Policy Research

Precursors to Policy Innovation: How Tennessee Entered the Race to the Top

Maida A. Finch

Summary

In 2007, Tennessee failed in several categories of a US Chamber of Congress report on state educational effectiveness, including measures of workforce readiness and racial achievement gap. In addition, students who performed highly in math and reading on the state-level standardized test failed the national-level standardized test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The governor and state legislators worked together after this to directly address the problems in the education system. The first reforms were an increase in funding, which lowered the student to teacher ratio, and ability for families to choose schools outside their own district. The state also met with businesses and community leaders to find out where they felt the workforce was lacking. In this way, the state cultivated broad public support for the reforms. Tennessee won an extremely competitive Race to the Top grant in 2010, which was a federal grant to reform schools and improve education outcomes.

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Policy Implications

Tennessee was embarrassed by its low achievement, and the governor was extremely supportive of change. More funding was redirected to schools, but the governor’s community efforts over several years were also key in building support for new programs. This case study is a good example of how legislators and other actors in states with difficult policy issues (education or otherwise) can lay groundwork for radical policy innovation. If states follow Tennessee’s model for comprehensive reforms, more states are likely to improve their education outcomes.