Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) today hosted an event featuring Gov. Phil Bredesen and Sir Michael Barber to discuss challenges in advancing education reform through Race to the Top.
Barber, who served as education advisor to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is head of McKinsey & Co.’s global education practice. Barber is founding director of the U.S. Education Delivery Institute (EDI), a Washington-based nonprofit venture launched by The Education Trust in partnership with McKinsey and Achieve Inc.
Through EDI, Barber will advise Tennessee officials as they retool the state Department of Education to support reforms that will be made under the federal government’s Race to the Top initiative. Bredesen co-chairs Achieve, the national organization that promotes higher academic standards in America’s public schools.
“Winning Race to the Top validated Tennessee’s strategy for improving our public schools,” said Frist, founder and chairman of SCORE. “Now the hard part begins as the entire state works to turn these proposed reforms into reality.”
Frist added: “The education-reform community is grateful for Gov. Bredesen’s leadership, and for the support of international experts like Sir Michael Barber.”
In March, the U.S. Department of Education said Delaware and Tennessee are the first states to win the federal Race to the Top competition to spur education innovation. The Volunteer State will receive approximately $502 million over the next four years to support education reform in four areas: promoting higher standards; making better use of student data to improve classroom instruction; supporting great teachers and leaders; and turning around failing schools.
The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of educators, policymakers and community leaders promoting education reform.
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