different
grantees in Tennessee won a total of $72 million
in the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher
Incentive Fund competition in September 2010 to
develop new, comprehensive plans for rewarding
highly effective teachers and principals. Knox
County Schools will use its $26.5 million grant to
ACT. (2010). College Readiness Benchmark Attainment
by State. Retrieved from: http://www.act.org/news/
data/10/benchmarks.html.
expand the Teacher Advancement Program to 14
new schools while Memphis City Schools will use
its $9.5 million grant to reward high-performing
teachers and principals in the district’s lowestperforming schools. In addition, the Tennessee
Department of Education will use the final $36
million grant to help more than 100 schools
across the state develop comprehensive teacher
compensation plans.
i
Together, these local initiatives, in addition to
the state’s Race to the Top effort, have brought
over $710 million in federal and competitive
philanthropic funding to the state over the past
two years. These grants, along with the significant
political will that exists for education reform and
the large number of policy changes the state has
made, make it clear that 2010 was a historic year
for education reform in Tennessee. Now, with these
positive political, policy, and funding conditions in
place, it is time for Tennessee to begin aggressively
implementing its recent reforms. It is to this topic
this report now turns.
iii
Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce
Development (2010). Labor Force Estimates – United
States and Tennessee. Retrieved from: http://
www.tennessee.gov/labor-wfd/labor_figures/
january2010county.pdf.
ii
The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions
(2011). Vanderbilt Poll. Full results retrieved from: http://
www.tennessean.com/assets/pdf/DN17014929.PDF.
Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce
Development (2008). Investing for Growth in
Tennessee’s Workforce to 2016. Retrieved from: http://
www.doleta.gov/Programs/2007ReportsAndPlans/
Economic_Analysis_Reports/TN.pdf.
iv
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2010). Education Pays.
Retrieved from: http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.
htm.
v
Retrieved from: http://www.chattanoogastate.edu/ttc/
programs/mechatronics/.
Federal and Philanthropic Grants
Race to the Top
Location
Statewide
Tennessee Department of Education. (2010). Tennessee
Department of Education Announces New Standards
Training. Retrieved: https://news.tennesseeanytime.org/
node/2038
xii
Frist, B. State is Poised to Build on Learning Gains.
The Tennessean. 18 January 2011. Retrieved from: http://
blogs.tennessean.com/opinion/2011/01/08/state-ispoised-to-build-on-learning-gains/.
xiii
Achieve (2009). Closing the Expectations Gap: Fourth
Annual 50-State Progress Report on the Alignment
of High School Policies with the Demands of College
and Careers . Retrieved from: http://www.achieve.org/
files/50-state-2009.pdf.
xiv
Tennessee Department of Education official. Interview
with SCORE. 29 December 2010.
xv
xv
iRetrieved from: http://www.achieve.org/PARCC.
vii
SCORE ranking based on reading and math averages
for 4th and 8th grade from the 2009 National
Assessment of Education Progress examination. Data
retrieved from: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/
statecomparisons/. U.S. Census Bureau (2009). 2009
American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates. R1502.
Percent of People 25 Years and Over Who Have
Completed a Bachelor’s Degree. Retrieved from: http://
factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-_box_
head_nbr=R1502&-ds_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_&format=US-30&-CONTEXT=grt
viii
Program
Offices of Research and Education Accountability,
Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury (2009). On the
Horizon: More Rigorous Standards and New Graduation
Requirements. Retrieved from: http://www.mnps.org/
AssetFactory.aspx?did=39341.
xi
Amount
$501 Million
SCORE ranking based on reading and math averages for
4th and 8th grade from the 2009 National Assessment
of Education Progress examination. Data retrieved from:
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/statecomparisons/.
xviiU.S. Department of Education (2009). Race to the
Top Program Executive Summary. Retrieved from:
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/executivesummary.pdf.
The Tennessee Value-Added Assessment system is
a system that follows the progress of each student in
Tennessee from third grade through the end of high
school and provides a precise and reliable estimate of
how much students learn in a given year.
xviii
General Assembly Passes Race to the Top Act. The
Chattanoogan. 15 January 2010. Retrieved from: http://
www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_166881.asp.
Xix
Ix
Gates Foundation Teacher
Effectivness Initiative
$ 110 Million
Teacher Incentive Fund
Statewide, Knoxville,
Memphis
$ 72 Million
Investing In
Innovation Fund
24
Memphis
Northeast Tennessee
$ 21 Million
The State of Education In Tennessee
Frist, B. Race to the Top Swiftly Changes Education
Dynamic. USA Today. 31 March