Section 1: Year In Review
Promising Practices:
The Knoxville Leadership Academy at the University
of Tennessee’s Center for Educational Leadership
There’s the realm of academia, where a large
and ever-growing body of research analyzes
instructional leadership practices and data.
And then there’s the real work of leading
schools, which can be demanding, political,
and rife with challenges.
Connecting leadership theory with the
day-to-day practice of leaders is a complex
and resource-intensive endeavor. A unique
solution is the Knoxville Leadership
Academy, a component of the University
of Tennessee’s Center for Educational
Leadership and a collaborative effort with
Knox County Schools. The Academy is
already making a difference in Knox County
Schools, equipping aspiring school leaders
with cutting-edge training. And in the long
run, the program could be scaled up to
improve school management throughout
Tennessee.
“I passionately believe that this is the
kind of thing that can change the face of
education in this state,” said Autumn Tooms,
the program’s executive director. “It’s
about bridging the gap between authentic
leadership research and practice.”
The Academy is a full-time, 15-month
experience for aspiring Knox County Schools
leaders. The first cohort of 12 students
- chosen through a rigorous selection
process - spent three months as full-time
UT students before working this academic
year under the mentorship of Knox County
principals. Cohort members are in schools
four days each week, and attend courses
and seminars one day each week. Schoolbased personnel act as co-instructors
with university faculty, and learning is
18
The State of Education In Tennessee
interdisciplinary and rooted in the knowledge
required to be a school leader.
When the program is concluded, graduates
are prepared to take on school leadership
roles. They are also awarded a Tennessee
principal license and either a Master’s
degree or education specialist degree
from UT.
Cohort member Ryan Siebe said the
Academy strikes the right balance between
practical training and research. “We get
to sit down and talk about theory with a
practitioner who’s an expert and in a school,”
Siebe said.
The Center for Educational Leadership is
part of UT’s College of Education, Health and
Human Sciences, and is funded by a private
donor and the Cornerstone Foundation. Race
to the Top federal funding is also expected
to help support the Center. Cohort members
attend UT courses free of charge, and
continue to receive Knox County Schools
salaries while participating in the program.
“Great principals create great schools,” Knox
County Schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre
said. “While we are fortunate to have strong
principal leadership in our schools, the
Leadership Academy allows us to continue to
develop an exceptional pipeline of talent that
will ultimately serve as the next generation
of effective school leaders in Knox County
Schools.”
16, 2010, the Tennessee General Assembly
passed the First to the Top Act, the largest
piece of education legislation in Tennessee
since 1992. This legislation received tremendous
bipartisan support, passing by a vote of 29-3 in
the Senate and 83-10 in the House. Additionally,
the legislature passed and the Governor signed
the Complete College Tennessee Act. Both bills
were targeted at improving student performance
and graduation rates at both the high school and
college levels and many of the reforms that were
discussed in the special session had been on the
table in previous sessions of the legislature but
had not passed.
One of the most significant pieces of the
legislation was requiring annual evaluations of
all teachers and principals with a new evaluation
system based at least 50 percent on student
achievement data, including 35 percent on
TVAAS data when available.xviii When completed,
this new evaluation system will be the first
time in Tennessee history that every teacher is
evaluated based on the achievement results of
his or her students. In addition, the law requires
that this new evaluation system be a factor in
recruiting, hiring, professional development,
tenure, and compensation decisions in local
school districts.
The First to the Top Act focused specifically on
K-12 education, and the bill made significant
changes to how the state evaluates principals
and teachers as well as how the state intervenes
in low-performing schools.
The First to the Top Act was supported by a wide
array of stakeholders, including the statewide
teachers association. As Governor Bredesen
remarked after the bills were passed, “To all our
teachers and principals across Tennessee, and to
the Tennessee Education Association: you have
my personal thank you and gratitude for coming
to the table and working with us to achieve
this milestone.”xix SCORE was widely credited
as having been a driving force in building
collaborative stakeholder support around
the legislation.
The legislation:
R
• emoved limitations on the use of
student achievement data in making
decisions about teacher tenure
• Required annual evaluations of teachers
and principals
• Created a 15-member teacher evaluation
advisory committee to recommend
guidelines and criteria to the State Board
of Education on a new teacher evaluation
system, which is based at least 50
percent on student achievement data
• Allowed local school systems to create
new, innovative salary schedules, giving
local districts more flexibility to reward
highly effective teachers
• Created an Achievement School District
that allows the state