News Release

The NEA Foundation gives grant
To help close achievement gap

First-of-its-Kind Grant Awarded to
Partnership in Hamilton County (TN)

(WASHINGTON) –- The NEA Foundation and the National Education Association (NEA) awarded a five-year grant worth up to $2.5 million to an urban school district–union partnership in Hamilton County (Chattanooga), TN.

The grant program will help Hamilton County build on and expand promising approaches to closing the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged/minority students and their more affluent peers.

The funds will be used to improve academic performance; recruit, develop, and retain highly qualified teachers; increase the rate at which students go to college without the need for remediation; and engage families and community groups in student learning.

Hamilton County is guaranteed $500,000 for the first year of the program, renewable for an additional four years depending on demonstrated progress and effective use of the funds. The $500,000 award is a matching grant. The grant requires that the school district close the achievement gap by 2009.

"We are extremely pleased to accept this important grant," said Dr. Jesse Register, Superintendent of the Hamilton County Department of Education. "All of us are committed to working with the larger community to close the achievement gap for our students, and believe that teachers working together with businesses, families, and civic leaders is the best way to raise the bar for our young future leaders of America."

Judith Rényi, President and CEO of The NEA Foundation explains, "This grant to Hamilton County provides funding and guidance where there has already been important progress at the elementary and high school levels.

"Now, there is a solid plan of action to close the achievement gap in the middle grades. With business and community support, The NEA Foundation's goal is to seek out other urban school district–union partnerships that are ready to improve performance for all students and to be as thorough and accountable as the partnership in Hamilton County."

This initiative comes with the realization that the promise of Brown v. Board of Education remains unfulfilled for too many students, resulting in persistent gaps in achievement. According to the National Center for Education Statistics in 2003, more than four-fifths of white 8th-graders scored at or above basic reading proficiency.

In comparison, just over half of all Black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Alaskan Native 8th-grade students reached the same level. Equally troubling, a recent report by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future reveals that high-risk schools are far more likely than low-risk schools to have large numbers of uncredentialed staff.

"With this new grant to an urban school district–union partnership, the NEA and its foundation seek to demonstrate how educators' concerted and collective work ensures increasing academic success for all children, and particularly those in urban settings," noted Reg Weaver, NEA President.

The NEA Foundation expects Hamilton County and future grant recipients to work with businesses, universities, cultural and community-based organizations, local and regional funders, families, state and local governments, and other institutions to improve students' academic success. The NEA Foundation recognizes that effective work on closing the achievement gap is already under way. The grant is designed to supplement and build respectfully upon existing initiatives.

"The union is thrilled to work with the Hamilton County Department of Education and other community partners on behalf of the students," said Samevelyn Rock, President of Hamilton County Education Association, an affiliate of the NEA. "Through experience, we know that educators can only solve this problem with the active involvement of other community members." 

June 2, 2004

Contact:

María Greene            301/272-2481
Christine Chirichella    202/822-7803

The NEA Foundation inspires public education employees to ensure that all students succeed. Created by the members of the NEA in 1969,
the foundation is sustained by their continuing support.
The big ideas of teachers, education support professionals, and higher education faculty and staff become reality with resources, technical assistance, and funding from the foundation. For more information, please visit  The Foundation's Web site.