Tennessee Senate Bill 1528, which reforms tenure for the state’s educators, was recognized as the network’s “Best Kept Secret”—a major advance in education policy that did not attract the attention “Eddies!” voters thought it deserved.

The other winners in the first annual “Eddies!” Awards, recognizing the best in education advocacy and reform on the state level, are:

• The Colorado Senate Bill 191 Coalition won “Best Ensemble Cast,” which recognizes PIE Network members working together to advance meaningful reform.
• “The Widget Effect” won “Most Actionable Research.” This report from The New Teacher Project served as the impetus for many new state laws designed to improve teacher effectiveness and is a model for how policy research is made “actionable” through its clear, common-sense approach to complex issues.
• Patricia Levesque, executive director of the Foundation for Florida’s Future and ConnCAN CEO Alex Johnston tied in the voting for “Most Valuable Player,” which recognizes a PIE Network leader who played a key role in advancing education reform not just in their state, but across the country.
• The late Robert F. Sexton, the long-time executive director of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, was the recipient of the lifetime achievement award. 

The Colorado SB 191 Coalition celebrates its award as “Best Ensemble Cast.”

Tonight’s awards were a way to have some fun while calling attention to important advances in education reform over the last year,” said Suzanne Tacheny Kubach, executive director of the PIE Network. “The movement to improve education is growing stronger each year and the fact that state reform advocates are working together through this network is a significant factor in that momentum. We created the ‘Eddies!’ awards to help shine a national spotlight on those gains and to celebrate the hard work and dedication of reform leaders.”

The “Eddies!” were awarded at the PIE Network Fifth Annual Policy Summit in Seattle, in a ceremony emceed by Frederick M. Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Hess and others poked fun at many in the reform movement while calling serious attention to their work.

The network’s 34 member organizations, its funders and other supporters, and attendees at the network’s annual policy summit were eligible to nominate and vote on awards candidates.

“While the awards are a celebration among PIE Network members, much of the credit for leading education reform belongs primarily to state policy makers who take on important issues such as improving teacher effectiveness, raising accountability, and increasing options for families to find quality schools,” said Kubach. “Two of our awards recognize policy wins because we know that advancing good policy requires the efforts of a lot of people--none more important than courageous lawmakers.”

More about the winners

• The Common Core State Standards, adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, show that states can work together in unprecedented ways to change significant policy across the country. The nation's governors and Chief State School Officers showed unprecedented unanimity in pushing for the development and adoption of common standards and set the stage for more rigorous, innovative, and comparable system of student assessment, more economical instructional materials, and the opportunity for real comparability across states.
  
  Susan Pimentel, lead writer of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy, accepted the award on behalf of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), which coordinated the state-led effort. She told the “Eddies!” audience, “Congratulations to all of us, this was definitely a joint effort.”
   
• Tennessee Senate Bill 1528 will tie tenure decisions directly to the state's new teacher evaluation system, which is 50% based on student achievement data. Tenure will be granted only to teachers who score in the top two evaluation categories for two consecutive years. The bill extends the probationary period before granting tenure and also allows for the removal of tenure for a teacher who is ineffective (as measured by the evaluation system.)
  
  Jamie Woodson, President and CEO of the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), and former Speaker Pro Tempore of the Tennessee State Senate, accepted the award on behalf of the policy makers responsible for the bill’s development and passage. She said, “As a former policy maker, I want to thank all the advocates for the work that you do. These game changing moments have serious impact for children.”
  
  Woodson credited Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and leaders in the legislature for the enactment of the tenure reform bill.
   

Patricia Levesque and Alex Johnston share the network’s MVP award.		SCORE’s Jamie Woodson and Rodel’s Paul Herdman present the “Game Changer of the Year” award.		Emcee Rick Hess: “We should take the work seriously but not take ourselves so seriously.”		PIE Network leader Suzanne Tacheny Kubach praised “courageous lawmakers” at the gala.

• The Colorado Senate Bill 191 Coalition won “Best Ensemble Cast”—the coalition that worked together most effectively. The CO coalition included, more than 50 advocacy groups in Colorado, including network members Colorado Succeeds and Stand for Children Colorado as well as Democrats for Education Reform, whose president spoke at the summit and helped accept the award. This coalition came together in 2010 to pass the “Great Teachers and Leaders” bill that overhauled the way Colorado educators are held accountable for student performance. Many groups remain in the coalition and are now working to ensure proper implementation of the law, as well as addressing other big issues such as third grade literacy and school autonomy. (See “Creating a Winning Legislative Campaign: The Colorado Story” for more information on the passage of CO SB 191.)
  
  Those accepting the award thanked Colorado Senator Mike Johnston, who authored and sponsored SB 191.

• “The Widget Effect” was voted “Most Actionable Research.” This 2009 policy report from The New Teacher Project (authored by Daniel Weisberg, Susan Sexton, Jennifer Mulhern, and David Keeling) served as the basis for much of the recent advances on teacher effectiveness, helping drive legislative changes across the country. It offers a compelling metaphor: "If teachers are so important, why do we treat them like widgets?”
  
  Sarah Almy, a former partner at The New Teacher Project, now with The Education Trust, accepted the award. She told the audience, “Thank you for taking the information from ‘The Widget Effect’ and translating it in so many of your states into exciting policy that will be great for kids and teachers.”
   

Lead Common Core writer Susan Pimentel accepts “Game Changer of the Year” award.		Sarah Almy accepts the award for “Most Actionable Research” for TNTP’s “The Widget Effect.”		Don Shalvey of the Gates Foundation played "top tunes for ed reformers."		Chris Korsmo and Robin Steans provide "red carpet" fashion commentary.

• ConnCAN CEO Alex Johnston and Patricia Levesque, executive director of the Foundation for Florida’s Future, tied in the voting for “Most Valuable Player,” recognized for their selfless work in helping network members advance education reform around the country. Johnston launched ConnCAN in 2005 and chairs the board of directors for the PIE Network. Levesque also leads the Foundation for Excellence in Education and has helped other states learn from Florida’s recent advances in education reform.
  
  Alex Johnston said, “It’s really humbling to be standing here; this conference is an expression of just how far this network has come. This network brings us together in a relationship where we can be valuable together.”
  
  And Levesque also called the award humbling, saying, “I do what I do because of my two kids. The education system that I want for my kids has to be far different than what it is today.”
   
• Robert F. Sexton led the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence since its creation in 1983, building it into a nationally recognized model of citizen engagement for improving education. Following his death in 2010, the Louisville Courier-Journal said, "By any calculation, Robert F. Sexton was the most significant figure in public education in Kentucky in the last half century.”
  
  Oklahoma Education Secretary Phyllis Hudecki paid tribute to Sexton, saying, “Bob’s vision set the course for many of us in the reform movement. His work lives on through all of us.”