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Programs: Various grants are made by great schools partnership (gsp) to knox county schools (kcs) to assist with the following programs: parents as teachers (formerly birth to kindergarten) - parents as teachers is a program that helps parents become better educators for their infants and children. Parents are a child's most important teachers, and the first three years of life most critical in any child's education. Through this program, specially trained staff conduct monthly home visits with at risk families, conduct group education sessions, and provide health and development screening and intervention to promote children's success in (continued on schedule o) (continued from part iii) kindergarten. Our birth to kindergarten program served a total of 447 children and families last year. 88% of our "graduates" entered school "kindergarten ready" per standardized tests compared to 59% for the district as a whole. First grade reading intervention (early literacy) - modeled after the highly successful kindergarten intervention program, this project utilizes a literacy coach, individualized staff development, common reading time and small-group and individual interventions that provide up to an additional hour of reading time per school day. It is an "all hands on deck" approach to reading proficiency. First grade was chosen for this program because research clearly shows that this is the optimal time to master basic reading skills. Moreover, 80% of students who are not proficient readers after first grade are not proficient after fifth grade. The single most important thing we can do for our children educationally is teach them to read. Our first-grade reading intervention partnership (funded by united way) served 1341 students in the 2014-2015 school year. 63% of the participants were assessed as proficient or advanced on an oral reading assessment. Funding for this program will not continue in the 2015-2016 fiscal year. Teacher advancement program (tap) - the teacher advancement program is a comprehensive school reform system that provides powerful opportunities for career advancement, professional growth, instructionally-focused accountability and competitive compensation for educators. Although achievement scores at our tap schools continue to be modest (these schools tend to have high numbers of children living in poverty), academic growth is generally strong. Stated differently, students at these schools are learning more than would be expected in a one-year period. Seven of our tap schools had composite scores of 5 under the tennessee value-added assessment system (tvas) last year. That is the highest level of academic growth. Unfortunately, five of our tap schools had composite scores of 1 - the lowest level of academic growth. Gsp will discontinue funding for tap in the 2015-2016 fiscal year. Teacher mentoring and induction - this program has helped kcs identify and retain strong teachers; it also helps identify the relatively small number of teachers who should not continue in the profession and whose contracts should not be renewed. Although 60% of knox county teachers are retained during their first five years of service, this retention rate has been declining in recent years. These outcome results have caused gsp to discontinue funding for the program in the 2015-2016 fy. Advancement via individual determination (avid) - avid is a college readiness system that utilizes proven strategies to empower students with academic skills, individual determination and social adaptability with the ultimate goal of college admission and graduation. Avid students are completing college-prep courses at a rate of over 95% while maintaining a 3. 1 gpa. At austin east, 89% of avid seniors graduated on time. 78% of those graduates enrolled in college compared to less than 65% for the school as a whole. Teacherprenuer grant program -teacherprenuer invites knox county teachers to be innovative by developing programs and instructional interventions to improve student outcomes. The most promising ideas are funded in a pilot setting with the results monitored and measured. Successful ideas can be scaled up. Six proposals were selected for funding in fy15, with grants ranging from 1,000 to 25,000. Tutoring centers/centers for academic excellence - great schools has several private sector donors to create tutoring centers at five knox county high schools: central, gibbs, karns, south doyle, and west. These centers assist high school students who fall below a "c" in their academic studies, and offer act prep in some locations. Students who receive tutoring show some significant improvements: at central high, 84% increased their scores by a letter grade. At west high school, 87% successfully raised their scores. 90% of those tutored at karns had a pass rate. South doyle students who received tutoring gained an overage of 11 points on their final course grade. Data analyst - the data and evaluation needs of gsp have grown over the past several years, as has the complexity of analysis due to the evolution of standardized tests. To facilitate access and analysis of student data related to program outcomes, gsp has an memorandum of understanding with kcs. Through this agreement, gsp covers a partial salary of one data analyst, and employee of kcs. In return, kcs provides us with data and evaluation reports for our programs.

community schools - gsp directly operates knox county's community schools initiative. The community schools initiative is a strategy for using public schools as a hub for organizing community resources to improve neighborhood health and safety and student academics. Services include: family, partner and community engagement; expanded learning opportunities; health and social support; youth development activities; tutoring and academic enrichment; and school facilities open for extended hours. This year, gsp operated the program at four pilot schools and will begin servicing three additional schools next year. With parent, neighborhood and partner input and involvement, community schools can be a positive center of influence to (continued on schedule o) (continued from part iii) benefit students, families, and the surrounding community. Research indicates these benefits include improved student learning, health, and attendance; stronger family engagement; an improved school climate; and safer neighborhoods. In knox county, students who participate in the afterschool enrichment programming at community schools show accelerated rates of academic growth and fewer absences when compared to their peers in the same school.

various grants are made to project grad knoxville (grad), a 501(c)(3) non- profit organization, in furtherance of its mission. Grad supports a quality public school education for heart of knoxville students that equips and encourages youth to graduate from high school and to succeed in college or technical school. This is accomplished through an intentional and holistic k-16 approach providing: academic support, social services, classroom management, college access and parental engagement. This year, a redesign team of board members, staff and key kcs board members and staff conducted an 18 month study and analysis to determine the scope of grad's work in the future. It was determined that grad would focus its efforts on (continued on schedule o) (continued from part iii) its two areas of greatest strength: (1) student and family support, and (2) college access. Grad's board of directors also voted to become what the internal revenue code calls a "supporting organization" of the gsp effective july 1, 2013. With their work now closely aligned and two boards of directors having a formal, legal relationship, talks are under way to explore the most efficient way to deploy staff and resources.

codetn - codetn is tennessee's first software code-writing competition for high school students. The goal is to promote computer science education in our schools and encourage students to explore the world of software design. It was inspired by the first robotics competition, and with a staffing partnership between gsp and the united way of greater knoxville, codetn was piloting it this year with 27 teams from knox, anderson and blount counties. Teams from farragut and bearden high schools were selected as finalists, and bearden won the competition with their development of a scholarship search engine called "eruditio".