This has been a unique and momentous year for education reform in Tennessee. Several factors impacting the success of students have converged this year to ultimately delay the public release of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) data and the state Report Card on Pre-K-12 Education. 

 

This month, the Tennessee Department of Education announced that the AYP data and Report Card will be released in January 2011, following unprecedented changes to student proficiency levels and academic benchmarks under No Child Left Behind.

 

Learn more about the upcoming release here. 

 

Tennessee Department of Education and the Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee continue work around new growth measures for educators in untested subjects and grades.  

 

As part of the state's First to the Top work, the Tennessee Department of Education is working with educators to identify and/or develop growth measures in untested subjects and grades to comply with the state's new evaluation requirements. In early October, the Department reached out to national and state experts for assistance in identifying instruments for determining student growth in subjects and grades without TVAAS data (Tennessee Value Added Assessment System). 

 

The Department held a second meeting in November with educators who are helping the TDOE to identify and/or develop alternative measures of academic growth in their respective subject area or grade level group.  

 

Educator teams met throughout December, and will continue to meet in January, virtually and in-person, to solicit specific input from many additional educators throughout the state around measures identified and/or developed in the untested subject areas and grades. As a next step, the Department is assembling a technical advisory committee who will be able to provide feedback to these educator teams about what is feasible, as well as valid and reliable, for measures of academic growth comparable to TVAAS data.

 

Tennessee wants to hear from our teachers. The TELL Tennessee Survey, Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning, is an online, anonymous and confidential survey of all public school educators' perception of their school environment. The TELL Tennessee Survey is a unique opportunity to gather information about school conditions from those whose views matter most-practicing educators. The purpose of the survey is to support sound educational policies and practices based on the views of teachers, principals and other certificated educators in our public schools. The respondents will be asked for their views on a variety of issues related to student achievement and teacher retention, including facilities and resources, time, empowerment, school leadership, community support, student conduct, professional development, mentoring and induction services, and student learning.  

 

Research from across the country has shown the presence of positive teaching and learning conditions is essential for student success and teacher retention. Tennessee wants to ensure that every educator has the supportive environment necessary to help students achieve at the highest levels. The results of this survey will provide local school and district educators and state policymakers with guidance on what is working well, and what could be working better, in our schools.  

 

The TELL Tennessee Survey will be available online February 14-March 11, 2011. Educators will receive a personal security code that enables them to anonymously and confidentially go online and provide their perceptions on the critical issues that make a difference in Tennessee education.