TENNESSEE’S EDUCATION REFORM PLAN

1. TENNESSEE’S EDUCATION REFORM PLAN June 09, 2010

2. For every100ninth-graders 67graduate from high school in four years 19graduate with an associate’s degree in three years or a bachelor’s degree in six years Source: NCHEMS = 10 students THE EDUCATION PIPELINE “We can do better. We’ve got to do better.” — Governor Phil Bredesen Address to Special Session of the 106th General Assembly January 12, 2010

3. 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 Frist USA Today Op-Ed March 31, 2010

4. GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) average scores of 15-year-old students on mathematics and science literacy scales SCIENCE Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) MATH

5. TENNESSEE STORY • 1992: Investment in data • 2004: Statewide pre-K strategy • 2007: Updated Basic Education Program (BEP) funding formula • 2008: College- and career-ready standards via American Diploma Project • 2009: Revised charter school law • 2010: First to the Top law Article of Faith: BEP fully funded each year

6. 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

7. 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

8. DATA HISTORY • Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) established in 1992 • Nation’s oldest and most robust database for tracking “student growth” — or a child’s improvement in the classroom over time • Fully functional and statistically reliable • Data available at district, school and teacher levels Key message: Tennessee has the data. We don’t have to build it.

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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 state • Achievement School District provides structure for state takeover of persistently failing schools

12. SUSTAINING CHANGE • Bipartisan and statewide political support • 100% of school districts and 93% of unions signed on • Gubernatorial candidates pledged to implement • Philanthropic and business support Key message: This isn’t a pilot project. These reforms are law and they’ll be implemented statewide.