ASSET Initiative
The Issue
Effective educators have the single greatest impact on student success in the classroom. They are the key to providing students with the foundation of knowledge and skills to become college- and career-ready. In 2009, the Mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County hired Education First to develop a feasible, long-term plan to transform Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (Metro Schools) into a school district that attracts and retains the most talented educators who positively impact student achievement.
What We Did
Education First worked closely with Mayor Karl Dean as well as Dr. Jesse Register, the director of Metro Schools, to develop Achieving Student Success through Effective Teaching (ASSET) — a roadmap for educator effectiveness in Nashville. Education First orchestrated ASSET’s overall efforts, led on the ground by Nashville’s own educators, in conjunction with a team of national urban school human capital experts. The comprehensive approach included an examination of the essential components along an educator’s career: preparation, recruitment, hiring and support, developing and evaluating, and retaining and rewarding. Education First also facilitated strategic planning among Nashville and Metro Schools leaders and stakeholders, provided guidance and leadership on human capital issues, consulted on reform policy options, shepherded the development of core strategy recommendations, staffed steering committees and practitioner work teams, wrote a communications plan and ASSET publications, and planned a high-profile publicity launch event.
Multiple sectors contributed to the development of ASSET’s human capital reform plan. The committees and work teams consisted of dozens of teachers, administrators and union leaders, as well as national experts including representatives from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, the National Center for Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Teach For America, the New Teacher Project and Stand for Children. Click the link at the bottom of the page to download the full project report.
The Outcome
ASSET will ensure that Metro Schools supplies “an effective educator in every class, for every student, every year.” Phase 1, comprised of three bedrock recommendations, is currently being implemented and will develop a culture of support and collaboration for educators currently teaching and leading in Metro Schools. Phase 2, currently under consideration, will target recruiting strategies and identify options for additional consideration.
Why It Matters
Metro Schools is responsible for providing a quality education to more than 76,000 students in 140 schools. As the second largest school district in Tennessee, Nashville’s work through ASSET to systemically improve its human capital continuum will provide all school districts across the nation with a model for ensuring a continuous cycle of effective teaching. This will result in greater student success.