Monday night, more than 300 academy business partners and Metro Schools educators packed Rocketown for the third annual Academies of Nashville Awards. McGavock High School’s Academy of Aviation and Transportation, currently undergoing its review for accreditation from the National Career Academy Coalition, won the coveted “Academy of the Year” award. The awards were made possible by event sponsors Altria and Deloitte. For a complete list of all the winners, click here.

CEO Champions co-chair Steve Turner and Shoney’s Chairman and CEO David Davoudpour received special awards for their extensive contributions to the Academies of Nashville. Chief Academic Officer Jay Steele surprised the crowd at the beginning of the program by donning sunglasses and singing his own lyrics about the academies to the tune of Queen's “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” while members of his leadership & learning team danced behind him. Elected officials spotted in the crowd included Mayor Karl Dean, State Representative Harold Love Jr., Councilman Steve Glover, and School Board members Cheryl Mayes, Anna Shepherd, Jo Ann Brannon, Elissa Kim and Jill Speering.

To view and download photos from the event, click here. To view and download photos from the red carpet, click here.


CEO Champions Co-Chair Steve Turner and Shoney’s Chairman and CEO David Davoudpour.


Educators from the Academy of Aviation and Transportation at McGavock High School celebrate their win.



Jay Steele and the MNPS Leadership and Learning "Solid Gold Dancers."

Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and current thought leader on education policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told a Nashville audience of more than 200 last week that it will be up to local communities and states to stay the course on rigorous academic standards and accountability. As Congress gets ready to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) -- or No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as it was known during the last reauthorization -- Spellings said the law should be “clear, transparent and speak to every school and every student.” She said NCLB should be “preserved, strengthened and improved,” but she worried that Washington was headed toward a “new normal” that would excuse continued low performance for groups of students. She praised Tennessee’s reform efforts and encouraged the use of student growth data as an accountability measure in any new federal legislation.

Why should the business community get involved in education? Spellings painted a stark picture:

• Half of U.S. Chamber members reported having trouble finding skilled/knowledgeable workers.
• In 2010, the private sector was forced to spend $50 billion on job training.
• By 2020, there are projected to be 123 million high-skill/high-wage jobs, but only 50 million workers qualified to fill them.

Spellings referenced the work that Nashville’s business community is doing, through the Academies of Nashville and other initiatives, as a model for other cities to emulate. This past summer, the U.S. Chamber released a report, Partnership Is a Two-Way Street, which profiled Nashville’s efforts.

Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Ralph Schulz then moderated a panel to dive into the details of business engagement in education. Steve Turner, co-chair of the Chamber’s CEO Champions, a group that advocates for the Academies of Nashville, reported that there were now 150 businesses and organizations partnered with Metro’s high school academies, and these partners were doing everything from serving as guest speakers, to providing student internships, to working with teachers on curriculum through “teacher externships.”

Mike Edwards, president & CEO of the Knoxville Chamber, told the crowd that philanthropy is important, but it needs to direct results. He urged business leaders to pay attention to policy debates, because education legislation “can affect our bottom line.” Edwards said school districts could lean on the private sector to improve management skills because businesses are used to managing to an outcome.

Darrell Freeman, chairman of SuccessPAC, a political action committee that endorses candidates in Nashville’s school board elections, reminded the audience that “education is a child’s ticket out of poverty.” Leaving no doubt as to his feelings on the urgency around this work, Freeman encouraged systems to remove “nonperformers” quickly.

Kevin Huffman, Tennessee’s commissioner of education, urged businesses to “keep pushing and engage” with school boards and superintendents, always asking “Did it work?” and “How do we know?” Commissioner Huffman said he had heard many excuses for delaying or watering down Tennessee’s ambitious education reforms, but no one had offered insight as to why Kentucky’s poor students were a full grade level ahead of Tennessee’s poor students. “The burden of proof is not on the people who want change,” said Huffman. “The burden of proof is on the people who want the system to remain the same.”

The luncheon, part of the Education 2020 Speaker Series presented by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Karl Dean and Lipscomb University, was a collaborative effort with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Look for details soon about the next speaker series event, to be held Wednesday, December 7, at Lipscomb University.



Margaret Spellings, former secretary of education, visited Nashville to discuss business engagement in public education as part of the Education 2020 Speaker Series presented by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Karl Dean and Lipscomb University.


Panelists Mike Edwards, president & CEO of the Knoxville Chamber; Darrell Freeman, chairman of Zycron; Kevin Huffman, commissioner, Tennessee Department of Education; and Steve Turner, co-chair, CEO Champions, delved into the issues surrounding business engagement in public education. To view additional pictures from the event, click here.

The CEO Champions, a Chamber committee focused on the successful implementation of the academy model in Metro’s 12 zoned high schools, held their fall meeting at Glencliff High School on September 7. Co-Chair Steve Turner welcomed two new members to the group: Bill Lee, CEO of the Lee Company (partnered with Cane Ridge High School), and Dawn Rudolph, president & CEO of St. Thomas Hospital (partnered with Maplewood High School).

The CEO Champions received a report from the PENCIL Foundation on the status of academy partnerships between schools and businesses. In a remarkable affirmation of the academy partnerships, 95 percent of the 140 partners chose to renew their partnership agreement for the 2011-2012 school year. Most of the handful of non-renewals were due to academy or pathway changes in the schools. In addition, academy partners contributed more than $1.3 million in community investment -- volunteer time, in-kind donations and cash -- during the 2010-2011 school year. As part of their "dashboard" report, the committee also learned that 27 academy teams participated in teacher externships during the summer of 2011, making rapid progress toward the goal of all 43 academy teams participating in an externship by the year 2015.

The highlight of the meeting involved the CEO Champions working with Glencliff students on an interdisciplinary curriculum unit in the Ford Academy of Business. The group broke into five “loan committee” teams and were given the scenarios of several applicants who were seeking a loan. The teams had to evaluate the creditworthiness of each applicant and explain the rationale for their loan decision. Teacher Deborah Crosby led the exercise and showed how the curriculum unit cut across academic disciplines and helped develop 21st-century skills.


David Klements, CEO of Qualifacts Systems, leads a conversation at the most recent CEO Champions meeting.


Shoney’s CEO David Davoudpour congratulates a student, with fellow CEO Champions Steve Turner and Peggy Cooning.

Click here for more photos from the meeting.