STATE OF EDUCATION IN TENNESSEE: 2012-2013 – Section I: Year in Review
STATE OF EDUCATION IN TENNESSEE: 2012-2013 – Section I: Year in Review
Overview of First to the Top Projects and Spending
Priority Area
Projects
Four Year Budget
State Success Factors
(Implementation)
1. Oversight Team
2. Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation, & Development (TNCRED)
$6,500,00
Standards and Assessments
1. Common Core Transition
2. Integrating Common Core into Teacher Preparation
$7,400,000
Data Systems
1. P20 Longitudinal Data System
2. Early Warning System
3. TVAAS Training in Teacher Preparation
4. Integrating Data to Improve Instruction (Battelle for Kids
and SAS)
$21,300,000
Teachers and Leaders
1. School Leader Study
2. UTeach
3. Residency Programs
4. Innovation Acceleration Fund (strategic comp grants)
5. Integrating Data to Improve Instruction (BFK and SAS)
6. Nashville Public TV/ELC
7. Teacher and Principal Evaluation
8. TELL Survey
9. Distinguished Professionals
10. Teach TN
11. Teacher Prep Report Card
12. Leadership Action Tank
13. SITES M
14. Rural Literacy
15. Oak Ridge STEM Leadership Academy
16. Competitive Supplemental Fund (grants to small LEAs)
$87,300,000
1. Achievement School District
2. Priority Schools
3. Focus Schools
4. Reward Schools
5. College Access and Success Network
6. Charter School Fund
$105,200,000
Competitive Priorities
(STEM)
1. STEM Innovation Network
2. STEM Professional Development
$22,700,000
Subgrants to LEAs
1. Districts’ Scopes of Work
$250,400,000
Total
32 Projects
$500,741,220
School Turnaround
Source: Tennessee Department of Education (2012)
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(3) In Need of Subgroup Improvement. Exemplary Districts are
recognized, given the ability to plan
for the coming year without Department approval, given priority consideration for any Department-issued
waivers, as well as priority consideration for Department-support
of proposals for alternate teacher
evaluation models. To achieve Exemplary status, districts must meet a
majority of goals for overall achievement and narrowing achievement
gaps. In Need of Improvement
Districts fail to meet the majority of
targets for both achievement and
achievement gap closure, and are
included on a public list. Leaders are
required to meet in-person with the
Department to create an aggressive plan to meet their goals in the
coming year. In Need of Subgroup
Improvement Districts may successfully attain their goals in achievement, achievement gap closure,
or even both, while experiencing
declines among particular groups
of students. These districts must
focus efforts on ensuring all groups
of students show improvement the
following year.
Tennessee’s waiver provides a
more flexible, state-specific approach to accountability that
recognizes Tennessee’s own plan
to improve public education. Tennessee Department of Education
oversight, targeted resources to districts, and more rigorous standards
maintain the momentum for education reform. The waiver sustains the
focus on improving achievement for
all students while narrowing achievement gaps and freeing districts from
the laudable but unrealistic expectations of NCLB. As implementation
of the new accountability system
continues, it will be important for
the state department and districts to
monitor its successes and challenges
in improving education outcomes
for all students.
First to the Top Oversight and
Support
In order to ensure the state effectively implements its First to the
Top priorities at both the state and
district levels, Tennessee has made
several key changes over the last
year to the structures and supports it
has in place to evaluate and support
its initiatives. These changes have
included enhancing the feedback
the state receives on its implementation progress, revamping the state’s
project management process, and
enhancing the partner meetings that
the Tennessee Department of Education has with individual districts
around their scopes of work.
To provide continued oversight and
guidance to the state’s First to the
Top work, the Department re-engaged the First to the Top Advisory
Council, a group of 21 stakeholders – including directors of schools,
principals, higher education faculty,
and political and business leaders
– who are charged with helping the
state effectively implement, evaluate, and learn from its work. This
group, which has been in place
since the state’s Race to the Top
grant was awarded and was restructured in the Fall of 2012 under the
state’s new leadership, meets twice
a year and assists the Department in
brainstorming solutions to implementation challenges.
With regard to project management, the Department’s First to
the Top office revamped the goals
and timelines for all of the projects
funded through the Race to the Top
grant in early 2012. The intention of
these changes was to establish clear
goals and metrics for each project
to be able to assess its progress
against the intended outcomes, as
opposed to a checklist of activi ties.
All of the projects now have clear
project plans that are used to guide
monthly check-ins with all project
managers. The Tennessee Consor-
tium on Research, Evaluation, and
Development (TN CRED) continues
to provide long-term evaluation of
different components of the state’s
work as informed by the Department.
Half of Tennessee’s Race to the
Top funding is distributed to local
districts to support their scopes of
work. The other half is being used
to support statewide reform activities. The chart on page 39 provides
an overview of the state’s projects
by priority area and total budget.
The chart to the left illustrates the
breakdown of the state’s First to the
Top projects by priority area and
overall budget. At the local level,
districts are required to submit
and revise scopes of work for their
portion of Race to the Top money,
which is awarded according to the
federal Title I formula. Districts
have the authority to craft their own
plans, which must be approved by
the Department in order for them to
receive funding. While the range of
activities proposed in each district’s
scope of work varies greatly, professional development, personnel, and
technology have been the top expenditures across districts during the
first two years of the grant. As of Fall
2012, 11 districts have expended
their entire award, and 18 districts
have less than $50,000 remaining.
As Tennessee moves into the third
year of implementation of First to
the Top, the changes to the oversight and feedback structures have
increased the involvement of educators in the work and have continued
a department-wide transformation
from compliance to support in
improving student achievement –
two significant accomplishments.
As the Department moves forward, a challenge will be ensuring
that districts have adequate and
ongoing support in meeting local
performance goals, especially as
local Race to the Top funding allocations are fully expended.
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