Today the Bredesen Administration is introducing two bills in a Special Session that would make much needed changes in education. The major chambers of commerce in Tennessee – the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, Knoxville Chamber, Greater Memphis Chamber, and Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce – all applaud the Governor’s efforts in educational reform and fully support his proposals.
 
The first bill related to K-12 education is the “Tennessee First to the Top Act,” which contemplates statutory changes needed to strengthen the Volunteer State’s chances in the federal government’s Race to the Top competition for education excellence. The Race to the Top funds could potentially bring up to $600 million to the State for innovation; the application is due January 19.
 
The second bill, the “Complete College Tennessee Act,” makes common sense changes in the higher education system to improve degree completion rates and ensure a more skilled workforce. An example of these common sense changes is revising the higher education funding formula to take into account success and outcomes, including degree completion.
 
The Big Four Chambers are urging their members to contact state senators and state representatives as soon as possible to express support for the Governor’s Race to the Top plan as introduced. Members are also being asked to urge legislators to resist the teachers unions’ efforts to water down legislation with amendments that could hurt Tennessee’s Race to the Top application. Finally, members are asked to express support for Governor Bredesen’s Complete College Tennessee plan as introduced.
 
            To read the Governor’s office’s briefing about the Tennessee Education Innovation Plan, click here.

From the U.S. Department of Labor Website: 

Attention job seekers, workforce development professionals, and the public: The Department of Labor challenges you to explore almost 500 online job search and career advancement tools and recommend your favorites today at www.DOLChallenge.Ideascale.com!

Finding a job in today’s economy is hard work. The Employment and Training Administration wants to make sure job seekers have the best possible job search resources at their fingertips through the national network of One Stop Career Centers. As a complement to the full range of services available through One Stops, on-line tools are an important resource for job seekers as they research career options, identify available jobs, and find the best fit for their skills and experience.

The Challenge will help the workforce investment system uncover the most effective on-line tools. At the conclusion of the Challenge, ETA will publicize the leading tools, in order to more quickly connect job seekers with job openings.

The Challenge encompasses three phases: Submit tools (Completed), Recommend tools (Started), and Results (to be released in February)

Registration is now open for the First Annual Tennessee Service-Learning Conference to be held on Feb. 9-10, 2010, at the Embassy Suites Murfreesboro - Hotel & Conference Center. Visit www.volunteertennessee.net to sign up today!

This conference will provide the opportunity for K-12 community-based and school-based youth and practitioners across the state to connect with service-learning leaders through general sessions, workshops, exhibits and networking opportunities. We have secured nationally renowned author and trainer Cathy Berger Kaye (author of The Complete Guide to Service-Learning) as the conference’s featured speaker.

State Farm Insurance, a signature sponsor of the conference, is offering youth scholarships for the event (free registration) and you may apply for these online. Otherwise, cost for the conference is $75 for adults and $40 for youth.

Course Code 9395 training for educators might be offered through attendance at the conference. If you are interested in receiving more information about this, please contact Meredith Freeman.

Should you need additional information about the conference, please contact Meredith Freeman, Volunteer Tennessee’s Deputy Director, at 615-741-9242 or meredith.freeman@tn.gov.

National PTA has released its 2010 Public Policy Agenda outlining policy priorities and recommendations for the second session of the 111th Congress. Bolstered by research to back up the recommendations, the 2010 Public Policy Agenda focuses on three key priorities.

Did you catch the launch of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) last month?  If not visit the Knoxville Chamber homepage and click on “EMIS in Knox County” under Business Development for a report on the creation and anticipated impact of the EMIS.  The project started in early 2007 as a result of discussions between the Knoxville Chamber Board of Directors and Knox County School’s administration.  Based on the conversation the Knoxville Chamber proposed a collaborative project to design, develop and implement an EMIS to the school board.  This data is being gathered and the tool will be available to all Knox County School staff, administration and the school board during the first calendar quarter of 2010.

“No area of the teaching profession is more plainly broken today than that of teacher evaluation and professional development.  In district after district, more than 95% of teachers are rated as good or superior, even in schools that are chronically under-performing year after year.  Worse yet, evaluations typically fail to take any account of a teacher’s impact on student learning.  The truth is that students and teachers don’t live in mythic Lake Wobegon, where everyone is above average.  Yet, we have an evaluation system that pretends otherwise.  As a result, great teachers don’t get recognized, don’t get rewarded, and don’t help their peers grow.  The teachers in the middle of the skill spectrum don’t get the support they need to improve.  And, the teachers at the bottom don’t get the support they need either, and, if they do and still don’t improve, they need to be counseled out of the profession.  It’s not just students who suffer; as [AFT leader] Al Shanker pointed out, ‘teachers have to live with the results of other people’s bad teaching: the students who don’t know anything.’”

– Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (12/2009), in an article titled “Elevating the Teaching Profession”

Gov. Phil Bredesen wants to change state law so job performance evaluations for teachers and principals would depend on student test scores.

The governor said Tuesday he would call a special session of the legislature to convene Jan. 12 to take up that issue and others needed to make Tennessee an attractive candidate for millions of dollars in federal grant money being awarded by the U.S. Department of Education.

The proposed changes include requiring teacher and principal performance evaluations to be based on data, to require tenure decisions to be made on those evaluations, and to mandate annual teacher assessments. The changes also would create a special “recovery school district” to allow state intervention sooner in failing schools. Those proposals must be signed into law before the grant application is due Jan. 19, Bredesen said.

For the complete story as reported on WBIR visit: http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=108033&provider=rss

Under the partnership, Battelle, the world’s largest nonprofit research and development organization, will work with the state Department of Education and local school systems to establish a statewide network of programs and schools designed to promote and expand the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, and math.

For more information visit: http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=tennessean&sParam=32273745.story

Knox County Schools has signed on to participate in two new science and math teacher preparation programs, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. Both programs are geared to prepare more teachers with background in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). One of the programs focuses on recruiting nontraditional teacher candidates while the other focuses on college education undergraduates.

To view the blog post in it’s entirety on the SCORE website click here.