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Haslam Names Kevin Huffman Education Commissioner
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam today announced Kevin Huffman, Teach For America's Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education.
Gov. Haslam conducted a nationwide search and consulted many in the education field to find the right candidate to take advantage of state opportunities to transform Tennessee's education system. More.
March 7, 2011
Department Official Takes Lead in Alternative Education
James V. Witty, current Director of the Center for Dropout Prevention with the Tennessee Department of Education, will share his expertise in alternative education on a national stage. For a second term, Witty has been re-elected as Vice President of the National Alternative Education Association (NAEA). Witty has over ten years experience working with at-risk students as a teacher, district administrator, and state director. In his role with the department, he specializes in the areas of alternative and nontraditional education, as well as dropout prevention, intervention, and recovery. More.
March 7, 2011
Haslam Announces $40 Million Charter School Fund
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and recently-named Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman today announced nearly $40 million to grow and support charter schools in Tennessee. The funds are part of a broad public-private partnership to increase the number of high performing charter schools in the state.
The unprecedented public-private partnership creates a $30 million charter growth fund built though a $10 million grant in First to the Top funding and $20 million in private funds raised in partnership with the Charter School Growth Fund and the Center for Charter School Excellence in Tennessee. More.
March 29, 2011
Tennessee Celebrates First Year of Race to the Top
Time flies when you are making progress. Governor Bill Haslam and the Tennessee Department of Education commemorated the first anniversary of Tennessee's Race to the Top win at an education roundtable discussion. Key stakeholders in winning and executing Tennessee's First to the Top plan participated in the discussion by taking stock of the great progress Tennessee has made and recognizing the work yet to be done for the children of Tennessee. Since being awarded upward of $501 million, the state and local school districts have begun executing a dramatic set of school reforms. More. |
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NEWS BRIEFS
Lottery for Education After-School Programs (LEAPs) Funding Now Available
Funds are now available to develop high quality after-school programming for at-risk students. As provided under state law, one hundred percent of unclaimed lottery prize money is available for school and/or community-based programs. These competitive
grants will be awarded to local educational agencies (LEA's), community-based and faith-based organizations. A complete application package and more information is available online.
Join the Education Conversation Online We want to hear from you! Join the discussion online via Facebook or Twitter. Stay informed on the latest happenings going on across the state or receive updates directly to your email or
cell phone. Follow @TNFirsttotheTop on Twitter or find Tennessee First to the Top on Facebook to stay up to date and share with your friends and followers. |
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CELEBRATION IN EDUCATION
First Year of Race to the Top Sets Precedent and Progress
March marked the one year anniversary of Tennessee's Race to the Top win and of the dramatic set of school reforms planned for over the next four years. Tennessee was one of just two states selected on Mar. 29, 2010. Since being awarded upward of $501 million, the state and local school districts have begun executing a dramatic set of school reforms. The first year has been a combination of planning and successes. Amongst these accomplishments, Tennessee has:
- Re-engineered the state's accountability system to use data in classrooms and evaluation.
- Proposed changes to tenure connected to the new evaluation system and lengthening the tenure window from 3 to 5 years.
- Achieved 77% statewide participation rate on the TELL Tennessee Survey, the first learning conditions survey in the state and making Tennessee the #1 state for first time participation.
- Used data to institute professional development and infuse resources needed to support parental involvement, leadership development, identified professional development and school wide climate change.
- Increased professional development opportunities to improve instruction such as training Value Added Specialists in the use of value added data, districts on the use of formative assessment practices to improve instruction and more than 90,000 hours of available online course training.
- Established the STEM Innovation Network to build and connect science, technology, engineering and math resources across the state. Stratford Academy of Science and Engineering opened in Metro Nashville in Fall 2010. Knox County will open a STEM school in Fall 2011.
- Replicated the UTEACH program at state universities to recruit high performing math and science students to take courses in education and earn teaching certificates.
- Contributed funds to grow and support charter schools in a broad public-private partnership.
- Made extensive progress towards selecting the state supported rubric for the observation portion of the new teacher evaluation.
Race to the Top has made Tennessee the focal point of education reform in the nation and put the state in a position to bring real reform to schools. Tennessee is still near the starting point of this process, but going forward, the state is ahead in the race to make certain we are moving toward better outcomes for students.
For more of Tennessee's year-one highlights, visit the Tennessee First to the Top website or receive regular updates by joining the mailing list. Follow Tennessee First to the Top on Twitter or Facebook for regular updates as well. |
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MEET THE COMMISSIONER
Kevin Huffman Joins the Department of Education
The Tennessee Department of Education welcomes Commissioner Kevin Huffman to the team! Governor Bill Haslam announced the new department head at the beginning of March and after
a nationwide search to find the right candidate in the education field. Commissioner Huffman combines the experience of having been a bilingual first and second-grade teacher to helping oversee a national organization. Prior to his latest role, he most recently served as Teach For America's Executive Vice President of Public Affairs. He had previously served as Senior VP for Growth Strategy and Development for the organization. His additional experience in educational law, having practiced at Hogan & Hartson in Washington, DC, contributes to his personal and professional focus of expanding opportunities for kids. His leadership has been noted as critical to Teach For America's growth and impact, and he will play a essential role in transforming Tennessee's education system. |
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GREAT JOB
TELL Tennessee Sets Survey Records
Tennessee educators have done an exemplary job of sharing their opinons and letting their voice be heard! Tennessee recorded a 77% response rate at the conclusion of the TELL (Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning) Tennessee Survey on March 18, 2011. Not only does this survey mark the first statewide teaching and learning conditions survey conducted across Tennessee, but also sets the record for highest participation on the first implementation of the survey initiative.
Across Tennessee, many schools made an outstanding effort towards encouraging their educators participation and striving towards, or making, a 100% response rate. In fact, several school districts were able to obtain this 100% response rate goal. Information obtained from the survey will be an critical resource towards analyzing to assessing how educators view critical teaching and learning conditions. Each Tennessee school will receive its own data to use as a reference and resource in in the on-going planning processes of improving efforts locally. Individual school results will be made available by the end of April 2011. Education leaders and can use this data going forward in Tennessee's First to the Top implementation to ensure that every Tennessee educator has the supportive environment necessary to help students achieve at the highest levels.
On average, other states that have conducted a similar survey initiative have averaged a 52.64% response rate on the first try of the survey. The success of the TELL Tennessee Survey is one of the many wins that have occurred over the course of the first year of First to the Top, and a sign of the committment of Tennessee's educators to transform the education system for a better tomorrow. A second administration of the TELL Tennessee Survey will be conducted in 2013.
For more information about the TELL Tennessee Survey and to view the final results for the 2011 administration, visit the website. |
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OPENING DOORS
Charter School Fund to Create Education Opportunities
Tennessee is on a mission to spur innovative, high-performing teaching and learning in school districts across the state. One way of accomplishing this is through the significant changes to charter school law that have been proposed as part of the education transformation occurring across the state. In concept, the goal of a charter school is to:
- Improve learning for all students and close the achievement gap between high and low students.
- Provide options for parents to meet educational needs of students in high priority schools.
- Encourage the use of different and innovative teaching methods, and provide greater decision making authority to schools and teachers in exchange for greater responsibility for student performance.
- Measure performance of pupils and faculty, and ensure that children have the opportunity to reach proficiency on state academic assessments.
- Create new professional opportunities for teachers.
- Afford parents substantial meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children.
Most recently, an unprecedented public-private partnership has been created a $30 million charter growth fund built though a $10 million grant in First to the Top funding and $20 million in private funds raised in partnership with the Charter School Growth Fund and the Center for Charter School Excellence in Tennessee. The funds will provide for the launch of 40 new startup charter schools and the growth of 4 to 6 charter school management organizations. Additionally, this will allow Tennessee to build one of the first state-wide platforms for the development in the country of charter schools from creation of high performing schools to large scale charter school networks. This is an innovative step in itself, as legislation and strategy move education in a new direction.
Get more informaion about current Tennessee charter schools online. For more information about the Charter School Fund, click here. |
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First to the Top is Tennessee's initiative to improve education through the federal Race to the Top program.
For more information, contact:
Amanda Anderson, Director of Communications
Tennessee Department of Education
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