Benwood News
Hamilton County Schools improved its graduation rate, along with elementary test scores for reading, math, science and social studies, but high school test scores are down, according to the latest state report card. The county’s overall graduation rate increased to 81.7 percent, up from 80.2 percent in 2010 and 70.9 percent in 2009.
...In one corner of the room, six students sat at brand-new iMac computers. To their left, a charging station housed 30 brand new iPad 2s, ready for instant classroom use. On the other side of the wall, a Promethean board—one of only three in Hamilton County—streamed a live feed of footage being recorded by students on flip cams in a side room retrofitted to be a broadcast studio. The remodeled library, which includes a new ceiling and freshly painted walls, was paid for with a $100,000 grant provided to the school by the Leonore Annenberg School Fund for Children.
Rivermont Elementary School in Chattanooga enters a new era of learning. Fifty percent of Rivermont's students don't have Internet access at home. Thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Annenberg School Fund for Children, they now have access to a new media center with modern computers, flip cameras, voice recorders, movie-making applications, a smart podium and interactive whiteboard technology for teachers.
Almost everything is on the internet these days, including things to help kids learn. But still, some children don't have access to computers outside school hours. That's the case for over half the kids at Rivermont Elementary. Now,the school is trying to give kids a chance to log on and learn more. A $100,000 grant helped purchase a brand new Promethean Board, 7 new computers, 30 iPad2's, 6 digital video cameras, a new flat screen TV and 30,000 new books.
The dark, crowded library at Rivermont Elementary School previously earned the not-so-affectionate nickname of “the cave.” Not any more. Bright walls, new furniture and updated technology adorn the space, thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Leonore Annenberg School Fund for Children, which provides funding to the nation’s schools that have at least 90 percent of students living in poverty. The updated library now features new furniture, carpeting, paint, books and technology.
The majority of Hamilton County’s elementary students are receiving effective instruction in math based on value-added scores from the recently released school report cards. Thirty-seven of 44 schools earned a C or above in value-added, which indicates that students’ academic gains are meeting or exceeding projections.
Students at Calvin Donaldson Elementary School have published a 30-page book of student prose, poetry and art. At first blush, it might not seem unique. Students at other schools have produced literary magazines for years. But Calvin Donaldson teachers say the recently published book represents a monumental step forward for the inner-city elementary school that has for years struggled in reading and writing.
...Gov. Bill Haslam on Tuesday downplayed concerns about the impact on class size, telling student leaders that teacher quality ultimately matters more. ... Public Education Foundation President Dan Challener, whose group works to strengthen Hamilton County’s public schools, said “teacher quality is the single most powerful force for improving student achievement. Great teachers make a great difference.” But Challener noted that “it’s also true that every time we increase class size, we make it harder and harder for all teachers, even the great ones, to get the results we need. And I think that’s especially true for teachers working in high poverty schools.”
Teaching is tough! Especially in high-poverty schools, especially the first year. Many new teachers struggle and simply give up after a year or two. Thanks to PEF’s Benwood Director Clara Sale-Davis and her New Teacher Network, beginning teachers in Benwood schools are offered a network of support and advice that helps them succeed.
Two teachers in PEF's Benwood Initiative - Sandi Fain at Red Bank Elementary, and Beth Sebastian at East Lake Elementary - are quoted in this article about math instruction.
Hamilton County Board of Education member Linda Mosley said on a radio broadcast Sunday that she would like to see the Benwood Initiative expanded to more than the 16 schools it serves. “There are some really good initiatives that [the Benwood Foundation] has in place that I think could benefit every student in every school [in Hamilton County],” she said on WUTC 88.1, the National Public Radio affiliate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Hamilton County Department of Education will be featured on the local NPR station on Sunday, Nov. 21 from 12-2 p.m....From 12-1 p.m., the station will replay an hour-long podcast produced by American Radio Works called “Testing Teachers” that looks at Washington DC and Hamilton County as national models for looking at ways to improve teacher quality and its impact on student achievement.
After a special airing of Emily Hanford's "Testing Teachers" documentary, Director of Communications Frances Haman-Prewitt represented PEF in a roundtable discussion with principals, teachers, school board members, Superintendent Scales and Corinne Allen of the Benwood Foundation.
Listen in to WUTC (88.1 FM) on Sunday, November 21 from 12-2 to hear an interesting documentary on teacher quality that features the local Benwood Initiative. American RadioWorks reporter Emily Hanford spent several days in Chattanooga last year as part of a one-hour program focused on the essential question of whether outstanding teachers are “born,” or if they can be “made” through training and professional development.
By Dan Challener - When Emily Hanford, a reporter for American Public Media, came to Chattanooga this spring she was looking for “teacher improvement programs that work.” As she writes in the piece below, “The best example I found is the Benwood Initiative in Chattanooga, Tenn.” Since 2001, the Public Education Foundation, Benwood Foundation and Hamilton County Schools have worked in partnership to improve our community’s elementary schools.
... As part of my reporting for a radio documentary called “Testing Teachers,” I went looking for teacher improvement programs that work. The best example I found is the Benwood Initiative in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Emily Hanford, L.A. Times: As educators struggle with the issue of teacher improvement, a program in Tennessee shows that struggling teachers can gain a lot from watching great teachers in action.
There's some research out there that says test scores can be used with a bunch of other measurements to help find the most effective and least effective teachers in a given school. The problem is figuring out how to help the broad middle group be better teachers. A group of schools in Tennessee has proven that can be done, as Emily Hanford of American RadioWorks reports.
"Figuring out how to help teachers get better is a complex task, and there’s not a lot of evidence that programs designed to help teachers improve actually work...The best example I could find of a teacher improvement program that’s proven effective is the Benwood Initiative in Chattanooga, Tenn. Benwood “worked” according to the metrics that matter most these days: test scores..."
At the urging of community partners, Superintendent Jim Scales and his administration have engaged with outside organizations to develop a comprehensive accountability plan for the Hamilton County Department of Education....Though the plan comes at a critical time in his administration, Scales’ efforts to reorganize goals around expanding school reform began two years ago when the Benwood Foundation brought in the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) to evaluate the district's performance. Since 2001, the Benwood Foundation has invested $18 million in reforming urban schools in Hamilton County through a program called the Benwood Initiative.
The Department of Education's video on the Benwood Initiative - In 2000, the Hamilton County School District in Chattanooga, Tenn., teamed up with a community partner to transform eight of the 20 lowest-performing grade schools in the state of Tennessee. The county built leadership teams to establish staff development and incentive programs to attract and retain talent.
The occasion celebrated the educational impact of the Benwood Initiative, which defines itself as a grant machine “with a laserlike focus on literacy and teacher effectiveness.”
Learn about the Title I School Improvement Grant Program and how the communities of Mobile, Alabama; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Chattanooga, Tennessee were successful in implementing turnaround, restart and transformation models to revitalize and transform their lowest performing schools.
Nearly 30 assistant principals in Hamilton County schools graduated Thursday from a yearlong intensive training program that they say has equipped them to take the reins at local schools.
An innovative study of 17 schools across the country suggests that putting literacy coaches in schools can help boost students’ reading skills by as much as 32 percent over three years...The study finds that reading gains are greatest in schools where teachers receive a larger amount of coaching. It also finds that the amount of coaching that teachers receive varies widely and is influenced by an array of factors, including relationships among staff members and how teachers envision their roles.
...Chattanooga made use of tools that Obama would like to see adopted in all states, such as the system of measuring a student's academic growth over time rather than on static test scores, as Nebraska and most states do.
The Public Education Foundation announced on Monday that the Leonore Annenberg School Fund for Children, through a partnership with PEF, has awarded generous grants of $100,000 each to East Side Elementary School and Brown International Academy.
As debate swirls in the Tennessee General Assembly over K-12 education reforms, a group of fifth-grade teachers...gathered Thursday to swap some last-minute advice on how to teach writing. Fifth graders in Hamilton County will take the writing assessment portion of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program test at the beginning of February. ... The event was held at the Public Education Foundation by Clara Sale-Davis, PEF’s director of the Benwood Initiative, and Susan Swanson, director of urban education for Hamilton County Schools.
Clara Sale-Davis, widely regarded for her inspiring work in boosting academic achievement for students, has joined the Public Education Foundation as Director of the Benwood Initiative. She will oversee Phase II of Hamilton County’s highly successful elementary education initiative.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
East Side Elementary teacher Patricia Clark faces an uphill battle at the beginning of each school year. She must teach her students to read, but most of them don't yet speak English. “It's a very big challenge,” said the 18-year East Side veteran. ... She's one of 33 teachers, two principals and two assistant principals being honored for making huge gains at high-poverty schools from 2005 to 2007.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
When it comes to working out the details of a pet project, it's all about who you know, said former U.S. Senator Bill Frist. Dr. Frist, a former Senate majority leader, stopped by Orchard Knob Elementary on Monday to brainstorm with teachers on how to improve education across the state ... Dr. Frist chose to meet with teachers and principals at Orchard Knob because of the school's involvement in the nationally recognized Benwood Initiative.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Some people might bristle at the thought of outsiders evaluating their work and telling them what they're doing wrong. But, for the most part, teachers at Brown Academy welcomed the critique. ... Education consultants Dick Corbett and Bruce Wilson observed teachers and students at Brown Academy and other high-poverty elementary schools in Hamilton County last week.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Three years after PBS education reporter John Merrow reported on the Benwood Foundation's work in eight local high-poverty elementary schools, he returned to Chattanooga on Tuesday for an update.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Strong leadership and a data-driven approach to education helped two Hamilton County elementary schools meet “adequate yearly progress” requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act for the first time since the 2002 law was implemented, a state official said. After about eight years of not meeting state or federal education standards, East Lake and Orchard Knob elementary schools have moved into “good standing,” state education officials announced Monday morning.
Letter to the editor, Chattanooga Times Free Press
It would have been easy to herald the success of the Benwood 8 as evidence of the power of reconstitution, incentives, and better data systems. The Education Sector report told the other half of this remarkable story. Investing in the knowledge and skills of the teachers committed to the success of a school can produce a profound turnaround.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Six years into the Benwood Initiative, a program to narrow the achievement gap between Hamilton County students in high-poverty schools and their counterparts in richer schools, the improvement continues.
Education Sector, a national independent nonpartisan education think tank, today released a new report “The Benwood Plan: A Lesson in Comprehensive Teacher Reform.”
Chattanooga's Benwood Initiative is one of the most widely touted school-reform success stories of recent years. And many credit its success to financial incentives used to lure new teachers to low-performing schools. But the Benwood Initiative was about much more than pay incentives and attracting new teacher talent, concludes a new report from Education Sector.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
PEF is pleased to announce the hiring of Clara Sale-Davis, a 25-year veteran of public education, to lead the Benwood Initiative.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
The second phase of the Benwood Initiative is launched. School improvement expert Patricia Davenport joins Hamilton County teachers to begin the year on a high note.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
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Natalie Elder named top “K-8 Tennessee Effective Educator"
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Test scores advanced for disadvantaged students
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Education Trust's Achievement Alliance highlights Benwood Schools
An audio podcast of PBS reporter John Merrow's interview with 8 Benwood teachers
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
Special Correspondent for Education John Merrow reports on efforts to fix a group of troubled elementary schools in Tennessee.
As the eight schools of the Benwood Initiative complete the first phase of transformation, the Public Education Foundation and the Benwood Foundation have published two reports.
Challenging Myths: The Benwood Initiative and Education Reform in Hamilton County, by Claire Handley and Robert A. Kronley, Kronley & Associates (75-page comprehensive report)
Lessons Learned: A Report on the Benwood Initiative (8-page summary)
Education Week
By bettering the teaching staffs at its inner-city schools, the Hamilton County school district is lessening the differences in achievement between such schools and their suburban counterparts.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
East Side Elementary School principal Emily Baker and her staff were proud to be noted by Reader's Digest as one of two elementary schools reporting success proving "even the hardest-to-reach student can be inspired to learn."
Chattanooga Times Free Press Editorial
The growing recognition of rising achievement levels in the city's Benwood schools, and the report on this year's scores on SAT college entrance exams underscore the value of investing the resources needed to lift achievement in schools that often are dismissed disdainfully as 'low-performing.'
Chattanooga Times Free Press
In a report to Congress last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige highlighted the partnership between Hamilton County Schools, the Benwood, Public Education and Weldon F. Osborne foundations and the city of Chattanooga to promote recruiting, training and retaining highly qualified teachers.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Teachers and administrators participate in two-day professional Ddevelopment workshop
Third Annual Report on Teacher Quality
The combination of extensive, high-quality professional training, additional staff, strong building and district leadership and incentives has yielded exceptional improvement in all nine schools.
The Washington Post
Teachers transfer to poorest-performing schools in Chattanooga, TN as part of an effort to raise test scores
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Benwood Elementary Schools post higher gains in reading than top 10% of state.
Dallas Morning News
Chattanooga's incentives, shuffling of educators boost urban campuses