By Angela Hatton
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-910827.mp3
Paris, TN – On March 29, the state of Tennessee got a big surprise. Tennessee and Delaware were the only two states to win the bid for federal Race to the Top dollars. Forty-one states applied for the first round of money, which was earmarked to improve state education. Tennessee received $502 million, twice the amount recommended for states its size. Tennessee education officials hope to use that money for what they've dubbed their First to the Top initiative. The goal is to move Tennessee from 41st in the nation in student achievement to number one. They have four years to do it in, and as Angela Hatton reports, they're starting with the data.
The halls of Henry County High School are dim and empty this time of year. Not so for an upstairs computer lab. Over 30 teachers from Henry County Schools and Paris Special School District are the students here. State officials have come in from Nashville to teach instructors how to interpret the results from the state tests students take every year. This is detailed training, and it isn't easy. Teachers take notes on slide after slide of percentages, yearly averages, and progress breakdowns by grade and subject.
"Now how you make data fun, I don't know. But I do know if we're not informed about the data, we can't improve our instruction."
Dr. Connie Smith is Tennessee's Assistant Superintendent of Accountability, Teaching, and Learning. She's at Henry County High School to help lead the training, an integral part of implementing Race to the Top, or RTTT. Smith says before RTTT was available, Tennessee began system-wide reforms. In 2007, Governor Phil Bredesen pushed through testing standards that looked more like those of the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP. Smith says the new standards, which went into effect last school year, are tougher.
"And it's called the Tennessee Diploma Project. And in that way, we're requiring higher expectations for all students to be more college and work ready."
The state legislature also passed a law allowing charter schools in districts that wanted them, though Henry County hasn't expressed interest. Smith credits Tennessee's success with its RTTT application to a strong background in reform and accountability. Henry County Director of Schools Sam Miles says school districts are used to a heavy focus on test scores and student progress from federal laws like No Child Left Behind.
"I think it's better teaching in many ways. But with Race to the Top there's going to be even more accountability coming our way, so one thing we need to make sure is that our teachers are equipped to meet the challenges they're going to face."
Henry County's part of RTTT is 701-thousand dollars, which will be spent over four years.
"It sounds like a lot of money, and it is. But we have six schools and I've kind of explained this to our board and the public that if we broke that down per year that would be 29,000 dollars per year, per school. So when you look at it like that, it doesn't seem as large."
Henry County is a poor school district. Of the three thousand students, 65 percent are considered "economically disadvantaged." State statistics have shown poorer students often have more difficulty learning. According to Henry County's state-issued "report card," between 2007 and 2009, an average 85 percent graduated from high school. The state average is 90 percent. Performance on tests like the ACT hovers at or slightly below the state average. The bar is only getting higher. Tennessee's goal is to have 100% of students proficient in reading and mathematics by the 2013-2014 school year. Miles says Henry County's plan to do that involves consistently monitoring and measuring student learning.
"And the reason we want to do two things. The ones who have mastered it the first time on those standards, we want to provide them with some stretch learning to encourage them to go forward. Those that haven't, we want to provide those students with support so that we don't leave them behind."
Henry County's Race to the Top money is going into training teachers to better cover all the information they need to teach. But there aren't enough dollars to cover all teachers. Miles says they selected around 90.
"And their job is to go back and train their faculties. We couldn't train everybody in the summer. So everybody who's been through summer training becomes a teacher of teachers."
On the state level, the education department has started work on a new teacher evaluation system that will roll out next year. They also plan to foot the bill for more teacher training, much of it web-based, on top of what schools are already planning. If Tennessee fails to reach its First to the Top goal by 2014, the reason won't be lack of preparation.