Teach for America coming to Metro schools in 2009

By MICHAEL CASS • Staff Writer (Tennessean) • October 16, 2008 Teach for America will place 50 new college graduates in Metro classrooms next fall, providing an infusion of new teaching blood that Mayor Karl Dean and other education leaders hope will give the struggling school district new hope. Dean and Teach for America announced the decision to a roomful of Metro government and business leaders, including some who quickly raised $1 million to convince the New York-based organization to come to Nashville a year earlier than would have normally been possible. "We could not wait another year," Dean said. Teach for America recruits highly motivated college graduates, gives them intense training and puts them in struggling schools in return for a two-year commitment. The program started in 1990 and is in 29 other areas, including Memphis. It planned to put 30 teachers in Metro until Wednesday, when it decided to boost the total to 50 - a number that will be matched in 2010-11. Dean also announced the completion of a $1 million fund raising drive for the New Teacher Project, which will work to help Metro schools recruit teachers more effectively; the creation of a Community Foundation fund to help pay for his other education initiatives; and the appointment of Laura Hansen, the Metro school district's continuous improvement coordinator, to lead the mayor's initiatives. Hansen will start working in the mayor's office early next month. Contact Michael Cass at 259-8838 or mcass@tennessean.com.

Schools audit finds Metro lax, not fraudulent

By JAIME SARRIO • Staff Writer( Tennessean) • September 26, 2008 Metro school leaders sent computers for needy students to the wrong schools, couldn't find projectors and other equipment when asked and paid some teachers out of the wrong accounts, a state audit released Thursday revealed. Its authors found no evidence of fraud but wrote the district's history of lax bookkeeping and poor internal communication makes the district an easy target for abuse. The Tennessee Department of Education took a deeper look into Metro's finances after a routine spring check-up was stalled by the district's inability to produce paperwork on its spending. The state, which allocates federal grants, slapped a high-risk label on Metro schools in April. The label endangered $35 million in federal funds bound for Metro students and prompted the in-depth audit. In the meantime, state officials installed a new leader over Metro's federal grants office, Kecia Ray, and added new positions to help with the workload, district spokeswoman Olivia Brown said. She said the district is taking other steps to move forward and "be transparent so it is easy to see where the money is, where it went and how it is being utilized." For the next year, the state will monitor how Metro uses its federal funds. Each month, the state will release more federal money as the district proves it has fixed its problems. "This is a very unusual move for the state and one we have not done so tightly before," said Julie McCargar, executive director of the state's office of federal programs. "We're using a lot more control to ensure these things are in place." Other issues found in the audit included: • Metro couldn't ensure grant money was allocated and spent within the grant's approval period. • Metro didn't follow federal regulations in selecting vendors and contractors. • Employees didn't sign documentation of their work. Part of the problem was Metro's short-term approach, McCargar said — fixing problems long enough to get approved for federal funds that year but skipping long-term, systemic changes. The audit stopped short of placing blame for the mismanagement, but McCargar said it was the previous administration. Schools Director Pedro Garcia left in January after conflict with the school board over his management. Garcia didn't return messages requesting comment on the finances. Many must take classes The state is requiring district employees to take classes on how to manage federal funds, and a consultant will visit for weekly progress checks. If the district follows orders, its "high-risk" status will be reviewed again in July. But for some, the damage has already been done. Michael Holt, a taxpayer living in Bordeaux, said he does not think school officials are held accountable for how they handle money. "What you have is people who are educating our children — and that's a deep passion — but I think these people think they are owed any sum of money to do whatever they want to with it," he said. "And they'll spend money rather like it is their own." Mayor Karl Dean said that while he was happy the audit showed no wrongdoing, it's important that the public trust how tax dollars are being spent, especially when education is getting so much of the pie. "Because for me, politically, you're putting your credibility on the line when you say let's give money to education," he said. "There's got to be a sense it is going for the right purposes. It's going to be a challenge continuously."

Metro schools fail for fifth year in row

District loses more control to the state By JAIME SARRIO • Staff Writer • July 29, 2008 Metro Nashville Schools continued its slide toward total state control as student test data released Monday made it the only Tennessee district to fail five consecutive years. There were bright spots. African-American students, who didn't consistently meet math or reading benchmarks the last four years, made progress in every area. And without this year's higher benchmarks, Metro probably would have met federal standards, state officials said. While expected, the news was unwelcome. "It's hard to be real excited when the district goes into restructuring," Interim Director Chris Henson said. Meanwhile, neighboring Robertson County, the only other Tennessee district where years of failure prompted state involvement, raised student achievement dramatically enough to move back toward total self-governance. The verdicts were in the state's annual school progress report under the federal No Child Left Behind education law. The results are based on standardized test scores from the 2007-08 school year, graduation percentages and attendance rates. Under No Child Left Behind, increasing percentages of students have to read and do math on grade level, with the goal of 100 percent of students by 2014. The law pays particular attention to subgroups of students: African-Americans, foreign-language speakers, special education students and others. Based on how many students hit targets, districts and individual schools face increasing levels of discipline under the law, starting with some students having the option to change schools and ending with a district or school's total dismantling. The required percentages increased this year from 83 to 89 percent of K-8 students proficient in reading and 79 to 86 percent in math. In high school, they rose from 90 to 93 percent in reading and 75 to 83 percent in math. As a result, 172 schools statewide missed benchmarks for the first time, up from 106 schools last year. But 28 schools across Tennessee came off the disciplinary list completely for making two years of adequate progress, including Walter J. Baird Middle in the Lebanon Special School District. Three Sumner County schools, Hawkins Middle and Portland and Westmoreland high schools, posted enough gains last school year to show an improving trend. If they repeat the success next year, they will get off the list. On the other hand, the Murfreesboro city school district, which serves about 7,200 kids in grades pre-K through 6, landed on the unflattering list for missing federal targets two years in a row. Not enough non-English speaking students tested proficient in math and not enough Hispanic students reached proficiency in English. Last year, the state devoted $8 million to improving failing Tennessee schools. Next year, that will increase to $20 million. State is in charge In Metro, the state has an unprecedented amount of control over the district's day-to-day affairs, and school officials must draft plans for a possible takeover. The troubled 75,000-student district ultimately failed to meet state requirements because of the reading and language arts scores of students who speak only limited English. Advocates for those students said more consistency in the quality of English Language Learning programs districtwide would help. "We have these extreme opinions," said Cesar Muedas, former president of Comité de Padres Latinos (Committee of Latino Parents). "Something is going on, because there should be an in-between." State officials would not talk Monday about what the future holds for Metro, but they said more details will be announced at a special board meeting next week, said Connie Smith, executive director of accountability for the Department of Education. State officials already rearranged the district's top administrators and put new principals at several schools. They also approved the draft budget, revamped portions of the curriculum and next plan to rework teacher training. "We got the people in place to do the job," said Smith, chief architect behind the changes. "All we need to do now is to let things happen and to watch the data." Smith hopes Metro succeeds and becomes a model for the nation. Nine Metro Schools were released from state sanctions, including two high schools — Pearl Cohn and John Overton. Some Metro schools that reported gains were the same schools where principals were plucked from their positions this summer as part of the state's massive intervention. McGavock High met state standards for the first time in four years, but longtime principal Mike Tribue won't be around to enjoy the success — he was reassigned to an assistant principal position at Cane Ridge High School. Hillwood High's Karl Lang was moved to the central office even though his school met benchmarks for the first time in five years. Pattern of failure State officials said they replaced principals in schools that had a pattern of failure over several years, and that they used other indicators such as parent surveys and teacher input to determine who would be moved. But McGavock parent Doris Johnson said the state shouldn't have moved leaders like Tribue who were making progress. "I think it is very unfair," she said. "I don't think the state should have as much of a say in the situation as the school board does." In previous years, Metro school leaders ignored warning signs and state assistance that could have prevented the district from earning the unflattering status, said Connie Smith. Metro also made poor use of its data by allowing only a few top officials access to the district's numbers. State officials envision a district in which everyone down to the school level is comfortable using test scores to figure out which students are struggling. Mayor Karl Dean, who has been heavily involved in the district's improvement, said Monday's results are promising, but the district needs to be doing more. "The results released today give us a clear picture of the particular schools that need our attention, and we can now begin to focus our efforts at the school level," Dean said in a statement.fullcircle

New principals announced in Metro Schools

By JAIME SARRIO • Staff Writer(Tennessean.com) • July 15, 2008 State officials today announced 68 new principal and assistant principal assignments at schools across Davidson County.State education officials have intervened in Metro's staffing decisions, along with other functions, because the district has failed to meet testing standards for four years in a row. Earlier this summer, top-level administrators at the central office were moved into new positions.Several high schools will have new principal, including Hillwood, Overton and McGavock. In 2006, the state put new leadership in place at Maplewood High School after years of failing test scores. For the first time in almost a decade, that school met state testing standards this school year.

Magazine ranks two Metro schools as nation's best

By JAIME SARRIO • Staff Writer (Tennessean) • May 20, 2008 Two Metro Nashville schools earned a spot in the top 25 of Newsweek’s list of America’s best public high schools, released this week. Martin Luther King Jr. ranked 23rd while nearby Hume-Fogg took the 24th slot. Both schools are academic magnets, meaning they have selective entrance processes. The schools were the highest placeholders in Tennessee. The Newsweek list is devised using the number of Advanced Placement and or International Baccalaureate tests taken by students at a school in 2007 divided by the number of graduating seniors. Rounding out Tennessee’s top five is Brentwood High School in Brentwood, which placed 187th, Hillsboro High in Nashville at 390th and Ravenwood High in Brentwood at 465th. BASIS Charter School in Tucson, Ariz., took first place. Contact Jaime Sarrio at 726-5964 or jsarrio@tennessean.com