STATE OF THE SCHOOLS ADDRESS February 11, 2014 Remarks as prepared by Dr.

Jim McIntyre, Superintendent

Good evening. Thank you, Mrs. Fugate, for your kind introduction. I also want to thank each of our School Board Members for their dedicated service to our community. I am extremely grateful to our School Board for their remarkable and steadfast commitment to the education of all of our children. Im excited to stand before you tonight for the Third Annual State of the Schools Address its terrific to see so many of you here who are dedicated to ensuring that every child in the Knox County Schools receives a great education.

You know, its hard to believe, but Im now well into my SIXTH year serving as your superintendent. Its been a tremendous journey so faran enormously gratifying journey A journey filled with great progress and -- at times -- great struggles. As we begin tonight, I want to share a quick story about another journey... Over the holidays my Dad and I we were looking through some old pictures and documents, and I came across a small hard-cover booklet with a green cover and a picture of a harp on the front it was my Grandmothers old Irish passport. My grandmother (my fathers mother) was born in Ireland, and when she was a young lady -- not much older than some of our students here at Hardin Valley Academy -- she left her family and her home to move to America in search, as they say, of a better life. As I held this hundred year-old well-worn passport in my hand, I thought about the desperation and need that drove my grandmothers emigration, and what an incredible act of courage it was. Can you imagine what a radical change it was for such a young woman to move by herself from the tiny farming village of Portumna in County Galway across the ocean to urban America of the Roaring 20s, knowing she might never see her family again? After the arduous, weeks-long Atlantic steamship crossing, my grandmother her name was Annie Halloran - settled in Boston and got a job as a domestic servant cleaning houses and cooking for the priests at a local church. Her journey was certainly difficult, and the transition challenging. And for many years, Annie longed to go back to her old life. But she knew the change was necessary and critical so she sort of put her head down and moved forward in her new reality. Ultimately she adjusted. While her life here in the U.S. was not easy by any stretch, by making an extreme change, my grandmother created the opportunity for a better life for herself, and so many others, including me.
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As I mentioned, from the day she arrived on these shores, my grandmother thought about going back to Ireland. She worked hard, and saved whatever was left over, after she sent money back home to her family. Finally she was able to visit Ireland about 6 years after she arrived in America. Loved visiting with family & friends, but was struck by how different it felt, how far she had come, how much shed grown, how much she had taken to America and to her new life, and at that moment she knew she didnt want to go back - and in so many ways simply could not go back - to what her life had been. I relay my grandmothers story because I think there are lots of lessons we can take from it and apply to public education in Knox County, TN today, nearly a century later. For one that change, especially radical change, can be incredibly difficult, but it can also be rewarding, beneficial, and truly transformational. Another is that it takes courage, hard work and commitment to create a better future for ourselves and others. And finally, that having lived through and worked through the hardships and discomfort of a difficult change, you often realize that there is absolutely no way you would want to go back to the way it used to be. And so here we are in the midst of a great transition and a most important journey on behalf of our children. As Ms. Fugate noted, We have seen enormous changes in public education in Tennessee the past few years. Our state has put in place higher academic standards, including the new rigorous Common Core State Standards. In addition, Tennessee has adopted a new teacher performance evaluation system, required differentiated pay plans, restructured the tenure system, and replaced collective bargaining for teachers with an interest-based dialogue known as collaborative conferencing. The state of Tennessee has made all these changes for the right reasons -- to enhance student success -- and there is a good deal of evidence that they are having a positive impact. But the pace of change in public education in Tennessee and in the Knox County Schools has admittedly been breathtaking. sometimes it feels like quite literally! Over the past several months, we have been engaged in what I believe has been a productive and healthy conversation with our teachers and staff about the challenges they have experienced working through these changes and in seeking to meet significantly higher expectations and standards. I am encouraged by the earnest dialogue, and in particular by the collaboration of the Working Group on Teacher Professional Support convened in December. The School Board and I have been carefully listening, and have responded with a series of action steps to begin to address some of the concerns raised by our educators. In particular, we have committed to providing teachers with enhanced choice in implementation of educational initiatives (for example, in evaluation and formative assessment), and greater voice in instructional decision-making.

We also need to make sure our teachers have reasonable autonomy to exercise their professional judgment in the classroom. Our school system and our state have been very clear about high standards and expectations but its the talent, expertise and creativity of our teachers that will allow us to meet our lofty and critical goals.

Speaking of talent and expertise There are many educators here tonight who have made extraordinary contributions to public education in our community. Id like to highlight two of them: First, Ms. Wanda Lacy, an advanced placement calculus teacher at Farragut High School, who for 2013-14 was named the Tennessee Teacher of the Year. Her effectiveness in the classroom results in more than just exemplary AP exam scores year after yearafter year. Ms. Lacys students leave her classroom ready to succeed in college and in their future pursuits. Ms. Lacy is a 30-year veteran educator who is known for leading student, department and district collaboration; and helping students not just figure out how to find the right answer, but also to understand the why behind the answer. Youll have an opportunity to hear from Ms. Lacy later tonight in a video, and youll quickly understand why Tennessee wisely named her Teacher of the Year. Ms. Lacy, could you please stand, so we can show our appreciation? Also, In December, President Barak Obama named the 2013 recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Our own Ms. Amber Hodge, a math teacher at Rocky Hill Elementary School, was one of the two recipients in Tennessee. This award is the nations highest honor for teachers of mathematics and science. Recipients of this prestigious honor serve as models for their colleagues, inspiration to their communities and leaders in the improvement of mathematics and science education. Ms. Hodge, could you please stand and be recognized? We are extremely fortunate in the Knox County Schools to have such excellent teachers who are providing an outstanding education to our kids. Ultimately, it is our educators who are in the classroom everyday facilitating student learning. And their great instruction will be our childrens passport to success. So we must -- I must -- make sure that our teachers have the resources and support they need to continue to do their job effectively for children. We have been traveling on a bold journey of innovation in public education And as measured by a variety of student outcomes, we are seeing considerable academic progress. In fact, our students are experiencing unprecedented levels of academic success in many areas. For example, our Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (or TCAP) results for 2012-13 showed broad gains across most grade levels and subject areas. The Knox County Schools raised proficiency in 9 of 11 key achievement areas last year. We saw an increase of 2.3 percent in 3rd grade reading/language arts proficiencymoving this critical indicator of early literacy from 51.2 percent proficiency to 53.5 percent.

Additionally, In terms of value-added results, which basically tell us how much a student grows academically in a years time, the Knox County Schools achieved a composite Level 5 score (the highest level attainable). We want to thank our talented teachers, leaders, and staff for the hard work that has made these gains a reality! Now listen to this next one The state of Tennessee began issuing report cards with letter grades for school district performance in the year 2000; and this year, for the first time ever, the Knox County Schools scored straight As in achievement on the state report card. Let me repeat that and really let that sink in: S T R A I G H T As! An A for achievement in math, an A in social studies, an A in English language arts & reading, and an A in science For the first time ever! These results are not by accidentnot by chanceand certainly not an anomaly. Our teachers do a remarkable job! Our students work hard! Our parents and community lend their support! In the Knox County Schools, we define excellent instruction and strive to achieve it, we collectively seek to identify and meet the needs of our students, and indeed we do assess our progress. We dont revere data and assessment for their own sake, but we do utilize data and assessment so we can improve instruction for our children. We figure out what worked well and try to duplicate it by sharing best practices. We figure out what concepts our kids didnt master and we reinforce and re-teach them. We figure out what isnt working and we seek to do it better. And we certainly have many areas to improve upon. For example, we absolutely need to accelerate our progress in 3rd grade reading proficiency. We have indeed shown growth but we have to improve at a more rapid pace and gain even more ground in this critical academic area. Likewise, weve seen exceptional increases in our high school graduation rate -- from 79% in 2008 to 88% for the class of 2013 -- but last years graduation rate actually represented a bit of a decrease from the previous year. In addition, Our ACT scores must improve over the current composite 20.2 mark, and the percentage of our students reaching all four college readiness benchmarks is just frankly far too low. And unfortunately, like most schools systems in America, we are still experiencing unacceptable gaps in achievement that are defined by income, race, language or disability. We simply must do better in all of these areas. So, yes, weve seen impressive academic growth, but we still have a lot more work to do. We must accelerate our strong academic progress, and we must also ensure that our educational gains are UNIVERSAL that our academic success is shared by every single student in our school system! The remarkable academic results we have achieved are a testament to the hard work and commitment of our students, teachers, staff, leaders, parents and community.
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These positive student outcomes also reflect the wisdom of our School Board in adopting a visionary strategic plan nearly five years ago, and sticking to it. In the past five years, we have embraced higher academic expectations, embodied the notion of multiple pathways to success, and embarked on an intense voyage toward Excellence for All Children. Our strategic plan has encouraged us to develop new pathways to success for our kids, such as the L&N STEM Academy, the Kelley Volunteer Academy (still known affectionately to many as the school in the Mall), and the soon to be opened Career Magnet Academy at Pellissippi State. Based on our strategic plan, we implemented the School Technology Challenge, an innovative instructional technology pilot in 11 of our schools, from all across the county. We expanded the Community Schools effort from one school to seven, building on the promising work at Pond Gap ES to extend learning time, and leverage community assets to the benefit of our students, families and neighborhoods. And perhaps most importantly, our strategic plan has kept us focused on continuously improving the quality of instruction in our classrooms. Instructional coaching, enhanced professional development, teacher leadership, a developmental performance appraisal system, and educator collaboration these are a few of the important efforts that we have implemented following our current strategic plan. For the past several months, we have been engaged in a process of soliciting input into our next five year strategic plan. Weve asked our stakeholders what they believe our focus and educational priorities should be ...and what both the journey and the destination should look like for our district, our schools, our teachers and our students. This KnoxSchools2020 effort has included 10 community meetings (including two specifically for teachers), dozens of small group conversations, key stakeholder interviews, and a survey completed by more than 5,000 people. It is this type of hearty stakeholder engagement that will help us produce the best learning opportunities for each and every child. While our goal is to complete and present a draft strategic plan to the School Board later this the springsome clear common themes are beginning to surface based on the feedback we have received:

The first emerging theme is, Focus on Every Student. So much of the feedback we received encouraged us to maintain our rigorous academic standards, but to seek ways to individualize instruction and supports for each of our more than 56,000 kids.
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Emphasizing a focus on every child would allow us to better differentiate instruction and meet students where they are: to support struggling students, challenge excelling students, and ensure that every child achieves their full academic potential. In order to do that effectively, I am convinced that comprehensive instructional technology must be a part of our future. We heard this theme consistently in the feedback we received from our teachers, our students and our community. While providing a computer to every student and every teacher is a significant expenditure, I believe it is one of the smartest investments we can make in our childrens future. The innovation and learning happening through our School Technology Challenge shows the great promise and potential of technology in our classrooms. I am also convinced that in order to completely meet the needs of each one of our students, time will be a critical factor. In our insight sessions and other feedback, we heard a great deal of interest and excitement about extending the school year through a balanced calendar approach. I am persuaded that having a couple of weeks for real-time intervention and enrichment after every 9 weeks of instruction would be beneficial for our students, and the right structure for our school system and our community. This transition would require a great deal of planning and investment, but I believe it is time to begin to move in this direction. The second emerging theme is Invest in our People. We are incredibly fortunate to have talented, committed educators, leaders, and staff in our school system. We need to make sure our people are valued as professionals, supported, and given opportunities to continuously grow professionally. Collaboration, professional support, developmental evaluation, and compensation all need to be woven together to support our people in continuing the great work they are doing for our children. Over the past two years we have increased teacher salaries by 4.5%. We fought hard for those resources, and made some difficult decisions to make these raises a reality. However, I believe we need to do more. Along with the School Board, I would like to see significant increases in teacher compensation in the coming years. At last check, our average salary for teachers ranked about 35th in the state of Tennessee. (You heard that right 35th! ) That simply isnt good enough for a successful school district like ours. In the coming fiscal year, I will work with the School Board, Mayor Burchett, and the Knox County Commission to seek to supplement the salary increases proposed by Governor Haslam, so that the Knox County Schools can continue to make progress toward a more competitive compensation structure for our educators. The third emerging theme is the need to Partner with our Stakeholders. Our parents, families, employees, and community members are all critical partners who are instrumental in ensuring our districts continued educational success. Therefore, as we heard many times this fall, we need to create the necessary conditions for an honest two-way dialogue between KCS and all our stakeholders. We can do this by ensuring open, clear, and
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timely communication with our stakeholders so that there is a high level of transparency, trust, collaboration and shared decision-making in the work we collectively do for our children. I actually think weve taken a positive beginning step in this direction with the Teacher Working Group, and Im grateful to the members who have agreed to continue th is dialogue as our districts Teacher Advisory Committee. The final theme that has emerged from our conversations has been to Embrace a Culture of Excellence. I adamantly believe that we have the potential to not just be a good school system, but to truly provide an extraordinary education to our children. In order to do so, we must create and sustain a culture of excellence a Knox County Schools community that espouses a shared vision around high expectations, outstanding instruction, continuous improvement, mutual accountability, and a constant focus on student learning. ((VIDEO)) This culture of excellence must permeate everything we do from buses and budgets and buildings (as we certainly need to ensure a safe, healthy and inviting learning environment for every child), to the core of our instructional work in the classroom. And it must permeate our entire community. Achieving excellence is not easy, and it is rarely convenient. I truly believe we are poised to accomplish something special for the education of young people in the Knox County Schools, but we must all support and value this important work to make it happen. As we translate the input we have received into a coherent five-year strategic plan, I see a subtle but important shift occurring, from Excellence for All Children, to a still inclusive, but more student-centered and personalized perspective of Excellence for Every Child. As I wrap up my remarks, I wanted to end on a bit of a personal note You know, I have been asked by a good number of people, especially lately, why I do this job, why I have such high expectations, why I push so hard to try to improve education, and why our collective success is so important to me Now of course, I knew this when I signed on, but being Superintendent can some days be a difficult and intense job. We have a complex organization with thousands of employees doing important high-stakes work for children. Decisions I make can be very publicly second-guessed, my motives are even sometimes questioned, and I am expected to be an expert in both education and meteorology. There are many reasons why I do this job and why I love this job but at its most essential its because I believe deeply in the value and importance of high quality public education not just as a foundational democratic ideal, but also as a practical real-world tool to prepare our children for success in their future.
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I believe that every child, regardless of circumstance, should have the opportunity for a successful and fulfilling life. And there is no better way for our community and our society to keep this promise to our young people, than through an excellent public education. So, why is our educational success so important to me? Among other reasons Because Im a father. I have two sons in the Knox County Schools. I want for all our children what I want for my boys: to be life-long learners, to be critical thinkers, to be thoughtful, curious, hard-working young people who will grow to be conscientious citizens and productive contributors to our world. To be ready for whatever challenges come their way in life, and be able to look back at the end of their days, and be proud of what they were able to accomplish, and of the many lives they were able to enrich. Why is our educational success so important to me? Because I am a husband. My wife, Michelle, grew up in rural southern Indiana. She is one of the most intelligent people I know, but had to overcome some difficult circumstances in life to become the successful wife, mother, and businesswoman she is today. She took advantage of the educational avenues that were made available to her, and today does dynamic work for a fast-paced technology company. Applying knowledge and synthesizing incredibly complex information is part of her daily work, and the value she adds. By the way, using technology she does all her work with this Massachusetts-based international corporation from our home in Knoxville.

Why is our educational success so important to me? Because I am a son. Both my parents came from extremely limited means. My Dad was raised by a low-income, immigrant single mother (my grandmother that I spoke of earlier). Education (coupled with a lot of hard work) was his ticket to the American dream. He overcame his tough depression-era childhood, the loss of his father at age 6, and crushing poverty, because of the education provided to him by caring and competent teachers. He put himself through college at night, married a great lady, has worked at Boston College for more than 50 years, and with my Mom raised a family of six children. His remarkable life would not have been possible without high quality education.

Why is our educational success so important to me? Because I am an educator. As many of you know, I was a classroom teacher early in my career. While I was a teacher for only one year, -- and certainly recognize that pales in comparison to
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the vast experience of many of our educators -- it was an incredibly formative and important time in my life. I taught English, anatomy and physical education to students in an alternative high school in East St. Louis, Ill. At the time, East Saint Louis was a city wracked with poverty, crime, and civic chaos. On a daily basis, my students had to navigate through the evils of gangs, violence, and drugs just to make it to school. Their lives were unimaginably tumultuous, and yet they came to school to learn. These were kids who had dropped out or been kicked out of the traditional comprehensive high school, young people who had every deck stacked against them, and yet they came to school to learn. And when you would engage them in learning light a spark of knowledge or help them to see a small academic success my kids could excel. They were smart, they were creative, they had enormous potential, but their life circumstances had limited their future hopes considerably. One student in particular, a sixteen year-old named David, was as keen an intellect as Ive ever seen. David loved to read just about anything, and was joyfully astounded to learn that he could write to his U.S. Senators to inform them of the challenges in his community. He did exactly that. My teaching experience was important to me in several ways. First, I was able to understand the work and challenge of being a classroom teacher. Its hard to provide high quality instruction day after day... but its certainly what all good teachers strive for. Second, I was also able to experience the joy of helping a student to understand a difficult concept, master a new skill, or get excited about making a new connection with their prior knowledge. There really is no better feeling, not only in the moment, but also realizing that effective teaching can positively influence the future success of your students for years to come. So that one year of teaching has given me an understanding of the rewards and challenges of teaching, and that experience influences every educational decision I make even today. It was also in that year of teaching that a tragic moment led me to deepen my commitment to education. Late in the spring of that school year, my very best student, David tragically took his own life. While there was no explanation for his irrational act, knowing him as well as I did, I always believed that he was more cognizant of his dire circumstances than his peers. That sadly, David could see no future where his extraordinary talents were recognized, developed, utilized and celebrated. David saw no hope. On that sad day in the early 1990s, I decided that I would do everything in my power to ensure that every child I could impact would have access to a great education, that they would have the ability to rise above difficult circumstances, and that they would have the opportunity to be successful. In that heart-wrenching moment, I committed to making high quality education my lifes work.
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So when people ask me why I do this job, why I push so hard for a better education, and why our success is so important to me its because based on my personal experience and relationships, I am passionate about creating opportunity for young people to reach their full potential. Every child in our country, in our community, and in our school district deserves the opportunity to learn, to grow, to find their unique strengths, and to become their very best self.

Isnt that what the American Dream is all about? Isnt that what we as educators wake up every day thinking about and striving for? Isnt it worth all the struggle and challenge, if our children flourish and develop into life-long learners, thinkers, problem-solvers, and productive contributors to our community? I say YES. Isnt it worth all this incredibly hard work to give our children the opportunity for a bright, competitive, and successful future? I say YES. I say YES. Make no mistake, this is a challenging journey we are on but if we work collaboratively to adjust to significant change, and collectively keep our focus on providing great instruction in every classroom every day, our destination of student learning and success is within our reach. So, As we look forward to the next five years together, lets say yes to opportunity for our young people, lets say yes to a bright future for our kids and our community, and indeed lets say yes to Excellence for Every Child! Thank you very much.

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