By Lea Ann Overstreet - The Tennessean -

Education reform in Tennessee is real and robust, but the all-out push to change the way teachers teach and kids learn must be sustained, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Thursday.

The State Collaborative on Reforming Education, the nonprofit, nonpartisan group Frist chairs, released its 2010 report lauding the $500 million in federal Race to the Top funds Tennessee earned.

Tennessee and Delaware were the first two in the nation to pass the sorts of education reform laws required to win the grant. Those included a teacher evaluation system that will be based on student test performance.

"Tennessee is a leader in education reform in the U.S. ... The nation is focused on us," Frist said.

A parent on the SCORE steering committee said the state is set to leave low standards behind and surpass the nation's performance.

"For so many years, the reports told us our students were fine, but parents knew they were not fine," said Kathy Patty, president of the Tennessee Parent Teacher Association and a member of the SCORE steering committee. "All it took was to see the scores on some ACT tests. I'm so proud the state took the big step to up the standards for our kids, and we want to do what we can to help."

The state of Tennessee and individual districts applied for and received $72 million from the federal Teacher Incentive Fund, set up to reward teachers for student performance or entice them to teach in hard-to-staff schools, another accomplishment recognized in the report.

But there were areas for improvement, too. Danielle Gonzales with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which invested $90 million in Memphis to fund the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative, said Tennessee could be more progressive in implementing its standards-based reforms, but that the state is ahead of many others across the country.

'Right on track'

One of SCORE's main objectives for 2011 is to keep education at the top of the state's to-do list. Sustaining policy leadership is a must, Frist said. He credited former Gov. Phil Bredesen's political leadership surrounding education reform in Tennessee and expects that to continue with Gov. Bill Haslam.

"The current leadership is right on track," he said.

SCORE's top priorities for 2011 include:

• Keep education reform a priority, maintain support for recent reforms and more directly connect educator evaluations to hiring and tenure.

• Launch a statewide initiative focused on creating a strong pipeline of district and school leaders.

• Focus on instructional quality.

• Change the Tennessee Department of Education's focus from compliance to service through effective recruiting, plus strengthen its presence through regional offices.

Reach Lea Ann Overstreet at loverstreet@tennessean.com.