State Invests Millions in Closing Achievement Gaps through Focus School Grants
Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Department of Education announced today the 56 winners of the Focus School grant competition, which will provide an estimated $19.2 million investment to schools across the state during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years.
The winning schools will be awarded between $100,000 and $300,000 each year depending on enrollment size and satisfactory performance. The award will be used to create and sustain improvement plans that close student achievement gaps among subgroups, such as racial and ethnic groups, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, students with disabilities and English-language learners.
Clarksville Montgomery County School System’s Moore Magnet Elementary School and St. Bethlehem Elementary School will each receive $200,000 over a two-year period.
CMCSS Chief Academic Officer Dr. Sean Impeartrice said, “Moore and St. Bethlehem’s faculty and staff have analyzed their data and completed the grant process in order to make an impact on student achievement and gap closures. This was a competitive grant process and the state recognized both schools’ grant applications as highly credible and tied to best practices. Each school spent countless hours exploring best practices and creating the grants in hopes of providing additional training, programming, and resources for their learning communities.”
The grant program is designed to support Focus Schools – the 10 percent of schools in Tennessee with the largest achievement gaps between groups of students – in developing deliberate, data-driven strategies to ensure growth for student subgroups that have underperformed their peers.
“Using this grant, Tennessee’s Focus Schools will create real opportunities to close student achievement gaps while providing examples of success and lessons learned for all schools across the state,” said Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman.
Moore Magnet Elementary Principal Kim Smith said, “The faculty and staff of Moore Magnet are elated to be a recipient of the Tennessee Focus Grant. As STEM becomes a cornerstone of the 21st century classroom education and Common Core State Standards are implemented, we recognize that this grant will provide the critical resources necessary to help all our students reach their educational potential.”
The state named 167 Focus Schools in August, a part of Tennessee’s accountability system developed through its waiver from No Child Left Behind, and 152 of those Focus Schools applied for the grant.
School faculty, along with parents, outside experts and community partners, submitted plans in September based on the latest research in the areas of individualized student support, staff professional development, extended learning time, community engagement and performance management.
Additional information regarding Focus Schools and the accountability system can be found at tn.gov/education/accountability.
For more information, contact Kelli Gauthier at 615.532.7817 or Kelli.Gauthier@tn.gov.
2012-14 Focus School Grant Recipients
School Name |
District |
Charleston Elementary | Bradley |
Taylor Elementary | Bradley |
Waterville Community Elementary | Bradley |
Anderson Elementary | Bristol |
Woodbury Grammar School | Cannon |
Valley Forge Elementary | Carter |
East Chester Elementary | Chester |
H.Y. Livesay Middle | Claiborne |
Powell Valley Elementary | Claiborne |
Mayfield Elementary | Cleveland |
Parrottsville Elementary | Cocke |
Hillsboro Elementary | Coffee |
Holice Powell Elementary | Dyer |
East Junior High School | Fayette |
Fayetteville High School | Fayetteville |
Franklin Elementary | Franklin SSD |
Johnson Elementary | Franklin SSD |
Spring Hill Elementary | Gibson SSD |
North Elementary | Grundy |
Union Heights Elementary | Hamblen |
Brown International | Hamilton |
Tyner Academy | Hamilton |
Hancock Elementary | Hancock |
Northside Elementary | Hardin |
South Haven Elementary | Henderson |
East Elementary | Humboldt |
New Market Elementary | Jefferson |
Piedmont Elementary | Jefferson |
Talbott Elementary | Jefferson |
John Sevier Middle | Kingsport |
Lincoln Elementary | Kingsport |
Inskip Elementary | Knox |
Ripley High School | Lauderdale |
Whitthorne Middle | Maury |
Selmer Elementary | McNairy |
Amqui Elementary | Metro Nashville |
Carter-Lawrence Elementary | Metro Nashville |
Pearl Cohn High School | Metro Nashville |
Ruby Major Elementary | Metro Nashville |
Milan Middle | Milan SSD |
Sweetwater High School | Monroe |
Moore Magnet School | Montgomery |
St. Bethlehem Elementary | Montgomery |
A.H. Roberts Elementary | Overton |
Benton Elementary | Polk |
Spring City Elementary | Rhea |
Midway Elementary | Roane |
Midway Middle | Roane |
Coopertown Elementary | Robertson |
Krisle Elementary | Robertson |
Crestview Elementary | Tipton |
Peabody High School | Trenton SSD |
East Middle School | Tullahoma |
Centertown Elementary | Warren |
Dresden Elementary | Weakley |
Doyle Elementary | White |