Roane County Talks Education

Roane County Proclaims that "Education Matters"
One thing was clear at the Roane County Education Summit held on Wednesday, May 12 at Roane State Community College:
EDUCATION MATTERS TO EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING. But in particular, it impacts:
- Quality of life (personal wealth, how long you live, standard of living)
- Economy (economic stability, the vitality of businesses, employment levels)
Roane County's summit talked about the various reasons why Roane County citizens should care about education (publications like Education Crossroads have tried to convince citizens about the importance of education in the past).

Knoxville's Great Schools Partnership Chair Buzz Thomas (offered the keynote) said that Roane County (and all counties in Tennessee) should do 3 things to raise the bar in education:

(1) Measure standards and scores against the US and the world (not just your neighbors like Knox, Blount, Jefferson county)
(2) Make sure every student in Roane County can seek some story of post-secondary education (fancy word for education AFTER high school)
(3) We've got to get entrepreneurial! Our government will NEVER fund education at the level that it should. Businesses, people, and other institutions must get involved because education matters to everyone.
He pointed to the KnoxAchieves (privately funded) program (that's being replicated in Blount County) that allows students to get a mentor and financial assistance to attend community college.

Race to the Top Updates
More school systems are rolling out their plans for how to spend their part of the $250 million that will be given out to school districts. A lot of it seems to be focused on teacher and school leadership plans, academic coaches, funding to start more STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), and specific projects to improve student performance in areas where schools aren't currently doing as well in.
Greene County's school board approved their plan.
Knox County's plan can be found here.
Just as a reminder, here's HOW MUCH MONEY EACH DISTRICT WILL RECEIVE.

Some interesting things I came across this week:
Vols4STEM: Joe Carson (from the Department of Energy) has been working through STEM professional societies to coordinate involvement in the schools. What's going on in the schools? FIND OUT HERE. If you know anyone who can help with this, POINT THEM HERE.

A Miracle Grassy Fork Elementary School?: Located in Cocke County, Grassy Fork Elementary School went through a transformation after getting a $350 per year per student investment from the Niswonger Foundation. It was a failing school. High poverty. It couldn't be saved. Sound familiar? The doom and gloom story ends with an on-going happy story. Now, it's one of the highest performing schools in the state. They were recently recognized for the 3rd highest value-added scores in K-8 institutions in East Tennessee by the Education Consumer's Foundation.