Supporting Effective Teaching in Tennessee: Executive Summary | Page 49

Integrated Teacher Professional Development
Clarksville-Montgomery County School Schools
Clarksville-Montgomery County School System has one of the
state’s strongest teacher professional development programs.
New teachers receive training and support from the district’s
Professional Development Center, which provides classroom
resources, technical support, and a professional library that
teachers can access during the evenings and on weekends. Each
elementary and middle school is given a full-time academic
coach, and each high school is given a consulting teacher, who
is a content specialist that can assist with instruction. The
Professional Development Center also runs the Professional
Learning Activities Network (PLAN), a new online resource
for teachers that includes downloadable classroom resources
and online professional development seminars.

The Effective Practice Incentive Community
Memphis City Schools
Funded by a federal Teacher Incentive Fund grant and operated
by New Leaders for New Schools, the Effective Practice
Incentive Community (EPIC) was launched in Memphis City
Schools in 2006 to improve teaching and school leadership.
Principals are eligible for bonuses of up to $7,500 a year and
teachers are eligible for bonuses of up to $2,500 if their students
have exceptionally high achievement gains.97 However, in
order to receive these bonuses, principals and teachers must
be willing to help disseminate the practices that led to their
school’s achievement growth via EPIC’s online Knowledge
System. Either as a written or video case study, each school
must highlight what it is doing to increase student achievement.
In the 2007-08 school year alone, 650 educators in Memphis
received rewards totaling more than $900,000. That same
year, EPIC was named as Memphis City School’s “bright spot”
by the Commercial Appeal. EPIC is also being piloted in
Washington D.C. and Denver Public Schools.98

Middle School Math Teacher Incentive Pay Pilot
Metro Nashville Public Schools
Led by a research team at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody
College, Metro Nashville Public Schools is participating in
a pilot of performance-based compensation incentives for
middle school math teachers. The project includes 392 middle
school math teachers who are eligible to receive incentive
bonuses ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 depending upon
the achievement gains their students achieve. In Fall 2009,
Vanderbilt is expected to release a study on whether these
incentives result in increased student achievement.

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T h e S t a t e o f E d u c a t i o n i n T e n n e ss e e

Leadership
Hamilton County Leadership Initiative
Public Education Foundation of Hamilton County
With assistance from the Annenberg Foundation, the Public
Education Foundation (PEF) runs a leadership initiative with
several components. The primary component is a year-long,
twenty-day Leadership Fellows program that includes monthly
workshops, job shadowing, school visits, and small study
groups. Program participants are selected by a PEF-appointed
committee and are not guaranteed jobs in Hamilton County
Schools. Since it was launched in 1998, the Fellows program
has trained almost 300 individuals, including 41 principals and
45 assistant principals. The Leadership Initiative also includes
a number of professional development opportunities for school
leaders, including a two-day Summer Institute, a one-day
Winter Institute, a series of Summer Literacy Leader Institutes,
and a book club for educators who want to discuss the latest
literature on effective leadership.

Principals Leadership Academy of Nashville
Metro Nashville Public Schools and Vanderbilt University
In 2000, Vanderbilt University, the Nashville Public Education
Foundation, and Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS)
partnered to create the Principals’ Leadership Academy of
Nashville (PLAN). Participants are aspiring principals selected
by the MNPS Director of Schools. The program includes
an intensive two-week summer training session, one all-day
Saturday meeting each month during the school year, and a
monthly one-on-one meeting between each aspiring principal
and his or her mentor, who is either a high-performing MNPS
principal and/or a PLAN alumni.99

Urban Education Center
Memphis City Schools
Under the leadership of new superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash,
Memphis City Schools has launched an Urban Education
Center focused on developing high-quality school leaders. The
Center’s primary program will be its Executive Leadership
Program (ELP), which will focus on developing “a cadre of
school leaders committed to eliminating the achievement gap.”
The year-long residency based program, which is scheduled
to launch in August 2009, will work in partnership with the
University of Memphis and Christian Brother’s University.
Participants will receive a certificate in urban education or
additional college credit. In addition to the ELP program,
the Urban Education Center also runs summer training